More states let students opt out of P.E. classes

[The Straight Story]

More states let students opt out of P.E. classes

DES MOINES — When the Des Moines school district announced this fall it was going to make it tougher for students to waive their physical education classes by scaling back all but a handful of exemptions, it caught students and parents by surprise.

It also countered a national trend.

Despite growing concerns about obesity among young people, the number of states that allow students to waive or substitute physical education classes has grown from 27 to 32 since 2006, according to Paula Kun, a spokeswoman for the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE).

According to an association report in June, students in those states can skip physical education if they enroll in interscholastic sports, marching band, cheerleading or other activities. The number of states that allow waivers for health issues, disabilities or religious reasons has risen from 18 to 30 since 2006, according to the report.

NASPE opposes waivers or exemptions from physical education classes, Kun says.

"Unfortunately, so many schools are having more and more waivers — particularly at the high school level," Kun says. "The great majority of high school students are required to take physical education only one year out of the four. They get out for religious reasons, for ROTC, for marching band. There's a whole slew of waiver possibilities."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2010-12-14-physed14_ST_N.htm

[Odin2005]

1. I bet many of them have to do with bullying.

[Fumesucker]

3. PE was sheer misery for me..

I was two grades ahead of my age cohort and the coaches punished the slowest kids every single day, two years is a huge physical jump even at the high school level, it was basically impossible for me not to be punished by extra exercises every day.

I wouldn't be surprised at all if things have gotten worse in the going on fifty years since..

[Joe Bacon]

34. Yes, PE was hell

I was constantly beaten up in PE class, with the coach's blessing. Hated every second of it.

[get the red out]

6. P. E. was PRIME Bully-time

PE was Bully Prime-time when I was in school, ultra-living-hell. It was coaches throwing the dodge ball out and less popular kids getting the crap beat out of them.

I can't see a big problem with eliminating PE in school completely. I SERIOUSLY doubt it is often approached in any way that would be helpful in instilling a life-long love of fitness, unless school culture has changed immensely for the better since the 70's (and from what I read in the news that hasn't exactly been the case).

[customerserviceguy]

10. Sad to hear that's still true

I remember PE from 40 years ago, where the jocks would ridicule or even beat up on the nerds and overweight kids. Sometimes the frustrated jock PE instructor would go along with it, or just turn a blind eye.

We have accellerated classes for math, why not for PE? You could put the jocks in them, and let the other kids just have some fun and excercise without being intimidated by people whose only claim to fame is what they can do with their bodies.

[TheDebbieDee]

15. I like your idea......very much!

I wonder if any other school district has ever considered or tried this option before.

[1monster]

11. I took my son out of P.E. in seventh grade because of physical and psychological

bullying. I got tired of seeing my son injured and helpless to do anything about it. He had snakes thrown on his shoes, was pummeled relentlessly with a basketball by three students at the same time, tripped and tackled in soccer, etc., etc. (He was smaller than the other kids and got his growth spurt all at once in high school, instead of starting in middle school as many did.

And that was only in the first four weeks of school. I was attached to the school during that time and I couldn't get anything done about it. The P.E. classed had about 150 kids in each class with three or four adults who were not good managers monitoring.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

26. I was excused from PE after I took out a starting lineman

He was doing the bully thing. PE Teacher/coach refused to do anything, telling me to buck up or take it. Got the dufus to chase be so the teacher would clearly see him coming after me, side stepped, spun, and snapped kicked the side of his knee. I was never messed with again at that school.

[Ilsa]

29. Marching band got me plenty of exercise. Three hours of marching on

Monday nights, one hour every morning and performing on Friday nights. It was no easy task; it required concentration and coordination.

Playing a wind instrument exercised my lungs better than any of my PE classes.

[47of74]

30. I can imagine

When I was in 9th grade, I HATED PE with the heat of a billion white hot sharp pointy things because I seemed to have it the same time that the school's asshole contingent had PE. It got somewhat better later on but I still didn't enjoy it as much as I did in elementary and junior high.

