Your opinion on Gym Class

[Tdoodle]

To me, it's a waste of time I could be using to learn how to dance.

Good luck getting someone to dance with you, fatty.

In all seriousness, there needs to be more of it. When I was at school we did two hours until GCSEs, dropped to one hour during GCSEs and then nothing at all during A level. While I think 3 or 4 might be pushing it - in a 25 hour week, with about 10 different classes, 2 hour-long sessions seems reasonable to me - there definitely needs to be more of it in later years. That's the time everyone discovers alcohol and dodgy take-aways after all, so they'll need the run-around more than ever.

Although something I'd quite like to see is getting kids involved with outdoor groups. I used to volunteer with the local Rangers and every week we'd get in a minibus, drive somewhere, hop out and do things like fell trees, build bridges, hedgelay, coppice and other woodland-y things for the day. There's plenty of opportunity to be creative and learn more about the environment so it could easily be tied into art, science and history lessons. Not something that could become a regular feature in the curriculum but certainly something I'd love to have had the chance to do while I was at school.

 

[rednose1]

Absolutely needed. If you despite it because you're unfit, all the more reason to need it (how else are you going to get fit after all?)
Helps educate kids on the proper way to exercise to avoid injuries, and releases some pent up energy (kids have it in abundance).

As to the whole "brain power is more important" arguement, I call BS. The whole package is important, not just the brain.

 

[Chemical Alia]

Maybe gym class is very different at most other schools or just improved a lot since I was in grade school, because I can't remember getting anything of worth from it.

Literally from elementary school to the day I graduated high school, the only things we ever did were play some stupid variation of baseball (like kickball or whiffleball) which involved standing around most of the time, or volleyball (which I just couldn't play properly.) I was pretty fit, and would have loved for it to involve an option that was more self-structured like weight lifting or even running around a track the whole time, instead of making me stand around with a bunch of juvenile delinquents who hated me, and turning me off from competitive sports completely.

It was just such a joke of a class, which is kind of a shame. I took a semester of tai chi in college as my phys ed requirement (because they wouldn't count my army basic training, lol), and it was awesome.

 

[Redneck Gamer]

I hated gym class and was one of those kids who actually did need it and still need more than walks through the woods from October through March hunting and/or checking the trapline. Most gym teachers here seem to feel that their class is to benefit the school "superstar" athletes. Also, we had dancing, which i outright refused to participate in and failed a semester because of it. I see the reason behind gym class, but the implementation really needs work. As it is the class is pretty much worthless to some, a wonderful time for others and no reason to take it for most.

 

[Orphillius]

The kids who were already athletic got an A, and if you weren't then you didn't. That's how it was for me, at least. I never just sat down and refused to do the things, I always did whatever it was, but I always got C's in PE. Just because my depth perception blows a million dicks so I can't serve the god damn ball in tennis. How is that fair?
To get into most colleges (where I am, at least) you need to have at least 1 credit in PE. That's idiotic, you don't learn anything in PE. I didn't get any more healthy from that class. I don't care if the class is there, but don't make it a requirement.

 

[spartan231490]

Up to high school level, it's a great idea. K-12th grade primarily exist not to educate you, but to babysit you, so it's a great thing to have a time where the point is to get off your ass and do something active, and usually have fun. In college/university, it's a massive waste of time, and money. As are all classes that are mandated and not a part of your major. That's my 0.02

 

[Nannernade]

Gym wasn't my favorite class but it wasn't all bad dodgeball and kickball was always fun to play.

 

[GeneralFungi]

I enjoy gym and am fit enough to run a couple of laps around a gym and most other physical activities, but I've always disliked it. Not because of the fitness required for it, it was just that I didn't play sports as religiously as a lot of the people in the same class as me. I was always competing with people who went through after school sports programs. This pretty much made me a 5th wheel on any team I was on (even if I wasn't terrible) and I usually participated in the game very little just because sporty people will pass to sporty people. Most of the time I just felt like I was chasing after a ball for an entire class and getting curb-stomped by people who would train for at least 3 hours every single day. The school I go to is predominately filled with athletes, in case you are wondering.

I've never had a problem with a way the teachers graded the class though. I would do the laps and the push-ups, so I guess that was all I needed to prove my participation.

