quote:

Originally posted by bluedemocrat:
I guess that I agree with you in a sense. But is students are learning about a healthy lifestyle at home/school, then where are they going to learn it? It seems like schools are the last place where obesity can be fought.

Well, it's perfectly sensible to create a Health class separate from PE. And then just let students choose. If they want to learn about being healthy in theory (the Health class) or through the practical way (the PE class). Either way would be beneficial and would teach students about a healthy lifestyle.

However, while I would accept this as a compromise, I still feel that both classes are useless. I didn't learn anything I didn't already know and neither did any of my peers. The curriculum for health class is useless and a waste of time.

And, by the way, you don't get obese just by not exercising. I didn't regularly exercise until this year and I, while I was overweight, I was never obese (yes, they are different) and, since I've started exercising regularly, I have seen absolutely no change in my body at all.

quote:

I think that gym should be required in schools. Without gym, some kids never take part in any type of exercise. Also, PE is a chance to interact on a different level in school. In addition, PE is a nice break in the day.

Interact on a different level? That different level, as I have seen it, has been a humiliating level for naturally overweight kids and kids who are not athletically inclined. It's torture. Yes, it lets students interact on a different level but a different level in which they become humiliated and stressed out and intimidated by kids whose butts they could kick in an academic class.

As for a nice break in the day...I didn't view gym as a nice break in the day. I dreaded it. I had it the last period of the day and all day I would pray that we wouldn't have to do anything that would single me out and that I could just get through the period without feeling completely tortured. A nice in break in the day my butt.

i think i may agree with yogore for once in my natural life. i like to workout, i love sports. i am on the crosscountry team, i like to run long distances, and i am on the rowing team. Now sports have opened lots of doors interms of colleges for me. Our rowing season has been one at a national level, and the door to every ivy has been opened by atheletic recruitment, and if i play my cazrds right, i just may be entering one of those doors with a low B average only because of rowing really. Sports have helped me a lot, but i understand that not everyone loves them and people would rather spend time on academics as theit path to sucess.

as i see it pe and sports should not really be compulsory, or at least only minimally. People who want more time to spend studying should get it, because that is how they will get into a good college. Their A+ average will open doors to wherever they want to go, but if made to do pe they would not have the A+ average hence no door. for me i chose to do rowing. of course my average suffered because of practice 6 days a week from november to well september (it aint over yet). During these months i sweated, toiled, lifted, dieted, erged, and was forced to make lightweight. it was unpleasent, but then again so is studying. Studying though pays off when you recive a 98% on something. my rowing paid off when our ltwt 8 medaled at multiple national regattas. those wins right there are a ticket into some great schools, just as an A+ is. I would never normally get into an ivy with a B average, but now with rowing on my side, it is possible. But then again if you chose to focus on academics and have strait A's you have the same shot I do. Either path, academic or atheletic can bring you sucess. BUT YOU SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO CHOOSE.

(oh and if you dont know what rowing is you can ask, some people dont, and if you do know what it is and think its a ***** sport i can throw some stats at you)

Some people don't want that break though. PE can be veiwed very easily as a waste of time and money. Excercizing is good, but that's not what going to school is for. i think health class is where healthy life styles need to be taught.

quote:

But is students are learning about a healthy lifestyle at home/school, then where are they going to learn it? It seems like schools are the last place where obesity can be fought.

I think that gym should be required in schools. Without gym, some kids never take part in any type of exercise. Also, PE is a chance to interact on a different level in school. In addition, PE is a nice break in the day.

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Blue, we normally agree, but did you simply not read the points I made? You didn't address them at all and simply repeated the same thing you've been saying.

I really don't have a leg to stand on here. Your points make sense. Even if gym classes don't motivate most kids, some kids are motivated even slightly. That's worth it for me.

I guess that I agree with you in a sense. But is students are learning about a healthy lifestyle at home/school, then where are they going to learn it? It seems like schools are the last place where obesity can be fought.

Our highschoolr equires gym every year for one period. So, 48 minutes for 180 days a year. The state however does not require gym at all, so many people are getting around taking it. I got around it this year by taking Chemistry and because that's where harassment is very previlant in my school.

While it is important to excercze, if you wouldn't do it on your own, you won't do it in gym. I used to skip gym 3 out of 5 days a week and I was passing with a B+ and I'm actually healthier now that I've stopped taking gym all together. i think gym gives stress to many kids because it is so easy to be made fun of in that setting. School is for academics, not who is better at a silly game. It's not my schools job to make me healthy, it's my schools job to give me the information I will need to suceed in a career that I chose.

Those are some weird high-school schedules....we had A and B days in middle school but went to a more normal schedule in high-school.

We have 2 semesters each year, four classes in the first semester (fall), and four different classes in spring semester (spring). But it doesn't switch up classes every other day, just in the next semester. And we only have to have one class/credit of PE our freshman year. If we pass, no more.

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Originally posted by ilovebush:
karate - how do you take it 1 in 4 days? Do yall not have the same class schedule everyday?

At my school, we only have 4 classes a day (each class is 80 minutes long) but we go to the same classes everyday...

