12-year-old boy dies after being forced to run in 90 degree plus heat

[sweet2ndchance]

I also went to a high school where marching band counted as PE. So did ROTC. But we marched daily. That's why it counted. This was back in the early to mid 90s.

[Lady Florida.]

That's just awful and my heart breaks for that family. I know that teacher will regret what they did for the rest of their life but they should still be held accountable. What they did was cruel.

In Florida middle school kids (not sure about high school) can opt out of PE with a parent waiver. They have to either replace it with another approved elective or the parent has to state that the child will get the required amount of exercise (150 hours per week) on their own. Middle grandchild started middle school this year and opted out. He'll be taking marching band which is one of the approved replacements but he's also quite active. He rides his bike to school (not far but still) and rides it after school when he goes to friends' houses. He's outside often and very active.

 

On 9/4/2023 at 11:53 AM, fairfarmhand said:

See for decades PE has equated with sports. But there’s so much more to wellness and physical health that sports.  I haven’t played a sport in decades but I stay active. I walk, run, garden, stretch, dance, lift weights…it’s like PE is only taught by jocks who think that soccer basketball and other competitive team sports are the only way to wellness. What about yoga? What about dance? Or Pilates or rock climbing? 

This. I was never good at sports and am poorly coordinated for such games. I can't hit or catch a ball to save my life. I miss the basket 90% of the time. I hate running. And I'm not competitive. All of those things mean that back when PE teachers assigned team captains and let those captains choose people, I was always among the last ones chosen. It was humiliating. 

I'm active and always have been but not in a sports kind of way. I walk, I hike, take bike rides, swim, do yoga, go to the gym and use the machines. I still hate running and as the joke goes I'll only run if a bear is chasing me. I wish there had been an opt out when I was in school. I still would have had plenty of active movement without the humiliation of being terrible at All The Sports.

On 9/4/2023 at 2:08 PM, cjzimmer1 said:

Add me to the list of kids who grew up with horrible gym teachers. 

This too. Most of mine were horrible. I'm sure there are wonderful, understanding gym teachers but unfortunately many of us never met them. 

[Lady Florida.]

7 minutes ago, Faith-manor said:

I only ever had one decent P.E. instructor. College.

Oh, I forgot about my college P.E. teacher. I got my A.A. at a local community college before heading off to uni. P.E. was required. My two best friends and I took bowling for one reason and one reason only. The bowling alley was in Cocoa Beach. We all made sure we took early "serious" classes that day and scheduled bowling as our last class of the day. We'd wear our bathing suits under our clothes and go straight to the beach for the rest of the day after class.

I'm terrible at bowling too. The teacher was very patient with me and tried to help me not throw constant gutter balls. I thought for sure I failed the class but she gave me a C. She said it was because she saw how hard I was trying and how much I was struggling. She was the only kind P.E. teacher I ever had but by then I already had developed a hatred of P.E. 

[Kassia]

31 minutes ago, Indigo Blue said:

Dh and I were riding our bikes near the ball field of the local athletic association little league last weekend. Right over the bleachers was a large sign that said something like:

This is a reminder from your child:

I am just a child.

It is just a game. 

The coaches are volunteers.

The umpires are human.

No one is handing out college scholarships today. 

 

We needed this sign when my older son played T ball. Played for one season. Never again. Last day, parents and coaches were screaming at each other. 
 

 

 

Oh I forgot about this!  We experienced this when my kids played baseball.  DH was assistant coach and so many parents complained to him about the head coach being too hard on the kids.  And then one time a coach from another team came up to DH and was really aggressive about something like he wanted to start a fight.  I forgot the details but DH was embarrassed and felt like he looked bad for not engaging but I told him it was the other guy who looked bad for being such a jerk (DH didn't want to look like a wimp).  Our coach's son would cry because his dad would put so much pressure on him and we did have parents screaming at their own kids to play harder/better/faster whatever.  Good grief.  

[Kassia]

17 minutes ago, sweet2ndchance said:

I also went to a high school where marching band counted as PE. So did ROTC. But we marched daily. That's why it counted. This was back in the early to mid 90s.

we marched daily but still had to take PE.  This was in FL in the early to mid 80s.  

[Terabith]

1 hour ago, vonfirmath said:

Marching band is already an alternative to PE  -- when I was a kid I chose an instrument in 6th grade and learned it to get out of PE in high school

AThletics is as well.

I'm pretty sure that's district or state dependent.  I was surprised it doesn't count as such here.

