PE should be taken out of schools

[Gracesbigsis]

My name is Katie and the reason I have AvPD is because of one subject that was sometimes only 2 days a week. The subject was PE and the kids were brutal. When I was eight years old, a little second grader, I was smaller than the other kids (despite being older than most of them because of when my birthday is) and I was thin and uninterested in athletics. I was never criticised for my looks because, I'm not going to lie, I've always been naturally pretty. But PE class was what shaped people's ego in elementary school and I'm afraid that I just wasn't good at it. I couldn't dribble a basketball or run very fast. People yelled at me. Soon they hit and made me cry right there in the middle of the blacktop. The teacher turned a blind eye to the situation. And it soon extended beyond PE class. The girls laughed at me because I couldn't play sports very well and I didn't watch the TV shows they did. The boys made fun of every word I said. And it all was because of one little subject. This extended beyond even that one year. I switched schools twice and every year I was hated and even beaten for not being good at sports. I soon just kept to myself. I stopped talking to people so they would stop making my words sound asinine. I stopped raising my hand in class so the kids wouldn't laugh at my question. And I stopped trying in PE after I got one teacher who actually did something about it, although, his actions supported and encouraged the bullies instead of the bullied. I just got so used to rejection that I didn't even try to make friends and the friends I did make I clung to so that they wouldn't leave me too. My mom talked to the one PE teacher who bullied me but she never did anything about it, despite loathing him deeply to this day (and she hasn't spoken to him in almost five years).

And why should kids like me be made to suffer? Why is it that the one subject I was very good at isn't offered at elementary schools while all the other related ones are? I was good at drama and that's the one art form not required in schools and that's sick. I think that since PE is active and drama is active, kids should be offered both. And not only that, PE teachers need to step up and treat kids like valuable human beings, not someone who isn't worth it because she can't dribble a basketball. I'm going to have to deal with AvPD for a long time and those kids and teachers who made my life horrible are walking about consequence free without a guilty conscience. Is that right??

 

[Gracesbigsis]

Well, the thing is, PE doesn't have to be hell on Earth. The bad PE teacher I had was when I went to a private school (a really good private school). When I went to public school in high school, PE was only required for one year and there were a lot of choices for specific types of courses. I ended up choosing Aerobics and Fitness and got the best PE teacher I've ever had. She was the sort of teacher who did grade on effort rather than talent since it was a fitness course so we never played any organized sports. I guess I should take back a bit and say that general PE courses should be taken out of schools or maybe elementary school kids should be able to choose between competitive and individual classes. But this bullying should NOT be tolerated and the fact that teachers who teach teamwork and cooperation can't even stand up for kids who have trouble makes me very angry.

 

[bigchris]

I love sports but I sweat like a madman, which really puts me off doing PE.

 

[pandamonium77]

I hate going to PE, I'm the slowest runner in the class and am always afraid that I'm the one who makes people get out of PE late and am afraid that i'll get yelled at by them.. I'm also terrible at sports and get extremely anxious when we're assigned teams for a certain sport... with my luck i usually get stuck with 2-3 jocks, and get yelled at and never get to participate because i "suck at this sport". PE is the most dreaded period of the day for me

 

[meatcake]

I totally agree - if it's okay to do crap like that for PE, then they should do it for all subjects.

Like in math, the teacher would pick the best two people as team captains (and they'd be all arrogant as hell about it, cause they're always the best), they'd pick teams, and be all unenthusiastic when when it gets down to the last few people, and everyone would groan when their team got the worst player.

And then the whole class period is just people going up one by one to the chalk board to work math problems in front of everyone, with both sides yelling and screaming at them, and if they mess up, they're berated and yelled at by their teammates.

The best part though, is towards the end, when the whole game depends on the worst player, and the pressure is so intense, and he's nervous and hoping to God that he gets an easy question, but of course, he makes a mistake, and loses the game for his team, and the whole room erupts into chaos - one side screaming and laughing at how stupid he is, the other booing, hissing, and yelling "you suck!".

Yeah, that's a great way to teach kids.

****!

 

[Noca]

As a future licensed child psychologist I hope to remove PE from schools because of what it does to the less liked students.

 

[nephatitus]

I totally agree - if it's okay to do crap like that for PE, then they should do it for all subjects.

Like in math, the teacher would pick the best two people as team captains (and they'd be all arrogant as hell about it, cause they're always the best), they'd pick teams, and be all unenthusiastic when when it gets down to the last few people, and everyone would groan when their team got the worst player.

.....

The best part though, is towards the end, when the whole game depends on the worst player, and the pressure is so intense, and he's nervous and hoping to God that he gets an easy question, but of course, he makes a mistake, and loses the game for his team, and the whole room erupts into chaos - one side screaming and laughing at how stupid he is, the other booing, hissing, and yelling "you suck!".

Yeah, that's a great way to teach kids.

****!

i was one of the people who was usually picked last and it hurt when i was little, so very badly. soon my parents noticed a change in my behavior asked me about this and i told them how i was being excluded then they got involved with the school and then all of a sudden the pressure was just thrown at me. it didnt help one bit

now i just do things by myself and avoid doing team based activities since im excluded anyway.on a positive note team based objectives actually do hold me back so that negative turned into a positive

 

[mndigi]

Once I just stopped going to PE classes and used to hide in the toilets. In fact I remember skipping going to school on days that had PE classes because some rude kids used to make fun of me in shorts as I was pudgy. But I played a lot in my last 2 years of school (in a different school starting afresh) till I developed chronic back ache which restricted me.

I think the problem isn't with PE itself. It's good to inculcate habits of physical activities in kids. But the way it is done by stomping on others (kids no less!) is nasty. Teasing by kids shouldn't be tolerated at all and the PE teacher should care the most for the least physically active students and try to make them active. After all, the teacher isn't performing his responsibility if he only supports kids who are physically active! (not to mention, trampling upon the less active kids).

 

[Teardrop]

Mndigi is right. Physical education isn't the problem here, the nasty kids are. And you might have to face their ridicule in social sciences class or history class or English class or in any other class where you have to give a presentation or do something that puts you in the position of possible humiliation and bullying. We can't just go about cutting every class there is.

 

[Glumlock]

In my professional opinion, PE just creates an even bigger bridge between those who are and those who aren't popular. if not, it even DEFINES who is and isnt popular. Popular people are good at P.E. people who arent are unpopular.
I wasnt very good at P.E. because of this i was very unpopular at school. Nobody cared about my personality or even my appearence. Just the fact that i couldnt kick a football, therefore i must be a homosexual. it makes perfect sense right?

I can completely sympathies with you. I'm a boy. I got made fun of because i was good at art and english and bad at P.E. I always hated it.. and the "ability groups" just further draw the boundaries between those who can and those who cannot. It's elitism. I was forced to go outside and do P.E twice a week for 2 hours against my will. All i did was stand on a football pitch while people around me kicked the ball to each other. I was in the "retard group" because im rubbish a football.
Because of that, and because i was good at gymnastics when other boys weren't, my life has been shaped based on this little fact - im crap at football and good at other things. Things that matter. Who cares if i cant kick a ball? where the **** is that going to get me in life? even those who can kick balls - they arent going to go down that path in life. VERY FEW of them might. Good for them - i tip my hat to anyone who can succeed in the world of sport. But 99% of them wont.
Its a shame that it has left us feeling socially awkward and shit about ourselves just because of this. It isnt right no - you just have to rise above it.