[old mark]

2. What religions prohibit exercise?...rec...nt

[WingDinger]

9. Many religions frown on same sex titillation. intentional or otherwise.

[old mark]

18. ...and they think gym clothing is sexy?....nt

[GreenEyedLefty]

4. Reducing homework loads would help the obesity situation more than requiring PE.

[LWolf]

5. I think that every student should have P.E. every day.

I'd like to see P.E. as a class change, though. Less emphasis on competitive sports and games, more on physical fitness. I hated P.E. with a passion, and only took one year in H.S. myself; I couldn't get a class that was about teaching me how to care for my own fitness, healthy exercise routines and eating habits. I had to play a bunch of sports and games that I really didn't care about. Some of them I liked; I preferred to play them in the empty lot with friends than in an organized school settings. If I could have gotten Tai Chi and yoga for PE, I would have taken it every year. In that bygone era, I didn't have to worry about getting enough vigorous exercise. Whether I walked or rode my bike to school (40 minutes or 20 minutes,) I'd be walking to the public bus after I got home from school. I'd be cleaning the barn and riding my horse. I'd be moving hay, working in the garden, playing with the dog...there was no lack of physical activity.

[HockeyMom]

7. They won't need as many PE teachers

Save MONEY. Besides, you cannot "grade" a PE teacher on a state test by students. Cannot tie their salaries to how well the kids do on tests. Ditto for Art and Music teachers.

Remember, REPUKES are in charge now in so many places.

[droidamus2]

8. I agree with those that say..

Students should have at least an option of a PE class that does not emphasize 'competition'. I was one of the younger people in my class and therefore not one of the bigger people playing and though I enjoyed gym class (nothing better than beating the jocks that think they are so good) I realized it was definitely not fun for everybody. Why not have a class that is more into walking, aerobics, like somebody said yoga or martial arts, maybe a little weight lifting and nutrition. They could even take some time to teach students skills needed for competitive sports without the 'competition'. Too many times 'competition' means all the best or most popular athletes end up on one team and all the less skilled or totally disinterested on the other team. I don't know how coaches are these days but in my day many of them treated the kids in their gym classes as if they were members of the school team rather than trying to help them find something they could enjoy in the realm of exercise.

[Book Lover]

12. Last year, I worked on a textbook for primary and secondary school PE teachers

A lot of interesting stuff in there - the art of teaching PE has come a long way from the "just shoot hoops" days. If only school systems would implement what the colleges are teaching the teachers, a lot more kids would enjoy PE. I sure didn't.

[WCIL]

13. PE classes at the elementary level are fun and effective

lots of co operative games with real exercise. At our high school, you shot hoops or wandered around and around the gym at a slow stroll for 35 minutes (if you didn't hide out in the locker room to talk or do your homework). My kids had to get PE waivers if they wanted to take upper level classes like Chem 2, Calculus, or college credit US History. There just wasn't room in the school day for both. In Illinois, you are excused for 1 semester of PE in order to take Driver's Ed.

I can get behind waivers for marching band and athletics. I got more exercise in my early morning marching practice than I ever got in a PE class.

[toastbutter]

14. Well, DUH

Of course if you sre in interscholastic sports, you shouldn't have to go to PE. Imo, PE should be for those who aren't in a sport, to at least get some exercise and some physical culture training. It shouldn't be required if you are already doing a sport. That just seems self evident to me.

Fwiw, I spent most of my time in private school. We didn't have PE. We had sports. Mandatory. Except you could do a service project sometimes (I think it was one trimester a year) and HAD to do one.

[Marr]

16. P.E. felt like a Federal Penitentiary prep course to me.

Stand on your number, don't look anyone in the eye, group up with those like yourself, commit a bit of random violence early to establish your status, etc.

[mrmpa]

17. Wow, I had PE for 4 years, 3 days a week and was on the basketball team

this was at a small catholic school. My first year we didn't have a gym and walked 2 blocks to a church that had a gym. In the public school I teach at, the principal just cut PE back to one 9 week block, and this is a school where the kids need PE, they bring chips and soda into the school for breakfast.

