@wmwcjr,
Quote: One of the major flaws of the mandatory sports-centered P.E. in our country, the United States, is that hardly any instruction was given as to how particular games were played or how to develop certain skills that are needed in order to play the game well.
That's weird - because that's where I learned all about the rules of games like soccer, volleyball, and basketball - which are the games I never chose to play outside of gym class.
Quote:The hypocrisy of the P.E. establishment was astounding. In my 4th- and 5th-grade P.E., all of us boys would be tested to see how many push-ups and chin-ups we could do, how far we could jump, how fast we could run, etc. In other words, the P.E. teachers knew which boys were falling behind their athletic peers in terms of their physical development. Was any mention made of exercise programs that could have helped the nonathletic boys get into shape? No. In my gym classes in junior high, was any mention ever made of bodybuilding, which would have been great for boys with undeveloped physiques, such as myself when I was that age? No, of course not. I never so much as saw a set in weights in my junior high's gym.
Again, I can remember taking the President's Physical Fitness test and we all got these little papers to take home telling us and our parents how our performance compared to that of the other kids our age around the country. I remember it distinctly - because I was really good at sit-ups and running - but I couldn't do push-ups or chin ups - although I could do the relaxed arm hang where you just had to hang from the bar until you couldn't hang there anymore.
Do you think that maybe the point of that was for the kids themselves, as well as the teachers, to see who needed work where and for them (the P.E. teachers) then to incorporate games into their lessons that would work on the overall fitness of the students?
Because let's face it - if you can't run - running for at least part of an hour every day is going to increase your endurance and ability to run. It's not rocket science. Maybe the P.E. teachers expected people to be self-directed in their efforts to improve their fitness outside of class- because if someone is sedentary from childhood- there's a reason they're sedentary. They feel more comfortable being sedentary.
I was the kind of kid that unless I was reading a book - I was moving - on my own, walking the dog, playing jumprope, ice skating, sledding, etc. There are other kids that you cant pay to move and get outside. A P.E. teacher could nag these kids all they wanted and those kids would still rather sit inside.
They best teacher is experience. If the teacher gives a kid an experience, it's then up to the kid to either pick up on it and expand it or leave it lay.
Quote: No. In my gym classes in junior high, was any mention ever made of bodybuilding, which would have been great for boys with undeveloped physiques, such as myself when I was that age?
I think that has more to do with age appropriate activity that won't harm or negatively impact joints and bones during sensitive and critical growth periods. By highschool - every highschool I ever worked in had a weight room - that anyone - including teachers could use. Again, it's self-direction.
Quote:I heard of Remedial Math and Remedial English but never Remedial P.E.
It's called Adaptive P.E. and it's legally mandated.
Quote:The truth of the matter is that the mandatory traditional sports-centered P.E. of the "Baby Boom" generation was absolutely dreaded by physically weak and overweight boys because of its cruelty and stupidity. These kids were frequently bullied. Fortunately, though, there now is a movement to reform P.E. in this country. Whether it actually catches on and succeeds remains to be seen.
I think it's much, much, much more about individual fitness now. Schools expect that students who want to play a sport at the highschool level will have had YEARS of experience playing that sport on outside teams in the community. No one is under the impression anymore that a student can play a sport at a competitive level simply from having played that sport in a P.E. class now and then.