[Harriet Vane]

I have to say that my high school PE teacher, who was also my basketball coach, was the kindest, sweetest person. I had never been athletic before high school. Quite the opposite--I was a total nerdy bookworm. I'm still not totally sure why I joined the basketball team. It was a tiny team for a tiny high school, and I was so defunct as a player that I was only given game time for the last two minutes if we were losing badly enough. My coach--Marcie Harper--was the most kindly, encouraging person and a true teacher at heart. Not only did she help me engage meaningfully in basketball, but she structured gym class in a good way as well. (I was in gym only sometimes, when not in basketball or the one season I ran track.) In gym, we interspersed team sports like soccer with other units like aerobics or bike riding. I still remember both of those units and how much I enjoyed them. And just as significantly, I don't remember dreading the team sports units. Prior to high school, I had the same terrible dread of gym class that others have described here. Coach Harper changed everything, and she made me into a lifetime exerciser. May she be blessed, wherever she is.

[vonfirmath]

24 minutes ago, Terabith said:

I'm pretty sure that's district or state dependent.  I was surprised it doesn't count as such here.

It might be state dependent. I grew up in one part of Texas (though where I started to play and where I actually went to HS were two different cities entirely) and my kids are in a different part -- but I totally never realized that there were places that did not count it.

 

But my mom was in Ohiol And started playing the flute for the same reason.

[Sneezyone]

In CA, when I was a student, band and PE were 0-period courses. Band was AM (EARLY!!) and PE was 7th period (late/last) so students could travel to meets/games/matches without sacrificing class time. Why isn't this a thing everywhere?

[ScoutTN]

My college freshman (dancer, no team sports) just discovered that she can get a PE credit for ballroom dancing! ❤️this. 
 

I got my lifeguard certificate in high school PE one year. That was cool.

[Tree Frog]

This was a horrible situation and should've never happened. I can't imagine how horrible that student felt before he collapsed. 

My son received PE credit for marching band. My dd, who was a competitive swimmer and swam more hours in a week than a week in PE, still had to take PE. She hated the first semester, in part because of the other students, but the second semester the PE teacher let her be the "manager". She had to wash uniforms, and assist the teacher as needed. It left much time for reading. 

I had an epiphany about a year ago. I hated PE. I was the kid who moved away from the ball because usually I usually couldn't catch it. I thought it was because I was uncoordinated, but I think the actual reason was because I couldn't see it and couldn't determine how fast it was moving towards me. I wish I had been able to articulate it then. I've told myself all my life I'm uncoordinated, but I wonder how much is from PE. It's definitely affected how hard I've not tried other forms of exercise. 

[Melissa Louise]

27 minutes ago, Tree Frog said:

This was a horrible situation and should've never happened. I can't imagine how horrible that student felt before he collapsed. 

My son received PE credit for marching band. My dd, who was a competitive swimmer and swam more hours in a week than a week in PE, still had to take PE. She hated the first semester, in part because of the other students, but the second semester the PE teacher let her be the "manager". She had to wash uniforms, and assist the teacher as needed. It left much time for reading. 

I had an epiphany about a year ago. I hated PE. I was the kid who moved away from the ball because usually I usually couldn't catch it. I thought it was because I was uncoordinated, but I think the actual reason was because I couldn't see it and couldn't determine how fast it was moving towards me. I wish I had been able to articulate it then. I've told myself all my life I'm uncoordinated, but I wonder how much is from PE. It's definitely affected how hard I've not tried other forms of exercise. 

I remember being PE-shamed in Kindergarten! Because I couldn't catch the ball. It really set the tone.

I had a sporty boyfriend who taught me to catch - it took about 2 min. He saw I was flinching and not keeping my eye on the ball. so once we fixed that, all good. It's bizarre to me that a kindergarten teacher wouldn't have taken the same 2 min to teach a 4-year-old.

[Sneezyone]

This isn't about exercise. It's about control, who has it, who can exercise it, and against whom. When I last went to CA (same area) to see my Dad, this was evident. People in the area have bought hook, line, and sinker into the 'teach my child to be obedient' and they'll be ok mantra. That's not true, at all. Kids, and adults, have to learn to exercise DISCERNMENT, to separate fact from fiction and truth/verifiable opinion and information, from fiction/opinion, and use historical precedent to find through lines. This kiddo was in MIDDLE SCHOOL. Playing by the rules and doing what the teacher said didn't save him from harm/death (which SURELY his parents believed). Being a contrarian ass would have. Obedience isn't the highest-order good. Discernment is. I am so, completely opposed to teaching obedience that I may be blind, but I'd rather die than to submit to this foolishness and I hope my kids take/have taken note. This wasn't a high school. It was a middle school with a young kid who believed doing what he was told would keep him safe. It didn't. Parents, THEY NEED YOU TO HELP PUT THESE DIRECTIVES IN PERSPECTIVE! ALSO-- Historians RAWK!

