S/O: P.E. in high school when you went

[DawnM]

How many years of high school did you take PE?

 

Our local district requires one semester of your entire high school years.  When I worked in CA two years were required, but a sport counted.

 

I took all 4 years of P.E. in high school and where I went sports did NOT count, so sports was just extra curricular and you did it in addition.

 

 

[Tap]

Late 1980s.

In Texas, 2 years.  

In Oregon, 1 year.  I was sooooo very happy when I moved back to Oregon (from Texas) and got out of a second year of PE.  I Hated PE with a passion.  

 

But, that was in the years of mandatory showers in open stalls, when bulllying was rampant by the students and PE teachers were just about as bad.

 

My kids love PE and look forward to class everyday.  They take it for the fun of it even if they don't have to.  :0)  They have required uniforms and no showers so it is a bit more civil. 

[Bootsie]

Louisiana--late 70's and early 80's:  2 years were required; a year of marching band (and some other extra curriculars) counted as 1/2 of a PE credit.  Drivers ed would count in there somehow, also

[SKL]

When I was in high school, two semesters were required - half of 9th grade and half of 10th.  That used to bug me so much, because it meant a whole class period was wasted for two long years.  (There weren't any other semester courses in those grades.)

 

I loathed gym.

 

Eventually they changed it so that if you were in sports, you could apply that against your gym requirement.  Since sports were before / after school, that opened up time for two academic credits that were impossible before.

 

More recently, I hear about schools requiring more phys ed because supposedly it is good for us.  I am all for movement, but not forcing teens to put on gym suits and hop around like idiots whether they want to or not.  Let them go for a walk around the campus or walk elsewhere for lunch.  (But that wouldn't work, there aren't enough prison guards.)

[Tanaqui]

NYS required, when I went, six terms gym and one term health. Or maybe it was a full seven terms gym?

 

At any rate, while health is required every day the term you take it, gym isn't. I attended two different schools. One of them alternated gym with double period science and a double period science lab, so one week you'd have two days gym and the next week three days. The other had you pulled out of gym one day out of five for the double period lab, but didn't have double period classes other than that. And if you didn't have it scheduled that way, you had to go all five days of gym.

 

Edit: And all sorts of things can count as gym. I don't know if after school sports count (NYC schools aren't big on after school sports. I mean, they *exist*, but if you're not on the team you don't care), but my sister attended a prestigious school for dance and her dance class was in lieu of a gym class. One term we had weight lifting. Another term they were renovating the gym, and as it was winter we had gym in our absurdly spacious locker room and, among other things, played bocce ball (the teacher was really stretching for something we could do in that space). I know for a fact that one school offered roller blading as gym. I mean, seriously!

 

[Pink and Green Mom]

I graduated in 1988 from public high school in NJ.  We were required to have 4 years of PE in order to graduate.   Freshman and sophomore year I believe we had to do what we were told (you didn't get to choose what you did).  Junior and senior year you could pick from a selection of 5 or 6 activities per marking period (archery, flag football, volleyball, football, tennis, gymnastics, softball).

 

I do remember that Mondays in February were reserved for square dancing.  For everyone.

 

ETA:  We had PE every day.  We were required to take a shower and the PE teacher would set up a chair outside the shower bank and make sure your back was actually wet or she would send you back in.  If it was that time of the month and you had a note from your mom, you were excused from showers. 

[QueenCat]

One year but technically, it was 3/4 year pe, 1/4 year health.

[EndOfOrdinary]

Washington 90's - one year. Sports did not count, but many sports required you to take a zero period of sports training/weight lifting in addition to the normal PE.

 

No mandatory showers. In fact the showers did not even work. No uniforms either. You had to look "decent" so no short shorts, spaghetti straps, or low cut tops.

[Ellie]

How many years of high school did you take PE?

 

Our local district requires one semester of your entire high school years.  When I worked in CA two years were required, but a sport counted.

 

I took all 4 years of P.E. in high school and where I went sports did NOT count, so sports was just extra curricular and you did it in addition.

 

In Virginia, when I was in school, P.E. was required through 9th grade, which was still junior high (jr. high was 7-9); all sophomores were required to take P.E.; after that it was an elective.

 

In California, 4 years (high school was 9-12) of P.E. was required. However, only 3 years of English was required. Weird.

[Mom2OandE]

2 years including swimming. Mandatory showers in open showers unless you were in last period of day. I managed that second year.

