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In addition, California is considering not allowing drivers license for kids unless they continue to attend school:
Politics - No-driving bills would ground dropouts in California - sacbee.com (http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/876797.html - broken link)
I see this as very ignorant on the part of the state. It appears that they are continuing to excessively encroach into the rights of a parents, and to lose their focus on the most critical aspects of education. So a fat kid who is academically outstanding now can continue to be tormented in gym. Though a good athlete myself (40 years ago), I witnessed many kids who were really put through the wringer in gym class, and I really felt bad for what they had to go through. Subsequently, my kids have informed me of witnessing similar behavior more recently in public schools.
This whole thing seems very wrong to me. The focus should be on academics. If a kid is a lousy athlete then just let it go, it isn't the schools issue to "solve". Just appreciate the other contributions they might make. Also, if a kid isn't going to be constructively engaged in school, then coercing them to stay is inviting further disruption.
I agree with you--it's absolutely ridiculous. I won't deny that we have problems with obesity in America, but that's not how to go about trying to solve them at all.
I despised gym class, but then I spent four years playing volleyball. Hated it!
Now, my daughters PE classes are a lot different, they push those kids as though they were in boot camp. Five days a week for a semester my eldest dd was doing ladders, sprints, push ups, crunchers and running. Once in a blue moon would they play a sport. She hated it! But the truth is, she needed it. Kids are not outside the way we were when we were young. I have mixed emotions about making this madatory to graduate (or the ability to drive for that matter), but I do see how it can be beneficial.
When you take a look at the lack of national academic achievement, and the behavior problems caused by kids who really don't want to be in school at all, it seems to be a counterproductive way to approach education.
The lack of adequate focus on academics and enhanced critical evaluation skills, vs this stuff...
Perhaps others don't see the tradeoffs that I feel exists in these types of decisions...
The state's thinking is that if we require kids to be decently physically fit to graduate, we'll have good soldiers. I'm only half joking. Scary stuff.
In California they have a new rule requiring 9th graders to pass fitness tests or retake PE.
In addition, California is considering not allowing drivers license for kids unless they continue to attend school.
We already have both of these in Illinois. State graduation requirements mandate P.E. for all 4 years of high school, and a state law requires anyone under the age of 18 to be attending school (or a verifiable homeschool) in order to get or keep their learners permit/drivers license.
Quote:
This whole thing seems very wrong to me. The focus should be on academics.
Public schools have been about anything but academics for decades. ed school crisis
Here, P.E. is mandatory for 9th and 10th grades - but not 11th or 12th. And I can tell you that it was truly like boot camp.
Get changed
Warmup Exercises
Jog a Mile
Situps, Pushups, Pullups
Some sport
Cooldown exercises
Get changed
And yes. This was basically everyday.
I can understand the ideal of wanting to stomp out obesity, but what actually occurred was truly humiliation. If you couldn't jog the mile in under 10 minutes, remarks were made by even the teachers. And when most people get depressed, they eat.
Location: Huntersville/Charlotte, NC and Washington, DC
26,677 posts, read 41,509,172 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kuharai
Here, P.E. is mandatory for 9th and 10th grades - but not 11th or 12th. And I can tell you that it was truly like boot camp.
Get changed
Warmup Exercises
Jog a Mile
Situps, Pushups, Pullups
Some sport
Cooldown exercises
Get changed
And yes. This was basically everyday.
I can understand the ideal of wanting to stomp out obesity, but what actually occurred was truly humiliation. If you couldn't jog the mile in under 10 minutes, remarks were made by even the teachers. And when most people get depressed, they eat.
In reality, this only made things worse.
I went through 9th and 10th grade PE in Kuhurai's area. Being 6'1 180 with weak muscle, gym class was a nightmare. The boot-camp style as Kuhurai eluded to. Fortunally, I had teachers who gave you a C as long as you dressed out and made a decent effort.
Actually while i lived in that area, i usually played pick-up football and basketball every afternoon for 2 hours after school and felt that was a much better source of activity than PE ever was. If you live in an area like Hampton Roads where there are usually plentiful pick-up games after school or good school sports teams you can do without PE.
My high school was also like a boot camp. We had block scheduling so PE was for an hour and a half every day (but we only had to take it once). We'd dress out in 7 minutes, do push ups, situps, jumping jacks, and stretches. Then we'd go out to the track and run. Sometimes we ran the straights and walked the curves. Sometimes it was run a lap, walk a lap. Sometimes we weren't allowed to walk at all. Once every 2 weeks, we did the bleachers which were huge aluminum bleachers that shook with about 50 kids running on it. A few times we had to run up and down all the way down the bleachers and I was one of the last ones. It was really humiliating. I REFUSED to run full speed because I was so afraid of falling down the stairs. The whole time, the coach was on the ground screaming at me and the few other straggler girls to hurry up. Like hell. When the boys did it, there was one guy who ended up about a full set behind everyone else. He was still running on the bleachers when everyone else was done. The coaches encouraged the other boys to jeer him as his ran.
That's the type of thing that makes people like me HATE to exercise. Had we played games or even been given options of things to do, maybe it'd be different. Every time I jog now, I get flashbacks of the coaches screaming at me and it's just not an activity I want to continue. Not to mention, since we never cooled down or worked our way up to running more, I ended up with ankle injuries that make it really hard for me to run period.
In addition, California is considering not allowing drivers license for kids unless they continue to attend school:
Politics - No-driving bills would ground dropouts in California - sacbee.com (http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/876797.html - broken link)
I see this as very ignorant on the part of the state. It appears that they are continuing to excessively encroach into the rights of a parents, and to lose their focus on the most critical aspects of education. So a fat kid who is academically outstanding now can continue to be tormented in gym. Though a good athlete myself (40 years ago), I witnessed many kids who were really put through the wringer in gym class, and I really felt bad for what they had to go through. Subsequently, my kids have informed me of witnessing similar behavior more recently in public schools.
This whole thing seems very wrong to me. The focus should be on academics. If a kid is a lousy athlete then just let it go, it isn't the schools issue to "solve". Just appreciate the other contributions they might make. Also, if a kid isn't going to be constructively engaged in school, then coercing them to stay is inviting further disruption.
I agree with your statement and also feel it is not only gym class that the parent has lost control and state has given standards the differ from the individual abilities. Public Schools believe they are better at knowning what is best for ALL kids. Which is the problem with most Government related programs and functions.
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Agreed