Edited September 6, 2023 by Sneezyone

[Heartstrings]

20 minutes ago, Sneezyone said:

This isn't about exercise. It's about control, who has it, who can exercise it, and against whom. When I last went to CA (same area) to see my Dad, this was evident. People in the area have bought hook, line, and sinker into the 'teach my child to be obedient' and they'll be ok mantra. That's not true, at all. Kids, and adults, have to learn to exercise DISCERNMENT, to separate fact from fiction and truth/verifiable opinion and information, from fiction/opinion, and use historical precedent to find through lines. This kiddo was in MIDDLE SCHOOL. Playing by the rules and doing what the teacher said didn't save him from harm/death (which SURELY his parents believed). Being a contrarian ass would have. Obedience isn't the highest-order good. Discernment is. I am so, completely opposed to teaching obedience that I may be blind but I'd rather die than to submit to this foolishness and I hope my kids take/have taken note. This wasn't a high school. It was a middle school with a young kid who believed doing what he was told would keep him safe. It didn't. Parents, THEY NEED YOU TO HELP PUT THESE DIRECTIVES IN PERSPECTIVE! ALSO-- Historians RAWK!

They need to know their parents will back them, if they are right.  I would hope my kids would have looked that teacher in eye and said “No. Call my mom if that’s a problem”. and just sat on the bleacher or walked to the office.  “Ms. Secretary, you’ll need to call my mom.  PE Coach will be here or call you in a minute. I’m not speaking another word until my mom gets here. Thank you ma’am”.   I teach them to do it with cops, I taught them to do it at school when they went. It’s the same process.  Be polite. Demand your mom (or lawyer depending on age) then STFU.   STFU being the hardest and most important part.  
 

I’m sure that upsets teachers, but I don’t actually care.  I will back the teacher if my kid is wrong, but a teaching degree doesn’t turn a person into Ms. Never Wrong.   I don’t teach my kids blind obedience, and teachers shouldn’t expect blind support.  That’s how you end up with situations like the different church’s and their molestation scandals.  Blind obedience and blind support of adults creates VICTIMS.  

Edited September 6, 2023 by Heartstrings

[Sneezyone]

4 minutes ago, Heartstrings said:

They need to know their parents will back them, if they are right.  I would my kids would have looked that teacher in eye and said “No. Call my mom if that’s a problem”. and just sat on the bleacher or walked to the office.  “Ms. Secretary, you’ll need to call my mom.  PE Coach will be here or call you in a minute. I’m not speaking another word until my mom gets here. Thank you ma’am”.   I teach them to do it with cops, I taught them to do it at school when they went.
 

I’m sure that upsets teachers, but I don’t actually care.  I will back the teacher if my kid is wrong, but a teaching degree doesn’t turn a person into Ms. Never Wrong. I don’t teach my kids blind obedience, and teachers shouldn’t expect blind support.  That’s how you end up with situations like the different church’s and their molestation scandals.  Blind obedience and blind support of adults creates VICTIMS.  

ALL DAY, EVERY DAY. I will back my kids when they are right. When they're wrong, I will say so to them and others and discipline appropriately. Thus far, I have only ever had to go to bat for them...and win. I don't excuse skipped classes or failed tests or blah, blah, blah. When it matters tho? Katie bar the door!

Edited September 6, 2023 by Sneezyone

[Frances]

6 hours ago, ScoutTN said:

My college freshman (dancer, no team sports) just discovered that she can get a PE credit for ballroom dancing! ❤️this. 
 

I got my lifeguard certificate in high school PE one year. That was cool.

I had the most amazing PE teacher for k12, except 7-8, in my small, rural Midwest school district. We did ballroom dancing and had a school wide ballroom dance competition at the end with every student in the school participating. We learned square dancing. And when I say learned, I mean learned. Everyone could square dance quite well by the end of the unit. When my high school added football and volleyball my freshman year, we did flag football and volleyball and learned all of the rules, etc. etc. During my four years of high school, I learned so many new sports skills and had a great time doing it. He was also an award winning baseball coach and sent several player from my small high school to D1 colleges on baseball scholarships (all were good students and also became academic all Americans) and they were later drafted, although none made it to the big leagues.

I think his positive and thorough approach to PE and no cut sports teams had a pretty profound effect on all sports at my school. Virtually everyone did at least one sport, two or three were the norm. All of our teams were huge, despite only about 250 students at the school. Regardless, everyone still had to take PE every semester all four years. While academics were my strength, I loved PE and always looked forward to it. I think a good PE teacher can be an amazing asset to a school and have a profound effect on students. One of my current neighbors is an award winning PE teacher.

Edited September 6, 2023 by Frances

[Frances]

9 hours ago, Lady Florida. said:

Oh, I forgot about my college P.E. teacher. I got my A.A. at a local community college before heading off to uni. P.E. was required. My two best friends and I took bowling for one reason and one reason only. The bowling alley was in Cocoa Beach. We all made sure we took early "serious" classes that day and scheduled bowling as our last class of the day. We'd wear our bathing suits under our clothes and go straight to the beach for the rest of the day after class.

