International I Hate Sports Club

This article appeared is my local newspaper today. Since we've discussed the "old" and "new" PE in these forums, I thought it might be of interest.

http://news-herald.com/articles/2011/02 ... 687196.txt


Any thoughts on this? I know this article is about elementary school and not high school, so I don't know if it can be compared to old or new PE.

Thanks for sharing this online news article with us, ChrisOH. This program sure sounds like the "new P.E." to me. Exercising should be fun and invigorating, not the rite of humiliation (and worse) that is the "old P.E." (in other words, sports-based). I'm encouraged, although the success of the movement to reform P.E. is not guaranteed. The program described in this article would have been quite beneficial to me when I was in elementary school. I hardly got any exercise at all in the supervised "recess" (in other words, mandatory sports-based P.E. without a gym) I was forced to take in elementary school, which was totally useless for nonathletic boys and girls. Again, thanks for sharing this article, ChrisOH.

Earl wrote:Exercising should be fun and invigorating, not the rite of humiliation (and worse) that is the "old P.E." (in other words, sports-based).

I remember reading an article somewhere on this website that branded the old PE tradition of the selection of teams in competitive sports lessons as "medieval torture" still being implemented in today's society. It's quite right, you know. What kind of society do we live in when teachers are gladly going to let their less-athletic students be embarrassed and resented in such a way? It's terrible, ain't it, when you have the two most popular and athletic kids in the class picking out teams and you just know you're going to be last, and the team that you get put into is going to treat you with blatant resentment. Believe me, I know how it feels, and along with all the other faults of mandatory sports-based PE, it's only going to make the less-athletic students even less motivated and confident in improving their fitness. Normal PE is a rite of humiliation, and it will continue to be until the PE teachers of the world begin to tailor the lessons to the needs and wishes of each individual student and not just to those of the athletic, popular students.

Best regards,
i_like_1981