Should Fat Kids Get A's In PhysEd? (insurance, courses, science)

[Ivorytickler]

Originally Posted by doctrain

Solution: Stop giving out grades in elementary school PE - just make it pass or fail until high school and then make it an elective.

I'd go for this. My dd would have straight A's except she couldn't run a 7 minute mile so she ended up taking a B+ in gym. Not being able to run fast enough cost her a possible 4.0 GPA. She worked her butt off to shave 1 minute off of her mile but it wasn't good enough. Now she doesn't care because no matter what she does, she can't attain her goal of straight A's.

[The Dissenter]

Originally Posted by Momma_bear

Do you actually know anything about football other than it's on TV?

OL are not just unmovable guys. My son plays guard. He has to move. All over the field. Guards are sometimes called upon to "pull". Just being a big fat guy will not allow a player to pull. In addition to being big OL must also be mobile and fairly athletic. Not as athletic as RB but a big fat, slow slob will not work on the OL.

Let's not even begin on Defensive Linemen who have to be even more athletic than O-linemen to beat them.

I'd go for this. My dd would have straight A's except she couldn't run a 7 minute mile so she ended up taking a B+ in gym. Not being able to run fast enough cost her a possible 4.0 GPA. She worked her butt off to shave 1 minute off of her mile but it wasn't good enough. Now she doesn't care because no matter what she does, she can't attain her goal of straight A's.

I wished a pass/fail system happened at my HS. I could not pass most physical fitness tests therefore I ended up with C's in PE which I got for dressing and participating. That made me the difference between a B and a C in overall GPA and I ended up with a C.

[Drover]

Somewhere a bridge is missing its sub-resident.

[HansProof]

Originally Posted by Ivorytickler

I'd go for this. My dd would have straight A's except she couldn't run a 7 minute mile so she ended up taking a B+ in gym. Not being able to run fast enough cost her a possible 4.0 GPA. She worked her butt off to shave 1 minute off of her mile but it wasn't good enough. Now she doesn't care because no matter what she does, she can't attain her goal of straight A's.

"Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm." -Winston Churchill

Never mind she took a full minute off her mile, but just because she received a *gasps* B+, the horror, it was a complete failure...a total waste of time. The problem with kids who don't allow themselves to fail is that they go through life avoiding any possible risk of it. When failure is not an option, the envelope is never pushed, the risk never taken, the stepping out of one's safety zone is never experienced, for what? To be perfect? If I wanted to be perfect, I would have had more study halls in HS instead of loading up on extra classes that most likely brought my overall GPA down.

I recollect a similar experience in my 12th grade history class when the teacher popped a test at a very unexpected time (we knew there would be one surprise test at some point during the semester). Some of the best students in our school ended up failing because they were use to just paying attention and reading the material the day before any given test. I have no problem with that if they are so gifted to do so. What I found unusual was the fact that there was "crying." Over what...a D or F on a stupid test? No doubt that one test cost some an A in the class. But far more powerful than the grade was the life lesson many took from that particular day. Some weaklings may have given up all hope, but to some hardy ones, a burden was lifted and real life in the real world began that day.

[HansProof]

Originally Posted by WyoNewk

I wish it hadn't been graded when my daughter missed out on a 4-year, full-ride scholarship at our university because of her junior year gym class. She refused to "get all sweaty" because she had another class following it. As a result she earned a B or C in the class, which pulled her gpa down below the automatic full-ride scholarship level. Yes, I was peeved at her! It was her fault alone.

Now, had she tried but couldn't perform as a gifted athlete, I'd have been all over her gym teacher.

When I attended HS back in the stone age, gym wasn't graded, and you didn't get a credit for it. If you were in sports you were excused. I think that's a better way to handle it.

I think there is a little more to the story than getting a B/C in "one" gym class. Full ride scholarships aren't determined on one class...let alone one grade level...let alone in gym class.

[HansProof]

Originally Posted by Coldjensens

Teachers are supposed to teach, not judge.

Students are supposed to learn. If they learn what they are taught, they should get a good grade. If their learning is exemplary, they should get an A.


PE is not about how fit you are. It is there to teach kids about sports, excercise, how the body works and how to care for your body. You can learn those things wihtout being the best at doing them. A supurb athelete who cannot be bthered with learning what is taught in PE class should get an F. A blimpy blob who learns what they are taught and becomes sufficiently knowlegable to teach a gym class (for example) should get an A.

The class is physical EDUCATON. Not Physical Achievement, or Physical perfection.