I'm terrible at bowling too. The teacher was very patient with me and tried to help me not throw constant gutter balls. I thought for sure I failed the class but she gave me a C. She said it was because she saw how hard I was trying and how much I was struggling. She was the only kind P.E. teacher I ever had but by then I already had developed a hatred of P.E. 

PE seems like one of those classes that should only be graded P/F based on attendance and effort.

[El...]

I'm trying to remember the book that talked about using fitness tech in pe classes (funding is a problem, i know). I think it was Spark. He talked about putting heart-rate monitors on kids who were running a time per day, and finding that the kid with the most aerobic improvement was the slowest one. She was really busting it, in a way the fleeter kids weren't. It changed his teaching life.

Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain https://a.co/d/d4vgbNR

Maybe teachers can be taught things like that. Most of these horror stories aren't about knowledge, though. 😒

[Melissa Louise]

You guys have to do PE in college?!

 

[sweet2ndchance]

19 minutes ago, Melissa Louise said:

You guys have to do PE in college?!

 

You usually have to have a credit in PE but it's not what you normally think of as PE. You can usually choose from things like a tennis class or aerobics or even bowling at some colleges. It's not usually a general PE class like you do in grade school through high school.

[ScoutTN]

43 minutes ago, Melissa Louise said:

You guys have to do PE in college?!

 

No, but one can. We could have 2 PE courses count toward graduation. 

Edited September 6, 2023 by ScoutTN

[JustEm]

1 hour ago, Melissa Louise said:

You guys have to do PE in college?!

 

I have never heard of this.  You certainly could take PE related classes as elective credits.  My brother took ballroom dance in college as an elective.  I didn't take any PE classes as my electives though

[historically accurate]

1 minute ago, hjffkj said:

I have never heard of this.  You certainly could take PE related classes as elective credits.  My brother took ballroom dance in college as an elective.  I didn't take any PE classes as my electives though

I went to a liberal arts college for a history degree; we had to take  "Lifetime Fitness", which was basically PE bookwork, and two activity classes. I took Badminton and being on the Field Hockey team counted for the other. 

[Kassia]

1 hour ago, Melissa Louise said:

You guys have to do PE in college?!

 

I did back in the mid-80s.  I can't remember if it was two semesters or one.  I think I've seen some colleges require it when my kids were looking.  But it was always a variety of activities you could choose from (same with mine).  

[Faith-manor]

10 minutes ago, Kassia said:

I did back in the mid-80s.  I can't remember if it was two semesters or one.  I think I've seen some colleges require it when my kids were looking.  But it was always a variety of activities you could choose from (same with mine).  

I think nearly all of the colleges have changed to lots of choice. Youngest ds didn't have to have P.E. credit, the first year his college did not require it of the engineering majors. Everyday he else had to take it. But the deans were determined to make it possible to graduate in four years and with other Gen Eds and at majors that required 90 hours to complete, it was becoming nearly impossible to schedule it all, and have and elective or two in their majors. So they dropped P.E. (which was not needed because students on campus walk a two mile round trip daily to get to the engineering department where there isn't enough parking to be able to take their cars if they have them, and the road is so nasty it can't be biked in the winter - many of them snowshoe or cross country ski to class and the maintenance department provides rides for all disabled students) and their foreign language requirement. He graduated in four years and was, physically fit! LOL, this is very common though with the campuses in the Upper Peninsula. The kids who attend are already the ones that love the great outdoors, walking, hiking, climbing, etc. and choose these campuses for that lifestyle.

The other two boys had to have 3 credits of P.E. DD however, got it waived, and I think that had something to do with being a paramedic and working per diem on the weekends. Since there was a physical fitness requirement in order to work the job, I think her advisor got it her out of it. Back when I was in college, EVERYBODY got saddled with it, and they would do a college version of an IEP for disabled students. I knew a girl who was parapalegic who had to meet with the t.a. every week for upper body strengthening workouts with weights and what not in order to meet the requirement.

Are there any colleges left that still have the swim test requirement in order to graduate? I know that was a thing back in my parents' time.

[knitgrl]

30 minutes ago, Faith-manor said:

Are there any colleges left that still have the swim test requirement in order to graduate? I know that was a thing back in my parents' time.

My dad went to college in the 60's. He hated PE (esp. as an art student), but it was a required class. He faked not knowing how to swim, and made tremendous improvement in swimming one semester. 🤣

[MercyA]

2 hours ago, sweet2ndchance said:

You usually have to have a credit in PE but it's not what you normally think of as PE. You can usually choose from things like a tennis class or aerobics or even bowling at some colleges. It's not usually a general PE class like you do in grade school through high school.