[Taitertots]

19. Sports based PE is the problem

Who is surprised that children who are not good at sports don't like playing uneven games? It makes about as much sense as competition based history or reading classes.
Who is surprised that lots of parents would rather have their children spend their time in academic pursuits?



If anything we should teach them how to live healthy through a balance of nutrition and exercise. The ubiquity of youth sports injuries and obesity makes it obvious that sports are doing more harm than good to the physical and mental health of the children.

[JI7]

24. this is exactly what i just posted, the kids hate it not because they don't want to

be physically active but because of the social aspect of it. they suck, will be picked last for teams, other kids will be angry if they do something to cause the team to lose .

i bet a lot of these kids would love to just walk and run around . they can compete against themselves. how long it takes them to run some tracks etc.

[1monster]

37. As a substitute, if we are playing a competitive game, I make all the kids line up and

then count off 1,2,3,4 until all students are counted. Then, they split off, ones together as a team, twos, together, etc. Some of the kids try to get in line in such a way that they will be on the same team, but they rarely are able to pull it off. In that way, no one team gets all of the good athletes and no one team gets all of the not-so-athletic students. Plus, we don't keep score.

In one middle school where I sub, they have what they call "rec day." Students have to walk or run (or both) around the rec field which is large enough on which to put three football fields. Then they can choose how to complete the P.E. time: soccer, volleyball, basketball, shuffleboard, four square, jump rope, pull ups, kickball, just continue walking around the field, or any combination of these.

The rec day option seems to keep the bullying down and the enjoyment up.

[Cid_B]

46. You had me up until "we don't keep score"

I never understood this. Do the teachers think that if they say "Score doesn't matter" or "We won't count" that the children lose their basic math skills.

Everyone knows who won and who didn't.

[Ilsa]

28. I completely agree. There should be a noncompetitive PE available. nt

[petronius]

39. I agree - how about having taught by trainers instead of coaches?

I like the idea of incorporating physical activity in the school day - healthy mind in a healthy body, and all that - but the PE system that I recall was based around learning the rules of a particular sport, trying to play it for a few weeks, then moving on to the next. I don't recall much at all that was applicable later on: I already knew how to play the sports that interested me, and we didn't do any sort of organized training or weight-lifting or other life-long skills. There was a 'health' class, but it was on a different track than those of us in the 'college-prep' group. And, as others have mentioned, plenty of kids got picked on in PE (which for some strange reason did not appear to build character or 'toughen them up')...

[MrsBrady]

20. I remember

when I was in 7th grade in the mid eighties...

we had a section on gymnastics. I don't remember how many weeks we did this, but quite a few.
Anyway. I was, am...very short and stocky (not fat). I could run fast and climb pretty well.
But I was not flexible at all.
I did all the stretching exercises that the teacher gave us/me to do. We were doing basic things, but again I was not very flexible.
I tried really, really hard.

At the end, we were graded on how well we could jump the pommel horse, do a simple routine on a balance beam, etc...

I could not do a back bend. I could do it by walking down the wall...and still could not quite get to the floor... I just could not do it.
I would fall every time I tried to turn around on the balance beam.
I could not scale the pommel horse, as my short legs could not straddle them.
It was utter fail.

I got a C for that section. I was an A student.
I just don't understand why we were graded on ability and not effort.
And it's not like the teacher couldn't see me trying. It's not like we had homework to take and bring back.
I always thought that was kind of dumb.

I also always hated basketball. Couldn't make a basket to save my life. Not coordinated.
I wasn't even over 5 feet tall until I was 17.

[treestar]

21. Daily exercise would be better than those classes

They were only once or twice per week at least where I went to school.

[InvisibleTouch]

22. Comes way too late to do me any good.

I hated hated HATED PE class. It was torture every time. I'm not overweight, but I have breathing issues, and just have never been a particularly physical person. As a result I was always the proverbial "last to be chosen for the team," though that in itself didn't bother me. It bothered me that I had to jump through those idiotic hoops at all. I figured I was in school to feed my mind and enhance my knowledge, not to be run around a gym, and I always found it not only painful, but pointless. Wish I had had the opt-out option at the time! I heartily support it for those who might otherwise still be subjected to this torment.

