PE at school. Have they got the methods wrong?

Humphrey10

Dunroamin wrote: »

I can't see what all the fuss is about when it comes to doing things in bad weather - you don't put your life on hold just because it's raining!

If it's raining or cold I do things indoors rather than outside, why would I choose physical discomfort? I'm not a masochist.

IIRC we did stuff in the gym hall if if the weather was bad, like tennis, badminton, trampoline, basketball, gymnastics etc. Seems sensible to keep the inside stuff for bad weather, and the outside stuff for good weather.

I hated the communal changing rooms. I assumed it was because the teachers liked seeing semi-clad children. Perverts.

nearlyrich

A friend works as a sports coach, the company he works for does the PE part of the curriculum for a number of schools and he also does lunchtime and after school sessions plus holiday clubs. It seems not all schools are stuck in the old ways some are doing things a little differently.

SnowyOwl_2

My friend's 15 year old daughter mentioned to me that she was doing Zumba at PE and demonstrated some of the moves to me. They had also had someone bring in a load of spinning bikes for some lessons, and they have had aerobics classes and various other "to music" type lessons too. The competitive element was removed completely and you just did your best at whatever activity. Surely this is one of the better ways to encourage good exercise habits? Yes, they had the usual netball, hockey, gymnastics etc during the school year, but really, how many out of a class of 20 or 30 are still going to be doing those in their post-education years?

I totally agree about the changing room horror. My school had a sweetie vending machine in the changing room, and the changing room opened out into the main corridor of the main building. If you were unfortunate enough to have PE immediately before lunch or break then the changing room would be invaded by other pupils looking for their crisps or chocolate. Oh the irony of that, but OMG the utter humiliation of having to get changed when the door to the corridor was wide open.

SnowyOwl_2

Person_one wrote: »

This isn't me, found it online, but this is almost exactly our old PE kit. No wonder she looks miserable.

The top isn't too bad, but those are the shortest most unflattering shorts I have ever seen. They would fit a well-endowed grown man:eek:. Imagine the utter humiliation of any child who was even a little bit overweight having to wear that. The teasing must be awful... and the self-loathing as a result. Awful, just awful!!

coolcait

Fluzz wrote: »

Oh and number two thing that made me hate it- they made me take my glasses off!! Now they obviously didn't know how short sighted I was (extremely) but having me spend 80 mins a week in a huge field unable to distinguish who someone 10 metres away was wasn't fun...

Funnily enough, that part never bothered me. Maybe because I spent several years in denial about the extent of my short sightedness.

I only put my glasses on to read the board or watch telly, and spent the rest of the time wandering about in a fuzzy soft-focus world.

I didn't have any problems distinguishing people. After all, I was used to seeing 'Jean' as a fuzzy shape with a dark fuzzy halo of hair, walking (fuzzily) with a very distinctive gait. And 'Jemima' was a taller, broader fuzzy shape with a long fuzzy blonde waterfall of hair, who walked very differently. And so on.

My biggest problem with team sports was that they were effectively a live action 'spot the ball' exercise.

No way I could see the damn thing! I just had to judge where it was, based on the reactions of all the fuzzy figures around me....

(And, I could tell when they were running away from beasties, rather than running after the ball :rotfl:)

I didn't dislike PE particularly. I just wasn't any good at it...

GracieP

Wow, this thread is an eye-opener. I generally enjoyed PE but unless the weather was especially lovely we always did it indoors. We did have a PE uniform of stupid short-shorts and t-shirts but a lot of parents refused to pay for them so in the end most of us just wore general gym wear.

I did hate the showers. They weren't communal but they badly needed replacing and just never seemed clean I always felt dirty after a shower than before.

coolcait

Person_one wrote: »

This isn't me, found it online, but this is almost exactly our old PE kit. No wonder she looks miserable.

Yet, that doesn't look all that different from the PE kit of choice among my snake-hipped peers - round about the same time my womanly curves busted (and hipped) out all over :eek::o:mad: .

They called the damn things 'running pants' rather than 'gym knickers', and I am sure that there are some technical differences between the two.

But they don't look that different. Especially on my arris (relatively small though it was then).

Most of my peers hated PE far more than I did. They can't say that it was because they were 'forced' to run around in big knickers...

I continued to wear shorts. On the basis that it was better that I should be sticking out (for wearing the wrong thing) rather than having my arris hanging out of big (but still too small) knickers.

In public.

I think that a lot of excuses are made for 'hating PE'. Deep down, I think that most people find exercise for exercise's sake pretty boring. That's very different from doing something because you enjoy it. Or because it has a function.

So, walking from A to B and back again, because you're taking your kids to school, has a function. So, you do it without thinking about it too much.

Walking the same distance on a treadmill is exercise for exercise's sake - and much easier to miss because you're too tired, busy, whatever.

Northern_Princess

Person_one wrote: »

Kids have been moaning about PE for a lot longer than there have been Xboxes! :rotfl:

I used to play out for hours and hours at home, cricket, football, kerby, cycling, manhunt etc. and I went to swimming club and diving training three days a week till I was 16, but I hated PE after primary school.

We also had to wear gym knickers and take communal showers and this was the nineties! We also had to wear leotards for 'dance' which was great when you were 12, had just started your periods and were wearing a massive pad that you hadn't quite got the hang of yet. Periods were not considered a good enough excuse to skip either the lesson or the communal shower.

This made me laugh like mad (and hurt my poorly back in the process) :rotfl: :beer: <<< that is for cheers by the way! When I was at home we used to spend our time playing skipping or doing chores around the farm, we used to swim in the loch or build dams in the stream We also were expected to help with the hay and aw.......that was hard work when I think back. Aw the gym knickers :eek: They must have been the most awful garment ever invented!!! Most flattering, NOT (then again maybe that was the reason they made us wear them) We had go wear leotards for dance as well and I remember those 'brick' towels too - mortifying! Communal showers never bothered me to be honest, probably because I was THAT girl who hung back to the end of PE having to run the extra mile because I NEVER put 'my all' into it and had to do the extra. BONUS showers to myself :T

Dunroamin

Humphrey10 wrote: »

If it's raining or cold I do things indoors rather than outside, why would I choose physical discomfort? I'm not a masochist.

.

Tell that to your dogs!

aliasojo

balletshoes wrote: »

so what types of PE should we be encouraging in secondary schools?

SnowyOwl wrote: »

My friend's 15 year old daughter mentioned to me that she was doing Zumba at PE and demonstrated some of the moves to me. They had also had someone bring in a load of spinning bikes for some lessons, and they have had aerobics classes and various other "to music" type lessons too. The competitive element was removed completely and you just did your best at whatever activity. Surely this is one of the better ways to encourage good exercise habits? Yes, they had the usual netball, hockey, gymnastics etc during the school year, but really, how many out of a class of 20 or 30 are still going to be doing those in their post-education years?

I think Snowy has answered for me.

My own feeling is that some market research should be done in each and every school to find out what kids and their parents think, but I do think a move to more modern types of exercise would be a positive one.