I took Beginning Horsemanship to fulfill my credit. 🐴 

My horse's name was What. What was used for a lesson right before my PE class. He carried a disabled little girl and he was so gentle and so careful with her. He was a pill for me. 🙂 

[happypamama]

7 hours ago, Frances said:

PE seems like one of those classes that should only be graded P/F based on attendance and effort.

Agreed!!

 

I found it very much not okay that our school threw the football players in the same gym class as me, who was tiny and not athletic. They had us tracked for academics, why not athletics? And while everyone would have jumped down my throat if I'd ever teased someone for a lesser grade, nobody cared that I got teased for not being able to run fast or whatever. Congratulations, schools, I'm mid 40s and hate exercise, so how'd that work out?

 

The one saving grace was that we also had written tests each sports unit on rules and terms, which also counted as part of our grade, so at least my lack of athletic ability did not kill my GPA. 

 

In college, we had to do two PE classes. For one, I took fitness for life, where we learned about nutrition, sneakers, and such, and we also had to do some sort of activity of our choice and record it, and the other was similar. So we could work on the weight machines or take a hike in the woods, and it was all good. 

 

We had square dancing in middle school, which was terrible. Middle school kids do not want to link arms because ew, cooties, LOL. 

 

 I am so, so sorry for that family and that child. That should absolutely never have happened. 

[Granny_Weatherwax]

56 minutes ago, Faith-manor said:

<snip>

Are there any colleges left that still have the swim test requirement in order to graduate? I know that was a thing back in my parents' time.

Washington and Lee did as of 5 years ago

[stephanier.1765]

When I was in high school, I played sports both for the school and outside of school and was still required to take PE. We needed 2 credits so my best friend and I decided we didn't want to sweat during the school year (this was in Florida) and took our PE at summer school the summers before our Freshman and Sophomore years. I'd bike 3.5 miles to school, finish about lunch time, bike to my babysitting gig, then bike home in time to go practice or play for my allstar softball team. How I never suffered from a heat stroke I don't know. Back then it was expected that children would be outdoors. During the summer, we weren't allowed in the house except to go the bathroom or eat and that was the same for all the kids I knew. Were we better inured to it or were the summers less relentless? Both, probably. Luckily, we didn't have any jerk PE teachers either to make things worse.

[Heartstrings]

3 hours ago, Melissa Louise said:

You guys have to do PE in college?!

 

I did not.  Seriously not sure I would have gotten a degree if I had needed to.  What a waste of time and money.  My school was $250 a credit hour, that's $750 for a 3 credit hour course of PE, a couple of months of forced exercise?   No sir.  Not to mention at the more expensive colleges!  

Edited September 6, 2023 by Heartstrings

[kbutton]

13 hours ago, Tree Frog said:

 

I had an epiphany about a year ago. I hated PE. I was the kid who moved away from the ball because usually I usually couldn't catch it. I thought it was because I was uncoordinated, but I think the actual reason was because I couldn't see it and couldn't determine how fast it was moving towards me. I wish I had been able to articulate it then. I've told myself all my life I'm uncoordinated, but I wonder how much is from PE. It's definitely affected how hard I've not tried other forms of exercise. 

Not being able to see where a ball was when it got close was one of my kid’s main symptoms for convergence problems with his eyes. Vision therapy fixed it. He also had trouble crossing the midline/having proportional mirror movements (he swam like he had a Nemo fin on one side, and if he concentrated on making a full movement, the Nemo fin would switch to the other side), and that was also fixed with VT work.

[Spryte]

Marching band didn’t take the place of PE back when I was in high school either.  Nor did sports inside/outside of school. 

My 10th grade sadistic PE story: a heart condition meant running long distances was ok, but no sprinting. PE teacher knew—a letter from the cardiologist went to the school every year—and it was no big deal, other PE teachers assigned other things. Except, whoa, did this one hate me (I found out later that it wasn’t personal, it was anyone with any medical stuff going on. She treated the track star terribly after they broke their leg, too.). At the end of the year, PE teacher told me she’d fail me for the year if I did not participate in the sprinting activity of the day. When I tried to say no, there was a lot of yelling. I was petrified of having a class with her again, so I did it. I was too intimidated not to do it. Man, did I get sick. I made it home, and fell into bed. Afterward, my parents called the principal, there was a meeting with principal and gym teacher, many words were said, the yearly letter was pulled out, and I passed PE and happily never saw her again. But there was a recovery time — I can’t recall now how long, I think a week, ten days, maybe? It put a dent in the start of summer, for sure.

I can’t even imagine a middle schooler in that position. I am so heartbroken for that family. 