No doubt they are learning but is an A really deserving if they aren't the best at performing for which they just learned? I learned in Calculus, there was just a missing link for me performing on tests..."utilizing what I learned."

Sad thing is school is suppose to be preparation for real life and it is not. No one wants to take nutritional advice from a blimpy blob despite whatever straight A credentials he may have. Would you really take a personal trainer seriously if he showed up in a wheel chair because he was so morbidly overweight? Graduated top of his class in Kinesiology but really...

[lkb0714]

Originally Posted by HansProof

No doubt they are learning but is an A really deserving if they aren't the best at performing for which they just learned? I learned in Calculus, there was just a missing link for me performing on tests..."utilizing what I learned."

Sad thing is school is suppose to be preparation for real life and it is not. No one wants to take nutritional advice from a blimpy blob despite whatever straight A credentials he may have. Would you really take a personal trainer seriously if he showed up in a wheel chair because he was so morbidly overweight? Graduated top of his class in Kinesiology but really...

Are you maybe pulling our collective legs here? I cannot believe you are really this lacking in basic logic, especially given your "claims".


Since when does an A in a HIGH SCHOOL class makes someone qualified to give advice or pursue a career? Nutritionists typically have to do a little more than ace gym class.

Your continual shifting of the goal posts is dizzying in deed. You started with a fat kid in high school, and here you are talking about nutritionists and Kinesiology both of which are typically a minimum of a bachelors. There is a world of difference in an overweight teen being valedictorian in high school and someone morbidly obese being an athletic trainer. For one thing, most morbidly obese people could not pass the specific fitness courses necessary to graduate from the program.

It is beyond stupid to claim that getting a good grade in a REQUIRED class like gym is the same things as pursuing a degree or even taking an elective class like calculus.

[malfunction]

In response to the OP's question: No. Diet and genetics may be one thing, but it isn't worth judging kids based on their weight. If they go to class and go through the calisthenics and the activity in P.E. class, then they should do fine. Some kids can grow out of their baby or childhood weight.

[Jazzii]

Originally Posted by HansProof

First, there is no such thing as junk food, only oversized portions. And second, I'm just saying the bar should be held even. If gym is going to be graded on effort, so should everything else, right? You can deny it barely has anything to do with life, but in the end, it has everything to do with it.

Hard work doesn't get rewarded, only results. That is the real world.

And that the rope test wouldn't be fair? My whole point is that it isn't fair...the way it should be.

We need to stop the watering down of grades. Fat kid getting an A in gym just watered down the grade of every track athlete in the school. A complete slap in the face to every athlete who has spilt blood and tears for athletic excellence. Maybe every jock should get an A in every advanced math and language course. You know, to be "fair." Why even study...everyone gets an A.

So now fat kids can't be athletes and jocks can't be smart? For all you know this kid could be the star of the football team. Regardless WHAT you may think NO ONE for the most part takes gym in high school like its the Olympics. Whether you believe it or not blood, sweats and tears may happen if said athlete is on a varsity team. Not in a gym class. How do you know this boy doesn't have something where his weigh isn't controlled. Regardless of what you say by him being valedictorian speaks a lot about him people like him become YOUR boss.

And FYI I am a 4'11 girl who IS overweight, pulls a 100 in gym, runs a 6:43 mile, plays softball year round both on the varsity school team and travel team (which makes me a jock) and I pull a 97 overall GPA

[Jazzii]

Besides the obvious health benefits of PE (ours was a mandatory 1hr a day, every other day till the 11th grade) (thank god rural schools know how to do it right) the even more valuable lesson of life failure can be taken from it. I may be wrong in the eyes of most here but I believe more in turning out well-rounded individuals from our schools rather than excepting the "well, he'll never use it" defeatist mindset. I'm successful in life but I doubt I use anything past 8th grade math, if that. Why even learn algebra, trig., calculus? Hell, I knew back then I would never use it. Have a forgotten most of it? Probably. Did I hate doing it at the time? Of course. Do I regret any of it. Absolutely not!!! Why...because even know I may have forgotten a lot of it, I can't argue that simply going through it has developed my mind for better analytical reasoning for which I utilized daily, hourly.

What is your obsession withthe may I ask???

Oh and only 11th grade. You realize that 9-11th grade gym the way you explain is only a year and a half of gym. So since "rural schools" know how to do it I guess these NY school which mandate gym every other day until you GRADUATE Do it wrong, meanwhile you sat down your senior year without gym and did what exactly?