Comment: Monday, June 26, 2006 4:31:00 PM - 
Nicole said...
I think that is so ridiculous. What a horrible message to kids that these teachers are sending.
I would also submit, though, that gym class in school can be an absolute joke. When I was in HS (graduated 7 years ago) it was an elite time for the sports kids. (I was a cheerleader, on dance team, and an honors student). We would spend weightlifting class by doing special workouts for the softball team or going outdoors to play softball (which really meant watching them) so they could do practice early as 6th period and have short practice after school and go home.
Secondly, that was just my senior year when I was high enough on the totem pole to be IN weightlifting class. My freshman and softmore years I was relegated into "fitness walking" a class that was created only because the school didn't have enough gym space to accomodate all the kids so we would walk around the track outside rain, shine, snow, etc. It wasn't so much the walking that sucked as knowing that we were forced to do it like little gerbils because our school didn't have room for us in a real PE class. (And then even when I got in a real PE class it was a catered-to session for the athletes of that season).
I have wanted to become a PE teacher at times just to teach kids about nutrition, etc. and provide a VARIETY of activities to meet all types of physical abilities and interests. I even did line dancing in middle school which was fun - we did 50/60's dancing, country dancing, etc. So I would want to do things other than just typical "ball sports" and include aerobics, step aerobics, a way to get something cool like spin in, hip hop dancing, pilates, weight training, yoga/stress relief, buddy workouts with training stations, boot camp like workouts, jump rope workouts, how to PLAN your workout, correct nutrition facts, the realities of creatine and steriods, education to teach kids how to safely lose weight and what happens when they harm their bodies, etc. etc.
And we wonder why kids don't really know this stuff.
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