 

 

 

[Corraleno]

I hated PE (along with pretty much everything else about HS), and I skipped my junior year so I graduated at 16. I took English 11 the summer after 10th, but there was no option for PE in summer school, so the school made me take double PE as a senior — and since I had a full schedule, they made me skip lunch 3x/week to fit it in. And both PE classes were on the same days, with other classes between them, so I would have to change for PE, change back for class, then change back for PE2, then change back for afternoon classes. I tried to argue that the rule about 4 yrs of PE was obviously intended to mean "take PE every year you're in school," not "force a student go all day without eating in order to play dodgeball twice a day," and I asked to do an alternative for the 4th PE credit, like research and write papers on health and fitness topics, and I was told no, rules are rules, we can't possibly be flexible or rational or practical about this. To which I replied that this kind of thing was exactly the reason I was trying to graduate early and get the hell out of there!

[Indigo Blue]

When I was in elementary school, I remember being terrified of my tiny wrist being broken or my shoulder being ripped from its socket during that game where you lock arms and have someone on the other team try to barrel through and break your arms apart. 
 

Of course, the biggest guy in the class is going to want to win by breaking through what he perceived as a weak link. I remember trying to pull my arm loose from the other person with all my might as I saw the strongest kid in the class set his aim for my tiny arm and start running. 

[Corraleno]

3 hours ago, ScoutTN said:

No, but one can. We could have 2 PE courses count toward graduation. 

That's how DS's university does it — it's not required, but there are lots of 1-2 credit activity classes offered (graded Pass/Fail) and students can count up to 4 credits towards graduation. 

The local CC does require at least one course in the "Health and Wellness" category for an AA degree, but it doesn't have to be a physical activity class, it can be something like nutrition or First Aid/CPR.

I did not have to take any kind of PE in college back in the 1970s.

[Jaybee]

10 hours ago, Frances said:

PE seems like one of those classes that should only be graded P/F based on attendance and effort.

My miserable relationship with PE started when we began having PE as a class in 4th grade. Before then, we ran and played and climbed during recess, which I enjoyed. But that year was when the Presidential Award for Physical Fitness was introduced in our schools. The PE teacher took it seriously, and one 6-week period was devoted to it. With no real introduction to the skills, we started being tested for it (not that preparation would have helped me much). That was the year I learned how bad I was at sports and physical events. I physically couldn't do many of the things (pull-ups, for instance), and was very slow at others. I practiced and practiced to do sit-ups, and the night before was able to do a few. On test day, I could only do half that number though. I became so anxious and upset through that time, that I threw up. I had always been a straight-A student. The only non-A I received in K-12 was the D I was given that semester, and that was a generous grade considering my performance. I felt the shame deeply. I guess my teacher might have thought I wasn't trying, but I was giving my all. And I agree with the above. However, I did often think that maybe the same efforts applied for others in academics, and perhaps it was good for me to be able to identify with how they felt sometimes.

My PE teachers for 6-8 and 9-12 were the PE teachers for those schools, so I had them the whole time I was in the schools. They were not unkind. I just couldn't do (or do well) what was expected. In 8th grade, my teacher gave me one 6-weeks off if I would type up a long report for her during PE that she needed to turn in for accreditation. (Old style manual typewriter--I'm old.) She knew I'd jump at the chance, I was an excellent typist, and that sounded like a great deal to me! I finished it in two weeks, and she stuck to the deal, so I read while sitting on the bleachers the rest of that time period. It was glorious! The high school teacher is the one who let me walk during track that time. She also allowed another student and me to have different parameters for the gymnastics sections where we were not required to do the same things. She probably saw that we could have been really injured if those had been the expectations. Again, I was trying--I dressed out almost every day (we had two "free" days every six weeks we could use if we didn't feel well), so they could see that I was making efforts.

My university didn't have any PE requirements, but my sisters' did. However, they had fun choices like those mentioned above.

Oh, and I did love it when we did the square dancing/folk dancing sections--that was so much fun to me, and it was something I could do.

ETA: I loved to swim, though I never was in a position to actually learn proper technique. But we swam all summer long. When I was in college, at least the last two years, I swam laps in the Olympic-sized pool 3x/week, and just loved it. I'm afraid if it had been a PE option, I would have learned to hate swimming too, but as it was, I still enjoy it when I have the opportunity. I also finally learned to waterski. It look me lots longer to learn than it did my friends, but they were patient with me, and I absolutely loved it, learned to slalom, and skied every chance I got, though it has been decades now since I had the chance. I wouldn't be able to, now, but it gave me a lot of joy back in the day.

Edited September 6, 2023 by Jaybee

[Spryte]

On the university PE requirement: my uni, in the 1990s, allowed 2 PE credits toward graduation, and anything beyond that we just took P/F but neither impacted our GPA. All were 1 credit courses, so cost felt reasonable at the time.

I hated PE in high school (see previous post), but by uni — I enjoyed some of my classes. My family was big into “take one PE class that you enjoy every year, so you form that lifelong habit” — and I did. I took yoga, running, weightlifting, aerobics, whatever sounded fun at the time. That was a mellow, good PE experience. 

