A Long-Ago Bad P.E. Experience? You Can Get Over It

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I love PE loads am not going to Hate it because off the teachers!!
I am now doing my BTEC work and doing loads of theory work find that quite annoying but hopefully am going to pass xxx :)))

Amanda B of MN 1:16PM September 24, 2010

There now is a long overdue movement in the United States to reform mandatory P.E. The traditional approach was centered around sports, and the physical fitness needs of nonathletic students were ignored. In the mandatory P.E. I was forced to take when I was a kid, there was not even any mention of physical fitness programs. Only sports, and there wasn't even any instruction regarding the sports. In boys' P.E. the traditional approach set the athletes against the nonathletes with the result that bullying frequently occurred with the indifference or sometimes even the approval of the coaches. Instances of physical violence, outright assault directed against nonathletic boys went unpunished. Now there are excellent programs such as PE4Life that actually promote physical fitness for ALL students instead of extolling athletes at the expense of nonathletes. I'm now working on a bodybuilding program at a health club. I can assure you that I've already become more muscular than I've ever been in my entire life -- NOT because of sports, but IN SPITE of sports. There is a very real sense that the sports culture is ANTI-physical fitness.

Bill of TX 9:22AM May 04, 2010

I like exercise fine so long as it is something I can do alone. I'm happy to walk and run and hike and carry a pedometer to make sure I do enough of it. No group stuff, though, no gyms, no jock hangouts, no games. I do get that stance from school PE. I found the compulsory group sports in school totally hateful and the teachers in charge of them equally so, and I still don't know what anyone of normal intelligence finds fascinating about the trajectory of a ball except not getting hit by it. If you are a dog, you have some justification for chasing a ball; I don't get why any human does it or watches others do it. Patently there is something about the sports-oriented that I do not grasp, but I do know what bullying is and that it was the favorite blood sport of most of the PE teachers I recall, and I don't know how those adults thought they could hector and humiliate reluctant kids into an enthusiasm for their subject. I can assure anyone who's interested that this tactic is counterproductive.

Laura Argiri of NC 6:08PM January 20, 2010

It has been 30 years since I graduated from high school, and ALL my gym teachers were bad. The focus was on the "jocks," the rest of us were ignored, humiliated, and made to do stuff that was clearly "secondary" to keep us busy while they worked with the "real" athletes. As a professor, my disgust for these so called teachers has magnified with time rather than reducing. I'm overweight, and you bet these guys had a huge contribution to that.

Doctor John of SD 1:37AM January 15, 2010

It's really important that we enjoy what we do for us to look forward doing it everyday!!
Tracy, Velocity Fulfillment

Tracy2010 of CA 7:15PM January 14, 2010

Great post, Katherine. I, too, can check off that list of failures from "gym" class and add one more: failing to jump the horse!
Unfortunately, too often these days PE class is NOT children's first exposure to organized physical activity; competitive sports are. And because children aren't developmentally ready -- at the physical, social/emotional, or cognitive levels -- to participate, their first experience of organized physical activity is one of frustration and failure.
I hope that parents -- and PE teachers -- will realize how important enjoyment is to the process of a child becoming a lifelong mover. Congratulations on taking up running! For me, it was my love of dancing that kept me going!

Rae Pica of NH 9:13AM January 14, 2010