Down here in the good old land of Oz, things sure are different!!!<BR>PE?? hmmmm, oh i remember what that is now, back in primary school, it was pretty pointless, but it was fun, and hey we still had our 20 minute recess and half hour lunch to do what we liked. PE consisted mainly of t-ball, tennis, hockey and then later in the year training for the athletics carnnival. we also had a sports shed where all the equipment was stored and at recess you were allowed to borrow whatever you liked (all names and classrooms were recorded!!) and play with it. Pretty cool huh!<BR>There were no fitness tests or written tests, it was all based on participation, and as kids who doesn't love getting to run aroung outdoors acting all crazy like, oh wait, i still like to do that...<BR>Then came high school, and i decided to pursue my dancing at a performing arts school, and as dance students we didn't have to do PE, he he he, YES!!! Because from all acounts the rest of the school hated it and envied us.But we couldn't run the risk of injuring ourselves with those rough and tough boys!! instead we got an extra 3 periods of dance.<BR>But there still wasn't tests to speak of, participation was the main thing, and there was definetly no early morning starts for the PE kids, that was left to us dance kids, but we donn't mind,8 o'clocks not that early.<BR>Then in yr11 they decided we had to do sport as well, but it wasn't PE, it was more like phys rec. We got to chose what we wanted to do, bowling, the beach, pot black, we did yoga for awhile - that was cool! Then we hit on a great idea, you see we just wrote our name on the roll of whichever sport we wanted to do that term, so if we didn't put our name on a roll, we didn't have to go!! Tuesday periods 5&6 where then spent in town eating pasta and drinking coffee, better than bowling in any case!<BR>Then this year we don't have time for PE, its not a choice, its just not there for yr 12 students, we still have dance, and there outdoor ed as an elective - but who has time for an elective!!!<P>And whats this i hear about lockers!!! u guys get lockers!!! and showers!! wow this is just too much, u mean i don't have to lugg all my books to every class if i come to america, wicked!! We did have lockers once, in yr8, but anything left was gone when u came back,even maths books! much safer in your backpack. And u mean we don't have to walk around all smelly and sweaty after dance class!! But i'm not sure about the whole no curtin thing, plus it would cut into dance time, i guess at a performing arts school ppl don't notice those kind of things after awhile. And who was bagging out home lunches!!! i always bring my lunch from home, its got to be better than lining up for that canteen food, plus we don't have a caferteria, and we all eat at the same time, and we still have a 20min recess and half hour lunch, plus i'm not the only one to bring lunch from home, its the done thing!<P>So i'm not sure if PE is really good or bad, i definently think there needs to be a class where we don't have to sit in a chair. I'm thinking the yoga and meditation class was good - we got to sleep in the middle of the day
<P>Just a thought, does anyone else find it amusing that for all the arguments in favour of PE and activity, they are being argued by people sitting down, in front of a computer screen, where the only activity happening is that of the fingers and brain. I can see the weights just dropping of my fingers! i'm a lean, mean, finger machine!
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
<P><BR>PE in middle school was mostly a social time for us dancers. We thought nothing of the 2 mile run to start off the class and took turns leading the "stretch" exercises before and after. Part of the year was co-ed and part was not. We revolted when it was not, because the guys got to lift weights while the girls played field hockey, then the guys wrestled while we "danced" to a small-screen video of Richard Simmons.<P>I remember my PE teacher commenting to me one day that I followed the video very well and should stand in front of the class next day so they could follow me. Um, yeah. I asked her if I could BE the video and just teach the class myself. She didn't care, she just sat and read magazines and drank her coffee anyway. So I taught the rest of the dance portion of PE for that year. I was also excused from band class once a day to teach dance PE for an 8th grade class. (I was in 7th)<P>Back to the weights and wrestling... female PE teacher had a nervous breakdown towards the end of field hockey section, so the girls were thrown in with the guys in the weight room. What fun! At first they only let us spot the guys, we weren't allowed to touch anything but hand-held 1-3lb weights. But when we had memorized the posters on the walls and were lifting the 80lb bench press off the guys' chests when they overestimated themselves, they let us take our turn. <P>PE was on our terms for the rest of middle school, (grade 8 and 9) because we told them what we wanted and proved that we could do it. In Canada we didn't have Presidential exams obviously, but we did have a yearly fitness test that included running, jumping, push ups, sit ups, as well as volleyball, badminton, basketball and floor hockey written and skill tests. Yes, we had written tests in PE. Anything from rules to history was fair game and we had no material to study from. Anyone who didn't score at least 95% was ridiculed because we LIKED this stuff and we should have known it.<P>PE was a mixed experience for me in middle school I guess. The guys enjoyed it, but they were really catered to. Us girls had to fight for what we wanted, but once we proved ourselves, we enjoyed it too.<P>High school was a different experience. Everything was co-ed and tournament style. We started the year with running, 2 min the first day, then 4, then 6, up to 36 minutes. Laps were counted by partners, we ran in two shifts. Since it was a fairly gradual increase in time, 2 min per day, mostly everyone was able to keep up. You had the option of walking, but you had to do both shifts and count your own laps. You were expected to average the same number of laps if not more than the runners in the double time. We had loud music playing the whole time, helps to motivate. For the first week or so when the run was still fairly short, we had free gym to play basketball or whatever in the remaining time. At the end of the running section, we were all fit enough that we were capable of handling the other sports. It was also a great accomplishment for many people to be able to say they ran for 36 minutes, made them feel better about themselves and made them want to get the most out of the rest of the class as well. It was only required for one year in high school, whichever year you wanted to put it in, but the other two years you were required to participate in at least 2 varsity or intramural sports through the year.<P>On top of the daily PE classes, I spent 25 min in the weight room after school before heading off to either a dance team practice in the school theater or one of many classes at my studio. We couldn't use dance as an alternative to PE, except for those precious weeks when I had torn ligaments so badly dancing that the PE teachers caved and let me sit out. They didn't know I was still going to dance classes 4 days/week.<P>In university, there is no required physical activity of any sort. Campus is built on a hill though