[Faith-manor]

37 minutes ago, Corraleno said:

I hated PE (along with pretty much everything else about HS), and I skipped my junior year so I graduated at 16. I took English 11 the summer after 10th, but there was no option for PE in summer school, so the school made me take double PE as a senior — and since I had a full schedule, they made me skip lunch 3x/week to fit it in. And both PE classes were on the same days, with other classes between them, so I would have to change for PE, change back for class, then change back for PE2, then change back for afternoon classes. I tried to argue that the rule about 4 yrs of PE was obviously intended to mean "take PE every year you're in school," not "force a student go all day without eating in order to play dodgeball twice a day," and I asked to do an alternative for the 4th PE credit, like research and write papers on health and fitness topics, and I was told no, rules are rules, we can't possibly be flexible or rational or practical about this. To which I replied that this kind of thing was exactly the reason I was trying to graduate early and get the hell out of there!

Rational is definitely not a thing. It should be illegal to withhold food/meals from a student. Sadistic is what it is.

[Indigo Blue]

In high school we had gymnastics for PE class. We were made to attempt, IMO, some things that were above the skill set of the average person, but most seemed to do ok with it. Not me. They had us doing things like vaulting off that vaulting horse thing, advanced things on the trampoline, and mini tramp stuff. The trampoline was in the gym and the spotters were the students. Some of the athletic guys did daring stuff, and I thought, man, this is an accident waiting to happen. 
 

I remember lining up behind other students to take a running start, land on the mini tramp, bounce high, then use your arms to catapult over the vault. I could not do that. I just made a half attempt at bouncing, then ran around the vault and back into the line again. I was told to attempt a vault. Again , I just bounced, ran around the vault, back in line. 🙄 Now that this thread has me thinking about that, it makes me think we didn’t hire PE teachers that had a lot of common sense. 
 

We had a crazy good high school gymnastics team. They stopped doing that years ago. Maybe safety reasons? I don’t know. Dh was on the team. He was very good at that. 
 

It was crazy. As was having students for bus drivers. 

Edited September 6, 2023 by Indigo Blue

[happypamama]

54 minutes ago, Indigo Blue said:

When I was in elementary school, I remember being terrified of my tiny wrist being broken or my shoulder being ripped from its socket during that game where you lock arms and have someone on the other team try to barrel through and break your arms apart. 
 

Of course, the biggest guy in the class is going to want to win by breaking through what he perceived as a weak link. I remember trying to pull my arm loose from the other person with all my might as I saw the strongest kid in the class set his aim for my tiny arm and start running. 

Yes, same.  How was that even remotely okay?

[vonfirmath]

58 minutes ago, Corraleno said:

I hated PE (along with pretty much everything else about HS), and I skipped my junior year so I graduated at 16. I took English 11 the summer after 10th, but there was no option for PE in summer school, so the school made me take double PE as a senior — and since I had a full schedule, they made me skip lunch 3x/week to fit it in. And both PE classes were on the same days, with other classes between them, so I would have to change for PE, change back for class, then change back for PE2, then change back for afternoon classes. I tried to argue that the rule about 4 yrs of PE was obviously intended to mean "take PE every year you're in school," not "force a student go all day without eating in order to play dodgeball twice a day," and I asked to do an alternative for the 4th PE credit, like research and write papers on health and fitness topics, and I was told no, rules are rules, we can't possibly be flexible or rational or practical about this. To which I replied that this kind of thing was exactly the reason I was trying to graduate early and get the hell out of there!

Wow. Here in Texas we only need 1 credit of PE to graduate.

When I was in HS it was 2 credits (So half a year of marching band for 4 years covered it)

[elegantlion]

I hated PE in school. I had a bully in 4th grade and her mom was the junior high PE teacher. I'm pretty sure she hated me because I wasn't athletic. I probably had exercise induced asthma then but was never tested for it. I had to run the track and remember the ground starting to move when I was about half way through. 

In college (I was in my 40s) we had to take a health and fitness class where we kept track of exercise. I took it online and just tracked walking or something like that. We also had to take 1 credit of an activity. They had a diverse selection and I took Hapkido - it was one night a week. I enjoyed it for the most part. My stamina and flexibility still suck but I was much stronger than I anticipated. 

[fairfarmhand]

35 minutes ago, Indigo Blue said:

 

It was crazy. As was having students for bus drivers. 

wait....

 

WHAT?

Are you serious?

Holy smoke. 

In

Sane

[rebcoola]

I was a super athlete and hated PE after elemntary school. It was often boring like running laps. If  we played a sport it felt bad to cream the other kids.   When we did the physical fitness test I would finish the thing to get an award without breaking a sweat and end up running and cheering along friends for the rest of the time. None of my sports stuff counted for credit in High school I chose to do JROTC which did give you a PE Credit  ( but  not a career ed credit) even though we only marched maybe once a week.

