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Regardless of your foggy memories, the teacher was out of line in this case.
What Cloudy overlooked (or purposely ignored) was that MY CHILD objected to watching this movie as it made her physically and emotionally sick. I'm her parent and I feel she was justified in not wanted to watch it and it was my job to advocate for her. We all have things we don't want to do, but have to. In this case, there was no reason to force this on her. Period.
Glad the video is no longer being shown. I agree it sounds like an agenda was in play. My kids had health for half of the year in 7th grade. While some of the comments made by their teacher were questionable (I think the teacher was much more appropriately placed in higher education based on his comments to the kids, and he actually moved to community college this year which I feel is a better fit for him). They did sex ed and learned about diseases, healthy lifestyles, and dangers of drugs. When I was in 7th grade, we got to watch a birth on film.. from the doctor's viewpoint. That was too much for me! It did keep me away from sex for a lot longer than many kids.
Oh and I forgot to add, which does kind of indicate an agenda on the teacher's part: I have a high school child who NEVER saw this video in MS, and neither did his classmates, who went to different middle schools in the area. Also, I found out recently through a casual conversation that another teacher in the school had to stop following the PE teacher on social media because she couldn't take the stuff he was posting.
So clearly, this teacher has a passion for this cause, which is fine, however, that doesn't make it appropriate to show to middle schoolers.
I had my son pulled from PE in middle school due to his asthma. I don;t want to have to make more trips to the allergist than we already do, or put him on even more meds. Avoiding P E solves a big part of the problem. He plays outdoors at home, gets plenty of exercise and the advantage to exercising at home is that if he starts to have problems breathing, he can rest.
Few, if any, P E teachers are versed in asthma or what to do in the event of an emergency.
When I was in school, P E was required and if I got an asthma attack during PE, too bad. The teacher would not excuse anyone, I had to wait until the class ended, go to the school clinic and get sent home. My grades went from A+ the year before to c minus in 7th grade because I was rarely there. Usually went home after P E and yet no one in the school had the concern to intervene.
Personally, I think P E should be an elective and only an elective. many students enjoy it and will take it as an elective, but sine=ce schools in general are not equipped or trained to deal with the needs of students with physical problems, such as asthma, then it cannot be safely offered as a required course.
You would not want to hand your students a loaded gun when they walk into school every morning and say "Now be careful with that but keep it in your hand all day...." would you ? So you cannot tell a student with medical problems to go on and take a class that will jeopardize their health, cause them to miss school because of an illness and say "Oh well "
I had my son pulled from PE in middle school due to his asthma. I don;t want to have to make more trips to the allergist than we already do, or put him on even more meds. Avoiding P E solves a big part of the problem. He plays outdoors at home, gets plenty of exercise and the advantage to exercising at home is that if he starts to have problems breathing, he can rest.
Few, if any, P E teachers are versed in asthma or what to do in the event of an emergency.
When I was in school, P E was required and if I got an asthma attack during PE, too bad. The teacher would not excuse anyone, I had to wait until the class ended, go to the school clinic and get sent home. My grades went from A+ the year before to c minus in 7th grade because I was rarely there. Usually went home after P E and yet no one in the school had the concern to intervene.
Personally, I think P E should be an elective and only an elective. many students enjoy it and will take it as an elective, but sine=ce schools in general are not equipped or trained to deal with the needs of students with physical problems, such as asthma, then it cannot be safely offered as a required course.
You would not want to hand your students a loaded gun when they walk into school every morning and say "Now be careful with that but keep it in your hand all day...." would you ? So you cannot tell a student with medical problems to go on and take a class that will jeopardize their health, cause them to miss school because of an illness and say "Oh well "
You have a right to your beliefs. I heartily disagree with you, however. If a student cannot tolerate the level of activity in the average P.E. class, then I think a doctor's excuse should be sufficient to be excused from physical education. However, the vast majority of kids in school do not have such problems...but a VERY common problem in our culture is fat kids and fat adults (and I am one). And, as has been evidenced in many studies, the problem is getting much worse.
The problem I had with PE, as a principal, was that it focused too much on sports that were not lifelong activities. Which should be a (not the only) goal.
For a student with a health issue such as yours, I would have considered an alternative way to "earn credit" in physical education.
I have to tell you a true story. At our middle school we had a boy with a severe peanut allergy. The parent demanded that we not allow any student to bring a school lunch that had any possible peanut allergy trigger materials (which we refused); that we set up a special table for her son and his friends which would be wiped down with special materials each day before his lunch period (which we agreed to); that only students whose parents signed an agreement that no peanut allergy triggers would be brought to school by their children could sit with the boy at that table (which we agreed to); that we cancel all school activities where refreshments were involved, since the refreshments could have peanut allergy triggers in them (which we refused)...and more. Here's what was interesting. 5 years later the mother came to visit me. My first thought was oh my god...not another child coming to us from that family! Instead, she apologized for her behavior because, "I had not yet learned what you tried to teach me. That if my son was going to assure that he would not end up severely ill due to peanut materials, he was going to have to learn to be independently vigilant, and not rely on mom. When he got to college and I tried to intervene, they escorted me out of the college administration building." (paraphrased).
Your son's school should, in my view, put together a special program (just as they would with an IEP or 504 Plan) for what your son could accomplish in learning about physical education related material/activities. And they should be held to it.
Oh and I forgot to add, which does kind of indicate an agenda on the teacher's part: I have a high school child who NEVER saw this video in MS, and neither did his classmates, who went to different middle schools in the area. Also, I found out recently through a casual conversation that another teacher in the school had to stop following the PE teacher on social media because she couldn't take the stuff he was posting.
So clearly, this teacher has a passion for this cause, which is fine, however, that doesn't make it appropriate to show to middle schoolers.
Different teachers use different teaching materials. My kids are three years apart, went to the same schools. They had different teachers for some (most) subjects and they were often taught a little differently. And who follows who on FB is irrelevant.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TabulaRasa
I don't agree at all that daily PE should be elective.
I'm with you. (Had to figure out how to agree with someone disagreeing.)
I know the curriculum might vary by state, but I was wondering if anyone had any experience in how 7th Grade PE is taught? The first 2 quarters were spent doing physical activity in the gym. In the third quarter, they have moved on to classroom time learning about health. The teacher is showing videos of animals being slaughtered in very cruel ways. Is this normal to show 12 and 13 year olds? Several children have been shaken up and crying in class. My child cannot eat lunch afterwards and is still shaken up. I am sure there are more productive ways to show how we get our food supply.
Sounds like someone is pushing a personal agenda. What does animal slaughter have to do with PE???? When I was in PE in 7th grade we were playing kickball, floor hockey, softball, volleyball, etc. We had a separate class for health in 8th grade, but it had nothing to do with animals other than humans. Food supply never entered the conversation. PE was purely about getting us up and moving, nothing more or less.
It is when it is not the point of the class. What does animal slaughter have to do with PE? If I had a child in that class I would be asking why there was any classroom activity at all. PE is about physical activity, playing team sports and learning cooperation as a member of that team. Not about how many different ways an animal can be slaughtered.
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