[redsquirrel]

In NY you need 1 credit of PE to graduate and you earn 1/4 credit per year. Gym is every other day, or as the school divides it up. I think one year we had gym every day for a number of weeks and then had study hall for a few weeks and then back to gym, etc. For the last two years of my high school it was every other day.

 

My son is in high school in NY and PE is every other day. He alternates gym with a science lab so every other day he has double science, which he likes very much.

 

And you don't get credit for sports or other activities.

[Starr]

I'm so old that not only did we have PE in high school but in elementary we had PE and recess! :D

[Dmmetler]

VA, , graduated in 1990- 2 years of health/PE. I detested PE mostly due to the locker room.

[daffodil]

I took one semester of aerobics. That's all that was required, thank goodness.

[PeacefulChaos]

Everyone had to take Freshman PE one semester of their freshman year (obviously - though if you failed or something, you would have to retake it later).  That was the last time we had to do the Presidential Fitness and all that. Run the mile.  That stuff.

 

Then we had to take 3 semesters of elective PE.  You could take the same class more than once.  So I took Aerobics twice and Individual & Dual Sports once.  Aerobics was fun - we did a lot of workout videos, and on nice days we sometimes went outside and walked/ran on the track.  We also had to keep an exercise journal when we were in that class, adding up to a certain amount/week and checked by the teacher; she also taught us an awesome formula for figuring out our BMI.  Which, of course, I lost. :glare:  Individual & Dual Sports was so easy.  Ping pong, shuffleboard, tennis, golf, badminton, and even checkers lol.   :lol:

 

This was in MO.  I graduated in 2000 - took the classes my freshman/sophomore year - maybe I pushed one to the first semester of my junior year, I can't remember.  

 

ETA: Interesting tidbit... when my grandma was in HS, girls sat out of PE when they were on their cycle.  She was so surprised that I still had to do it.  :lol:  

That reminds me, we had a whole semester of Swimming we could do.  I didn't do it, for the reason mentioned above.  I don't know how I would've survived with that.  

[Reefgazer]

All 4 years for me in NY; extracurricular sports didn't count for me, either.  I loved PE; it was a nice break from sitting all day.

[LibraryLover]

PE every year here,  for one semester each year. We have swimming, track, pilates, yoga, soccer, fencing, basketball, golf, field hockey, rowing etc--  nearly whatever you want. If you are an athlete or dancer outside of school, a sighed waiver is possible.  In my day, PE in school was mandatory, no matter if you danced hours a week outside of school or did a community travel sport. In school,  I did swimming,  volleyball, tennis, etc for my PE credits.

[Joker]

I was in Texas and was a cheerleader. Cheerleading was a class (like athletics) so I did not have to take PE. If you played any sports for the school, you were put in athletics class instead of PE.

[happi duck]

Daily pe was required all four years whilst wearing the mandatory zippered onesie shorts/shirt combo with your last name embroidered across the back. Quite the fashion statement!

[Jenny in Florida]

Back in the days when dinosaurs roamed the earth (late 1970s), my high school in California required two years of PE. It was miserable. 

 

Edited to add: I forgot to mention that we had to "dress out" in required uniforms that I am certain were carefully chosen to make sure no one looked attractive in them. And we were supposed to shower in an open shower room, but no one checked on a regular basis. As long as you looked and smelled presentable when leaving the locker room, you could avoid it.

 

We used to change focus each quarter. In theory, we got some amount of choice, but the reality was that the "good" options filled immediately. I had one quarter when I had swimming first period every day, meaning it became an exercise in futility to wear make-up or do anything to my hair more ambitious than a ponytail. We were required to wear the swimsuits provided, which were uncomfortable and rarely fit well. I know all of those things sound frivolous now, but to an insecure teenage girl, that made going to school just that extra special little bit more miserable than it needed to be. 

 

The quarter I had archery was less awful than any other, because I was reasonably good at that. 

 

Other units I remember included volleyball, badminton, field hockey, basketball, track and field stuff.  

 

One quarter each year we had to prep for and then take some state-wide fitness evaluation, which I inevitably failed. In certain things, I did okay, but there were some tasks that, no matter how hard I worked, I could never, ever pass. One I remember specifically was the bent-arm hang thing that they used to make girls do in place of pull ups. We had to stand on a step-stool under the bar and get ourselves into the same position one would be in at the top of a pull up. Then the teacher removed the stool, and we had to hold ourselves there for some specified amount of time. I couldn't do it. It didn't matter how long I spent trying to build up those muscles in the preceding nine weeks; it was not going to happen, ever. In fact, even as an adult during times when I've been in significantly better shape than I was as a teen, I simply cannot do pull ups and related exercises. But we got no points for effort or improvement. If we couldn't meet the guidelines, we were marked down.