Now my kids go to a STEM program and they can either count 150 activity hours if they want a credit or the home high school just waves the credit since their are no gym classes.  

[Indigo Blue]

2 minutes ago, fairfarmhand said:

wait....

 

WHAT?

Are you serious?

Holy smoke. 

In

Sane

Oh, yes. Dh was one of them. Drove activity buses, too. This was back in the late 70’s and 80’s. It was actually a group of reasonably responsible students. One time, Dh was driving a school bus on a band contest out of town trip. We were dating at the time, and both of us were in band. I was on the bus. The hood spontaneously flew up on the bus while he was driving down a curvy road, and Dh did an excellent job of maintaining control of the bus until he could pull over. He had to use the rear view mirror to see and guide him. 
 

But….no…..student bus drivers. Just no. Not a good idea. People always react like you did when we tell them about it today. 
 

There is a photo of him in his yearbook. All the student bus drivers (and that’s all we had then) standing in front of a bus, with the rest of them sitting cross legged in a line on top of the bus. I’ll have to ask Dh, but I’m thinking you even got credit for that. 

[Faith-manor]

30 minutes ago, Indigo Blue said:

Oh, yes. Dh was one of them. Drove activity buses, too. This was back in the late 70’s and 80’s. It was actually a group of reasonably responsible students. One time, Dh was driving a school bus on a band contest out of town trip. We were dating at the time, and both of us were in band. I was on the bus. The hood spontaneously flew up on the bus while he was driving down a curvy road, and Dh did an excellent job of maintaining control of the bus until he could pull over. He had to use the rear view mirror to see and guide him. 
 

But….no…..student bus drivers. Just no. Not a good idea. People always react like you did when we tell them about it today. 
 

There is a photo of him in his yearbook. All the student bus drivers (and that’s all we had then) standing in front of a bus, with the rest of them sitting cross legged in a line on top of the bus. I’ll have to ask Dh, but I’m thinking you even got credit for that. 

Well, we don't have that now because the license to drive bus is tougher to get. But what we do have is the local schools using recent 18/19 year old high school graduates as substitute teachers.  Don't start me on what I think of that.

[Terabith]

6 hours ago, Melissa Louise said:

You guys have to do PE in college?!

 

We had to do two different activities, one of which had to have a health for life component.  I took karate and water aerobics, and I loved them both.  
 

I am actually really glad it was a requirement because I went into college in pretty bad shape and thinking I hated physical activity, and I left college in amazing shape and with the memory that there was physical activity I loved.  It allowed me to come back to it with a positive attitude in adulthood and I now do water aerobics twice a week and swim laps four times a week.  I’m also attempting to do yoga three times a week and might add in some weight lifting, though neither of those make me happy the way swimming does.  Swimming is very zen for me.  

Edited September 6, 2023 by Terabith

[Heartstrings]

2 hours ago, Faith-manor said:

Well, we don't have that now because the license to drive bus is tougher to get. But what we do have is the local schools using recent 18/19 year old high school graduates as substitute teachers.  Don't start me on what I think of that.

I wouldn’t put it past them to do it again with as bad as the bus driver shortage is.  They keep loosening child labor jaws in my state, allowing teens to do more dangerous work.   Teens driving the school busses would not shock me in the least.   

[Shoeless]

3 hours ago, Indigo Blue said:

In high school we had gymnastics for PE class. We were made to attempt, IMO, some things that were above the skill set of the average person, but most seemed to do ok with it. Not me. They had us doing things like vaulting off that vaulting horse thing, advanced things on the trampoline, and mini tramp stuff. The trampoline was in the gym and the spotters were the students. Some of the athletic guys did daring stuff, and I thought, man, this is an accident waiting to happen. 
 

I remember lining up behind other students to take a running start, land on the mini tramp, bounce high, then use your arms to catapult over the vault. I could not do that. I just made a half attempt at bouncing, then ran around the vault and back into the line again. I was told to attempt a vault. Again , I just bounced, ran around the vault, back in line. 🙄 Now that this thread has me thinking about that, it makes me think we didn’t hire PE teachers that had a lot of common sense. 
 

We had a crazy good high school gymnastics team. They stopped doing that years ago. Maybe safety reasons? I don’t know. Dh was on the team. He was very good at that. 
 

It was crazy. As was having students for bus drivers. 

We had to do gymnastics, too. Some of it was ok and safe, but there was one thing where the teacher wanted us to jump off this spring board thing, catapult over a wall of mats, and then land our hands and roll into a summersault. It seemed like the best way to break your neck AND your wrists. I refused and boy, was the teacher p.o.ed at me.