[JI7]

23. what i hated about PE was having to play sports i sucked at

i think they should allow some students to run, walk, even ride bikes if they want to.

also they should teach why it's good for them to be active. the benefits of it. but not just long term since young kids usually think they have too long before they need to worry about those problems.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

25. I hated it and I was bullied.

I had to get a doctor's excuse to get out of PE so I could take typing when I was a senior.

I was a year ahead in school, and little, and the big six foot tall dumb jock girls would hit me in the head with basketballs and trip me, put me in the outfield in softball where it was ninety five degrees. I would sit down. The captain said she'd take me out for that and I said "GOOD!".

I refused to catch a softball because I was terrified I would break or jam a finger. I was a violinist and pianist in orchestra and didn't dare catch a softball.

They'd play red rover and deliberately trip me and try to kill me by making me fall flat on my face.
And I didn't get along with the teachers who seemed to be dykes. This was before I knew about lesbians. I just thought they were awfully masculine.

[Arkana]

27. I was bullied to hell in P.E.

but I still think some form of physical activity should be mandatory. Hell, let middle school kids have recess back.

[Codeine]

31. I got out of PE, but only because I joined the tennis team.

Our coach made us run with the cross country team to build match stamina, so I got more physical activity in a week than most PE classes have in a year.

A quick glance at our population convinces me PE should be absolutely mandatory. If bullying is a problem, deal with it.

[bbdad]

44. IF bullying is a problem? Are you blind?

Have you read these other replies? We're talking about kids who were/are being hurt for years. Whom are you telling to deal with it? The victims, as if it's their fault? So, do you advocate genuine fitness classes for the nonathletic students instead of what historically has been mandated bullying? Probably not.

[pipi_k]

32. Like some of the others....

I was also bullied.

I hated PE. Sucked at all the sports. Sucked at gymnastics. Was afraid of the trampoline and the balance beam.

Too shy to be effective at basketball (didn't like having to make body contact with other players).


So because I sucked and hated PE, I was always one of the last ones chosen for team sports.

Yeah...there's nothing like taking a kid whose self esteem is already in the toilet and subjecting that kid to even more pain.

And when I didn't do well on the team that HAD take me (because I was one of the kids left over), the other kids let me know what a failure I was.

It sucked big time.

Fuck PE. Let the kids maybe do Wii dancing or bowling or something for an hour.

[LisaL]

33. I was no good in PE.

Making me to do gymnastics and such did no one any good. So I am not a big fan of PE, and if kids are allowed to opt out, I see no problem with it.

[Puregonzo1188]

35. Even ignoring bullying and humiliation

PE was just a waste of time.

Did anyone ever really get anything out of it? I understand obesity is a problem, but I don't think PE will solved.

When I was in sixth grade it was mandatory, but that changed for 7th/8th grade (long story) and it was and it was just a total waste of time. I hated it. Luckily, in high school only one semester of PE was required for graduation.

[exboyfil]

36. All 10th graders have to take PE

but if you have seven classes in 11th and 12th you are exempt (my kid's High School is in Iowa). The 10th graders have Early Bird which starts before regular school (eight 49 minute periods seems like a lot for anyone).

My High School in Mississippi did not require PE in 10th-12th.

At times I enjoyed PE - I had some pretty good PE teachers (also had some sadistic bas***). I was always the smallest and the slowest in short distance. I did somewhat better at distance running. I could handle a basketball fairly well (skill learned from playing basketball every lunch period in Elementary) - no way I could play competitively even at the Junior High, but skill good enough to surprise a few folks (given how clutzy I was in everything else). I still do not agree with doing gymnastics as a PE activity. This is a very high level skill that can get you hurt very easily. Exercise is important, but I don't think you need to play sports to do exercise. From a lifetime standpoint some of the least competitive things are activities you can do the rest of your life (such as jogging which I enjoy).

[LeftinOH]

38. I recall that PE instructors were the chief bully-enablers of throughout school;

what a bunch of m*therf*cking *ssholes. Didn't do a g*d-damned thing to stop bullying, harrassment, etc.. -they practically encouraged it.