 

[fenrizz]

Gym is needed, with the epidemic of obese kids and all.

Also, gym is fun.

 

[Redfield2701]

Am an advanced sports movement coach and a bio mechanical specialist, basically I help athletes preform more efficiently. To do this, the athlete of course needs a baseline of minimal fitness to begin training with me. At this point I usually begin to cringe....I for one am all for PE/gym class/School sports but these things need to start being taken more seriously by both the teacher and the student.

95% of the worlds population has absolutely no idea how to properly squat, it's one of our most basic human functions! How is such a high percentage of failure possible??? I would love to see a change in the way Gym Class in run. Forget telling students the rules of basketball and soccer (not like they're hard to figure out)and spend some time teaching youth about themselves and how to use their own bodies correctly. These are the issues that make a difference in life, not how many points a touchdown is worth or whats referred to as icing.

Gym class, Hellz ya! But we really need to overhaul the system.

 

[Phantom Kat]

Gym class was fine for me, sure I have like no depth perception but it was good to exercise and most of the time I just got stuck in groups with other, less athletic people so it was generally quite fun.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

I think it's a good thing for a school to have. Schools without PE programs are usually underfunded. PE is just before the arts and after school programs on the chopping block. The thing I hated most about PE was that it was my first class during high school, every year. I was constantly late so I never really got along well with my PE teachers (though I crushed hard on several), and it was always cold out. And you wind up all sweaty and can't shower.

I think PE and health classes are all well and good for grade school. That's when such lessons and habits should be learned.

Everyone knows about gym, in one way or another, so, I want to hear your opinion about it. To me, it's a waste of time I could be using to learn about the nature of the universe, human mind, mathematics, or how to dance.

You, yes you. Drop and give me thirty push-ups, run a mile, then go lift some weights, and swim fifteen laps in the pool.

----------------------------

Now the place I don't agree with there being PE and health classes(at least not mandatory) is college. After my final PE classes(freshman year) and health class(sophomore) in high school, I thought I was done. I knew how to swim, lift weights, walk, jog, run, and count my nutrition intake. I had had almost ten years of the stuff, so that should have been enough.

But no, I got to college and found out that a semester of a combined PE and health split class was required. Seriously at that point, I'm an adult and shouldn't have to waste time going through the exact thing I did a few years ago as a young teen as well as the times before that.

At that point, I just say it is the university looking to rake in more tuition money and make more job positions for the health nuts or the people that coach their sports teams.

Though there is a lot more that can be done with college curriculums to make them more reasonable, make sense, and faster to complete(while still having the right amount of knowledge and skills learned that are needed), but that is a whole other stink pile of a mess, and doesn't need to be said here.

 

[Tdoodle]

Good luck getting someone to dance with you, fatty.

Now THIS shit is getting flagged.

It was gentle ribbing, don't be soft.

 

[OmniscientOstrich]

I liked it for the most part but it wasn't something that I took particularly seriously. I think a fair few people in this thread are exaggerating it's importance just a tad. :3

 

[YingDerpington]

Well down here in 'Straya we have P.E. and depending on the school and teacher it can vary more than the shape water drops will make when poured out of a container. I was lucky to get an awesome P.E. teacher that also doubled as the advanced maths teacher for Grades 8-10 (so he wasn't a brain-dead moron). He generally devoted 1/4 of the lesson to telling us about what parts of our body the following ATHLETICS (instead of sports, which only occurred rarely) would train, among other things relating to improving physique, overall health and building muscle. So I'd say that with the right teacher and teaching syllabus 'Gym' or P.E class (they seem to be different things from what i'm seeing though) they are probably one of the most useful lessons you can have in school.

 

[Redfield2701]

Good luck getting someone to dance with you, fatty.

Now THIS shit is getting flagged.

It was gentle ribbing, don't be soft.

"Don't be soft".......WIN!

 

[xshadowscreamx]

i liked PE, it was easy to pass. no homework. and it was a chance to beat the stupid jocks at the own game. it was also when it was confirmed i was a nerd when i was put in the nerd team for handball, and we won. im skinny and agile.

 

[Verex]

I remember high school gym class was a joke. We'd have required tournaments after running 4 or 5 laps around the basketball court. No one worked up a sweat. It's just a thing they need to check off their list. 2 creds of gym. Done.