At my school we ACE-BDF days or really A and B days. Electives and stuff like that are every other day. 1 in 4 days? wow...hmm...anyway, PE is required by the Board of Regents and the State of NY.

karate - how do you take it 1 in 4 days? Do yall not have the same class schedule everyday?

At my school, we only have 4 classes a day (each class is 80 minutes long) but we go to the same classes everyday...

quote:

Originally posted by benje309:
In New York State, each year you take .5 credit of PE thus equaling 2 full credits. (I take PE every other day)

Every other? Wow, I take it 1 in 4 days. But yeah, each semester is .25, so yeah, you get 2 credits in the end.

Ugh..I gotta tell you, PE was one of the most traumatic times during my adolescent years. Being a more developed gal, it was a never ending source of humiliation...either the guys were making fun, you hated to wear shorts, you started your cycle, I couldn't do the arm hang or someother upper body strength activity or a teacher(who had a crush on me) even teased me in front of a group of guys (my what big thighs you have)...talk about wanting to die! I get the whole needing physical exercise...I later went into sports which was the best thing I could have done...but PE?! Sucked.

quote:

Originally posted by bluedemocrat:
I know gym is hard for non-athletes, but they need to excersise somewhere. Personally, I think that there should be gym for athletes and gym for non-athletes. Simply all students need to excersise.

Blue, we normally agree, but did you simply not read the points I made? You didn't address them at all and simply repeated the same thing you've been saying.

Yes, students need to exercise. But some are not gonna. Gym isn't gonna make them. Refer to my previous response if you have any other arguments.

I know gym is hard for non-athletes, but they need to excersise somewhere. Personally, I think that there should be gym for athletes and gym for non-athletes. Simply all students need to excersise.

As far as I know it's not required at my school, at least I've never had to take PE here.

In New York State, each year you take .5 credit of PE thus equaling 2 full credits. (I take PE every other day)

I like gym, I hate how you get graded on "skill" though. Tha's the only part that sucks for me. I never used to be athletic, but I've almost always loved gym, even if I hated the teacher.

dont worry aninvertedlove - I feel the exact same hate for PE as you do. I had to take it all through elementary school and then since I was in band, I only had to take it for a semester in sixth grade. I didnt have to take it again until I got into the ninth grade and (since I was no longer in band) I had to take a 9 week running course. I hated it because I had to take it from August - October (one of the hottest times in FL) and the class was from 10:45- 12:45 (the hottest part of the day). Even though I like running, I hate being told how much and when I could stop. It just so happened that by the end of the class, we had to run for 20 minutes straight without stopping - something that I could do but hated doing it.

After the running class, I had to take a 9 week recreational fitness class. All this consisted of (to me) was standing in the back of a pit of sand for volleyball, watching the macho guys attempt to show off. Then, once we played football, it consisted of me standing in the back, talking to my friends who were equally uninterested in the game. For all the games we played, I was never forced to play because my teacher could care less, and I didnt learn anything about sports that I will never play again.

After that grueling, boring semester, I [thankfully] longer have to take PE classes while I'm in high school. The school does offer "club sports" classes if you love playing awful games in the hot sun. I personally will spend my time learning things that will actually be beneficial in the real world.

This upcoming year when I will be a sohpmore I will not be particinpating in PE. I loate Pe too but I admire those who are fit to do it. In our schools our physical education teachers are either "too fit" or "fat". Since I cant do pe due to bulimia I have to do something else to count as a physical education class. I will keep posted on what they decide for me.

quote:

Originally posted by bluedemocrat:
Excersise is really, really important. If kids aren't excersing in sports or independently at home, than they need to do it at school. Obesity is a huge problem. Requiring gym for "non-active" students would be a great starting point.

While I agree that exercise is important, there are several things I would like to point out:

1. My school requires only one semester of gym out of 8 semesters in your entire high-school career. That is 1 class out of 32 for an hour and a half of 90 days that you will spend in 720 total days of school throughout high-school. This is the way it is in the majority of schools that I have heard of. Therefore, this does nothing to help the obesity problem.

2. Most gym classes do some good warmup exercises (stretching, crunches, push-ups, jumping jacks, etc.) for about 10 to 15 mintues and then run/jog for the next 10 minutes or less. Then they play some kind of game/do some kind of activity that requires little physical exertion, especially if you don't wish to do it in the first place. So, even if gym is required, it is still useless at helping obesity.

3. Most gym classes simply humiliate overweight kids, not help them. It shows to their peers their greatest weakness to the forefront and exploits it, making them even more susceptible to taunts than usual. In this case, it harms obese kids more than it helps them.

4. If an obese kid does not wish to exercise, there are several ways around it in a gym class. You can forget your uniform for a couple of days, ask to sit out for feeling sick and do a written assignment, forget your shoes, etc. Or, as stated previously, it is very easy to slack off during the exercises at the beginning of class if you're careful and even easier to slack off during the games since the teacher is more than likely paying more attention to what's going on in the game - not whose staying out of the limelight. Most overweight kids do not want to participate in gym for a number of good reasons and will find away around it. Again, this does not help the obesity problem.

I thought that after sophmore year, you were free from PE? Don't you only need two PE credits?