What's more, the same PE instructors were often teachers -usually in the math and sciences.. as well as coaches. So, they tended to have their "boys" in different environments several times a day.. during which time the rest of us had to endure endless jock-talk and game reviews.

[bbdad]

40. I'm a confirmed gym rat.

I'm a middle-aged man who started working with a personal trainer at a health club several years ago on a bodybuilding program. So, I'd be expected to support mandatory sports-based P.E. for all students; right? Well, the answer is ... WRONG. NO! Actually, the term I'd prefer to use is "sports only." The mandatory "sports only" P.E. of the "baby boom" generation was a total exercise (pun not intended) in hypocrisy. Whoever devised the old P.E. must have really hated nonathletic boys. (Historically nonathletic boys have been hurt in the short run and the long run. In the short run, they're humiliated and frequently bullied. In the long run, they're discouraged from becoming physically active since they associate physical activity with neanderthals and being bullied, thus denying themselves of the benefits to their health of exercise.) After all -- and please excuse me for using a racist word to make a point -- historically nonathletic boys have been the niggers of the athletic world. Nonathletic boys who have no interest in sports have been viewed as "sissies" and wimps, have been labeled as "feminized males" (a favorite expression of the New York sociology professor Patricia Cayo Sexton), and accused of having homosexual tendencies. No wonder they've been bullied by neanderthal P.E. classmates and neanderthal coaches. As I've said elsewhere, today I get more exercise in a single workout at my health club than I ever did in an entire YEAR of mandatory P.E. All of the boys' P.E. teachers and coaches that I or any of my nonathletic friends ever had manifested an attitude of indifference or outright contempt towards nonathletic boys. There was absolutely no mention of exercise programs or bodybuilding. I was just a scrawny, ignorant kid; so, somebody needed to tell me that there was something I could do about my physical weakness. But this clearly not a concern of these boys' P.E. teachers and coaches. They hardly even provided any instruction about the games themselves! The assumption seems to have been made that all boys were athletes. For example, none of my P.E. coaches ever showed any of my P.E. classes how to shoot a basketball. I was astounded decades later when my trainer showed me that shooting a basketball properly was not just thrusting it towards the hoop. If a coach had introduced me to bodybuilding, I would have benefited greatly from the self-confidence that it would have given me. But, then again, they really didn't care about nonathletic boys. I would love to question Paula Kun to find out if the bright souls who run NASPE have ever dealt with the issue of nonathletic boys being BULLIED by intolerant jocks or neanderthal coaches. I'd bet that the honest (notice I said "honest") answer would be NO.

To show that I take a positive approach, again, I work out regularly at a health club. I also highly recommend the innovative PE4Life program, which is an actual FITNESS program instead of the same old, tired approach.

[Elwood P Dowd]

41. Back in the 1960s I got out of PE by playing varsity football, baseball, and working out

in between the two sports. Football lasted from mid-August to late-November. Then you had spring practice from February to March. Baseball took care of March-May. Football practice was ten times more demanding than PE, especially the first 3 weeks of fall practice. Three hours of intense shit with pads on during 90-degree August days. Guys in my Army basic training unit thought the physical training was torture, but they had no clue what preseason football practice was like. Physically, Army basic training was a joke compared to that.

[AmandaMae]

42. I went to school in West Des Moines (graduated 2 years ago) and I never got to opt out :(

It was a terrible experience. I didn't get any exercise. I did get ostracized and hit in the head with basketballs though.

[bbdad]

43. I hear you and concur. I risk being repetitive and boring. So be it.

As I said above, I get more exercise in a single workout session with my personal trainer at my health club working on my bodybuilding program than I ever received in a single YEAR of mandatory P.E. when I was a kid. Yet this is precisely the sort of nonsense that the NASPE wants to continue to perpetuate. What a joke!

[gulliver]

45. P.E. may also help with ADHD

In Affective Neuroscience by Jaak Panksepp, the author argues that it might be possible to help some kids with ADHD by providing them with the opportunity to engage in vigorous play right before school.