 

Who me? Bitter?

[Arcadia]

Not in the states. I had PE test annually from 1st to 12th grade and failed every year. PE in high school years was basketball, hockey, squash, swimming, badminton, table tennis, soccer, volleyball. Every term we had a choice from two sports for PE and there were four PE teachers. I pick squash over hockey because the squash teacher was certified in PT as well while the hockey teacher is fierce. PE lessons was twice a week for 1.5hrs each.

Those who fail the annual PE test in high school has a remedial PE lesson once a week at 5:15pm. School ends at 5:15pm most days for the pre-med track while the engin track ends at 4:30pm daily. Those who did not take any sciences in high school went home at 12:30pm most days and just come back for remedial PE.

[Tap]

I was in Texas and was a cheerleader. Cheerleading was a class (like athletics) so I did not have to take PE. If you played any sports for the school, you were put in athletics class instead of PE.

It was that way when I lived there too.  I went to little tiny school (K-12 in one school of less than 100 kids). I was the only high school girl who didn't play a sport or cheer, so they put me in the boys PE class.  There were only a dozen or so of us in the one regular PE class for grades 9-12 because everyone else was in a sport. 

[HSmomof2]

Late 1980's, I took no PE in high school. I had PE waived because I was taking honors classes, foreign language all four years, band, and jazz band.

[gaillardia]

It was that way when I lived there too.  I went to little tiny school (K-12 in one school of less than 100 kids). I was the only high school girl who didn't play a sport or cheer, so they put me in the boys PE class.  There were only a dozen or so of us in the one regular PE class for grades 9-12 because everyone else was in a sport. 

 

I know!What is it about Texas and sports!! They spend millions, MILLIONS of $$$$ on stadiums for high schools and they have kids that can't read.

OH, I'm sorry, Phys Ed class.

I am no way saying what century or decade.

Yes, dumb little one piece outfits, light blue, snaps down the front. Hated that thing.

In high school we were required to have 3 years of P.E. I liked fencing, field hockey, ping pong; but I can't remember if that was my choice or theirs.

Showers were required, as if they gave us enough time.

 

[ChocolateReignRemix]

Two semesters - 1 in 9th and 1 in 10th. Health was the other semester of both years, and I believe was taught by the PE teacher.  I actually enjoyed PE and I still think my 10th grade health class was one of the best classes I ever took.  The PE teacher was the football coach, had great personality, and really took the class seriously.

[LibraryLover]

I know!What is it about Texas and sports!! They spend millions, MILLIONS of $$$$ on stadiums for high schools and they have kids that can't read.

OH, I'm sorry, Phys Ed class.

I am no way saying what century or decade.

Yes, dumb little one piece outfits, light blue, snaps down the front. Hated that thing.

In high school we were required to have 3 years of P.E. I liked fencing, field hockey, ping pong; but I can't remember if that was my choice or theirs.

Showers were required, as if they gave us enough time.

 

 

Sometimes all the 'lesser' readers have is sports. I don't know how we fix this. In other countries, would they be sent to trade programs (which may or may not be good fits/lead to work).  I know so many academically brilliant athletes (Rhodes Scholars) who hit it all out of the ballpark,  and are supremely successful school & monetary-wise.

 

Yet  I've also known physical kids who are gifted in sports,  but not academics. Sports have helped them have a future, although not everyone is going to make it. What happens to those kids who are 'good enough'/don't get a pro spot? What about those how do make it pro, but make poor choices?  Are there even spots for all who are incredible pro athletes?

[LucyStoner]

WA state, mid 1990s. I think 1 year was required. Maybe two. But I went to a small, magnet school without a gym or a PE teacher. All PE credits were awarded for random classes taught by regular teachers or contract instructors. We had tai chi and yoga sometimes, weight training and ultimate frisbee. Wrestling was offered a couple of times. These classes would be like 2-3 hours a week for a semester at a time. Any sport played outside of school or a log kept of exercise could count for PE credit. I played softball in a city league all 4 years so I was good. I did use the weight room at school with a friend and usually took tai chi, yoga and wrestling when offered unless they conflicted with another class I wanted or with my internship and work hours.

[Laura Corin]

PE was compulsory all the way through when I was at school - I'm not sure how many hours a week.  At the boys' school, from age 14 to 16 you get over three hours a week from age 14 to 16, then you need to fulfil 50 hours over the two years from 16 to 18.  The latter activities can be school PE or your choice of extra-curricular, so long as it is certified by a coach.

