Is there actually any evidence that shows this sort of thing is valuable to make kids do in the middle of a school day? PE always just seemed degrading to me, and I’m not even that out of shape.
Beyond that, class size is a big thing in developing motivation. You can’t really coach kids in huge classes so it just becomes a weird literal check box rat race.
I mean, it’s well understood that there’s a host of health benefits from regular exercise, and it’s also pretty well established that habits built during youth tend to be the most ‘sticky’ that we continue for the rest of our lives.
Given these two facts, I suspect that there are in fact studies that show those who participate in regular exercise programs during their school years are more likely to maintain a higher level of fitness and gain the derived health benefits.
That said, it’s likely a small but statistically significant increase, not a massive easily observable difference.
Honestly, I doubt the benefits you describe are outweighed by the number of people who learn to associate fitness with shame and humiliation as a result of how PE is taught.
I didn’t mind doing PE if it was gymnastics like bars and rings. I loved that, and I still feel like I benefit from it to this day. Having a sense of balance and knowing what your body can do is pretty nice. I hated the outdoor running though.
There was this small lake in our home town that the gym teacher often made the class run around during warm days. But a lot of us liked to cheat by hiding our bikes out of view. We’d run for the first five minutes and the moment he couldn’t see us, we’d pull our bikes out of the bushes and cycle for most of the way, hiding them again just before popping back into view.
It worked 9 out of 10 times and we only got a mild scolding when got caught that one time.
After that we only had one more run, me and a friend took our time, bought an ice cream along the way and ended up half an hour late :)
Mostly the kids dragged each other through hammer swings on a wheel board while I listened to the teacher while they talked about their miscarriage and cried
It’s objectively true. PE class only makes people disgusted by sport. All PE teachers are terrible, do nothing while students run aimlessly on a track with no training at all, turn a blind eye to rampant bullying (if they aren’t directly complicit), then give grades seemingly at random. It took me 8 years after leaving high school to figure out that I actually enjoy sports if I have proper training and the people around me aren’t all bullies.
Ugh, I get that. I’m only just now building a workout routine, almost a decade after school. And I’m only just now learning what a rep even is, and why you should stretch before and after workouts. What a waste of time and energy PE was.
Weight lifting is not something that most health experts recommend for children. We had a weight room in my middle school but you really need close supervision for good form and to reduce injuries. That level of individual coaching is hard to get at public schools.
Even that kind of knowledge isn’t something broached in the classes I took. I’m not even sure if the word ‘reps’ is more associated with lifting specifically or exercise in general!
It’s associated with strength training. You could call bodyweight exercise reps, but usually we don’t do sets and reps with things like pushups, situps, unweighted squats and chin ups. They’re usually considered endurance exercises unless you’re really heavy.
I figured it not having anything to do with employment and being an expensive hobby that requires groups of people to sync their free time was why adults don’t do sports as a hobby. People can barely make D&D sessions work and that’s just sitting around a table.
Yeah, but that’s not really what we’re talking about. How many sports in school gym classes are Solo sports? How many people going to the YMCA to go swimming or jogging in the park consider that a “sport”?
Is there actually any evidence that shows this sort of thing is valuable to make kids do in the middle of a school day? PE always just seemed degrading to me, and I’m not even that out of shape.
I reckon it’s like any other subject. Depends on whether the teacher gives a fuck and/or has the resources to make it engaging and useful for kids
Beyond that, class size is a big thing in developing motivation. You can’t really coach kids in huge classes so it just becomes a weird literal check box rat race.
Yeah, not having enough teachers could be a real issue, causing oversized classes
Team sports are good for interaction.
A good opportunity to try random weird sports (only time I’ve tried a shot put or javelin).
Regular 5k cross country runs are probably only benefiting a select few.
PE exists to pick athlete kids and nothing else
I mean, it’s well understood that there’s a host of health benefits from regular exercise, and it’s also pretty well established that habits built during youth tend to be the most ‘sticky’ that we continue for the rest of our lives.
Given these two facts, I suspect that there are in fact studies that show those who participate in regular exercise programs during their school years are more likely to maintain a higher level of fitness and gain the derived health benefits.
That said, it’s likely a small but statistically significant increase, not a massive easily observable difference.
Honestly, I doubt the benefits you describe are outweighed by the number of people who learn to associate fitness with shame and humiliation as a result of how PE is taught.
Wed be a million times better off if we normalized having a 15 minute dance party at the start, middle and the end of the day.
Ugh, if anything it should be at the start or end.
I didn’t mind doing PE if it was gymnastics like bars and rings. I loved that, and I still feel like I benefit from it to this day. Having a sense of balance and knowing what your body can do is pretty nice. I hated the outdoor running though.
There was this small lake in our home town that the gym teacher often made the class run around during warm days. But a lot of us liked to cheat by hiding our bikes out of view. We’d run for the first five minutes and the moment he couldn’t see us, we’d pull our bikes out of the bushes and cycle for most of the way, hiding them again just before popping back into view.
It worked 9 out of 10 times and we only got a mild scolding when got caught that one time.
After that we only had one more run, me and a friend took our time, bought an ice cream along the way and ended up half an hour late :)
PE is fucking useless and is the number 1 reason most people don’t do any sport at all after high school.
Keep telling yourself that lol.
Mostly the kids dragged each other through hammer swings on a wheel board while I listened to the teacher while they talked about their miscarriage and cried
It’s objectively true. PE class only makes people disgusted by sport. All PE teachers are terrible, do nothing while students run aimlessly on a track with no training at all, turn a blind eye to rampant bullying (if they aren’t directly complicit), then give grades seemingly at random. It took me 8 years after leaving high school to figure out that I actually enjoy sports if I have proper training and the people around me aren’t all bullies.
Me too
Ugh, I get that. I’m only just now building a workout routine, almost a decade after school. And I’m only just now learning what a rep even is, and why you should stretch before and after workouts. What a waste of time and energy PE was.
Weight lifting is not something that most health experts recommend for children. We had a weight room in my middle school but you really need close supervision for good form and to reduce injuries. That level of individual coaching is hard to get at public schools.
That’s why they focus on cardio and team sports.
Even that kind of knowledge isn’t something broached in the classes I took. I’m not even sure if the word ‘reps’ is more associated with lifting specifically or exercise in general!
It’s associated with strength training. You could call bodyweight exercise reps, but usually we don’t do sets and reps with things like pushups, situps, unweighted squats and chin ups. They’re usually considered endurance exercises unless you’re really heavy.
I figured it not having anything to do with employment and being an expensive hobby that requires groups of people to sync their free time was why adults don’t do sports as a hobby. People can barely make D&D sessions work and that’s just sitting around a table.
A lot of sports can be done solo. Running, swimming, bouldering…
Yeah, but that’s not really what we’re talking about. How many sports in school gym classes are Solo sports? How many people going to the YMCA to go swimming or jogging in the park consider that a “sport”?