 

L

[Heather in Neverland]

1 semester of PE and 1 semester of swimming. I hated it.

[MrsMommy]

Six semesters of PE. The only exceptions were one semester of health freshmen year, and one semester of driver's ed, usually sophomore year. Once you were an upperclassman, you did have some PE options, like a semester of strength training, or an all girls class. I have very mixed memories of it. We really did get to do some fun stuff (like roller skating!), but some of the boys freshmen and sophomore year were so mean, and when we were playing flag football and softball, it was a nightmare for me, because I'm horrible at both. But we also got to play basketball, volleyball, tennis, and badminton, which I loved. And gymnastics was fun, although, looking back on it, we did some really unsafe stuff...

 

I'm still trying to block out all the running, though. I don't run, and never have, even when I was in great shape.

[Carrie12345]

4 years, 3 marking periods. (One marking period of Health/Driver's Ed.)

Athletes didn't have to take gym on game days, IIRC.  But they did have to take gym.

[creekland]

NY - mid 80s.  4 years of PE attending every other day.  There were usually 4 - 5 choices of things we could do, but at some point during the year you had to take swimming.  Swimming was dreaded by most since you had all of 15 minutes to go from the pool, through the shower (mandatory and group), then get dressed and to class.  In class one could always tell those students who were coming from swimming. 

 

The one year I spent at a private school in FL we had PE every day - with uniforms and no choice of activities + no showers.  Fortunately, most of the school year was during the cooler part of the year, but once per week our class was just warming up and running a 2 1/2 mile trail, and with no showers afterward, that gave some interesting looks too.  We used the sinks and towels to do what we could.

 

I could have lived without PE, but to be honest, most of what I know about various sports (from archery to golf to square dancing) I did learn from PE.

[linders]

Mid-70s CA. PE every semester. If you were playing a sport (I did tennis), PE was the last period and you just started your sports practice early (sweet on so many levels - no dressing out then changing back into school clothes.)

[Alice]

VA, , graduated in 1990- 2 years of health/PE. I detested PE mostly due to the locker room.

 

Exactly this, except  I graduated in 1989. We alternated 6 weeks of Health with 6 weeks of PE. No choices of what we did for PE. Ugly uniforms. I hated PE in middle school (required all three years) and high school. 

 

 

One quarter each year we had to prep for and then take some state-wide fitness evaluation, which I inevitably failed. In certain things, I did okay, but there were some tasks that, no matter how hard I worked, I could never, ever pass. One I remember specifically was the bent-arm hang thing that they used to make girls do in place of pull ups. We had to stand on a step-stool under the bar and get ourselves into the same position one would be in at the top of a pull up. Then the teacher removed the stool, and we had to hold ourselves there for some specified amount of time. I couldn't do it. It didn't matter how long I spent trying to build up those muscles in the preceding nine weeks; it was not going to happen, ever. In fact, even as an adult during times when I've been in significantly better shape than I was as a teen, I simply cannot do pull ups and related exercises. But we got no points for effort or improvement. If we couldn't meet the guidelines, we were marked down.

 

Who me? Bitter?

 

Me too. I hated that bent-arm thing with a passion. My poor oldest son seems to have inherited my inability to do pullups. He's in pretty good shape and he swims competitively but cannot do a pull-up to save his life. 

[Sherry in OH]

Gym was twice a week for from k-12.   No choice in activities.  High school students on school sports teams were excused from participation on game days.  Girls and boys were in separate classes from upper middle through high school.

[Onceuponatime]

Florida, mandatory 2 years, hideous one piece gym suits for the girls, mandatory participation, sports did not count. We spent part of the year working on the "President's Test for Physical Fitness." The other part of the year we did a variety of things and we got one semester of a chosen activity. I injured my back landing incorrectly on a trampoline, skinned my knees falling on the running track, got chosen last for most team games, and teased for my red canvas sneakers (which my mother bought because someone had stolen my new for school ones). Most of the time I stoically endured  whatever was necessary and got B's for my trouble. I enjoyed my two chosen activities, tennis and gymnastics.

[kewb]

Early 80's NY. All 4 years. Hated every minute of it but looking back it was an excellent pe program. Very well rounded balancing fitness with sports.

[Indian summer]

Only one semester was required by every student - half spent in gym activities (or outdoors) the other half in class, learning anatomy.

 

There was one other elite PE class available, but one had to apply and be accepted.

 

The only units I remember we're badminton and cross country skiing. Oh, and the time I fell on my face carrying a girl piggyback in a relay race. Oye! Not a fan of this kind of PE!

[wendyroo]

Graduated in '99 in Michigan.

 

We had to take 1 semester of PE (which included some swimming) and 1 semester of health.

 

Thankfully, my school was overcrowded, so they started offering summer school PE so that they weren't trying to fit as many kids into the school year classes.  I got my PE and health credits covered by attending morning classes for about 6 weeks over the summer.

 

Wendy

 

[AHASRADA]

I graduated in 1990. PE was required yearly 1-8, but thankfully only 1 1/2 years in high school. We did all those horrible Presidential Fitness tests, etc. in middle school, but not high school. Our classes were always co-ed, but no uniforms (although we did have to change into shorts or track pants). There were showers, but no one ever used them and weren't required. Just changing in front of my peers was traumatic enough. Reading the other responses, I guess it certainly could have been worse.

[Lanny]

Many years ago, when I was in Middle School and High School (in Public Schools in CA) we had Physical Education classes 5 days a week. Especially in high school, I remember doing Push Ups, Jumping Jacks, running, sports, climbing a rope inside the gym if it was raining, etc.

 

The demise of daily and serious Physical Education classes in Middle Schools and High Schools is, IMO, one of the reasons that so many Americans are in such horrible shape. Obese, flabby, unfit to join the military, etc.

 

That the kids now frequently have only 2 days of P.E. each week, and it is so watered down, is a sad state of affairs, probably caused by a combination of funding problems and lack of interest.

 

I believe they should have serious P.E. classes, 5 days a week, but that is unlikely to happen again.

[Night Elf]

I can't actually remember. It was so bad that it feels like I did it every year, but surely not. We had quarters in school, not semesters. I remember taking health so that must have been in the same year as PE. I hated PE. I told the woman teacher that it was not natural for girls to sweat. I think I got on her bad side. I never got higher than a C. I did exactly what was required to pass the class and not anything more.

[MolleenCarie]

Graduated from a public high school in Arkansas in '00. I don't know the requirements, but it must have been 2 years or fewer bc I only did dance team my sophomore and junior years, which gave me an athletics credit that counted as PE.

[EmilyGF]

Late 1990s. We had 2 years of PE, but you could play sports for that period of time instead.

 

My husband's school required 4 years of PE and had an "advanced" class for people who were good at sports. My husband was in the advanced class his senior year, and it was taught by the football coach. 

[Annie G]

I am SO fortunate. Georgia high school, graduated in 1979. NO PE REQUIRED.    After the trauma that was junior high PE, which included zip up one piece gym suits and a required stint in square dancing, I was pretty excited for high school simply because there was no PE required.  

[amy58103]

Late 90's in PA.  Six semesters of PE and two semesters of Health.  PE and Health only met for 2 or 3 days a week.  For PE, if you were on time, changed into gym clothes (shorts and t-shirt supplied by yourself), and participated during class, then you got a B.  In order to get an A  you had to pass the physical at the end of the year.  I don't remember everything that was in the physical, but I do remember you had to run a mile in under 10 minutes, which I was never able to do and therefore never got an A.  There were showers in the locker room, but no one ever used them.  The really crappy thing was that your PE grade was included in your GPA and was often the deciding factor between the valedictorian and the salutatorian. 

[umsami]

We didn't have PE in high school.  Instead, you were required to play three seasons of sports every year except your senior year when you only had to play two.

 

I remember asking if I could take aerobics classes five days per week and lift weights instead of playing a sport one season and I was told no.  I argued that it was far more likely to be something I'd continue, as it was unlikely I'd run into 20 people who wanted to play field hockey….but they were all about the team-building aspects of sporting.  I hear that now, 25-30 years later, one can choose more lifelong physical fitness choices.

[NotSoObvious]

90s in CA. I think 2 years were required but a sport counted. I did marching band (counted) and also dance team. I never took a real PE class in high school, but I did both years of jr. High.

[AmandaVT]

Early 90's in RI - 1 year mixed PE and Health. No gym suits or showers, we just had to be dressed to workout. We were in the gym the whole time and I remember playing ping pong, badminton and whiffle ball. We could lift weights if we wanted too. Mostly we just stood around and chatted until we saw the PE teacher heading our way and we would play something until she went elsewhere. Nothing was organized - we would have around 30 kids in the gym at once, doing whatever we wanted.

[HeWillSoar]

I really don't remember how many years we had to take it but I do remember the swimming class I took, and another time of doing volleyball, which I hated.