AIBU to think that PE is a complete waste of time for non sporty children

[onceamai]

Why is there an obsession with PE/Sport in schools. Great if children are sporty but why does it have to be compulsory. There are so many other ways to get exercise and throwing/catching balls is not the be all and end all. I hated it and it (together with a vile PE teacher who told me I was uselesss) made my school days a complete misery. Why does exercise have to involve netball, hockey, gym, grubby showers, etc., when it can involve dance, aerobics, walking, fresh air, etc.. I detested the humiliation of it all and can see no reason why it should be compulsory. I was also slim and fit and at fifty remain so (ish) without ever having participated in sports. Some of the gung ho girls I went to school with are now the fattest and unfittest you can imagine. It also seems to be taught by the roughest, nastiest, most bullyish types one can come across and I can't see what the benefits are for girls who are non sporty, don't like being teased and bullied, are feminine and don't like getting dirty.

I went to school in the 70's and 80's and although my school did the normal swimming, tennis, football, netball, rugby, squash, badminton, basketball, we also were allowed to do archery, golf, canoeing, rock climbing and pot holing to name just a few.

And I went to a humble secondary modern school in a built up council estate area.

I think it all depends on the headmaster.

My son who is in state primary also can do all these things although archery is never on the list but ultimate frizbee is [whatever that is ]

Children NEED sport and exercise. Lots of them do not get any exercise at home! It should not only remain compulsory IMO but the amount should be increased a bit.

I do agree it should be varied enough for every child to find something fun - lots of normal sport but also plenty of non-competitive stuff (this certainly would've suited me better)

I think PE should be done every day. Kids do not get enough exercise. half an hour getting out of breath and sweaty running round a field or jumping up and down would be better than anything!

YABU! Or very unfortunate with DD's school! Our PE teachers are lovely. Our pupils do dance, aerobics, swimming, rock climbing, D of E and a whole range of sports & physical activities. They also arrange incredible trips & experiences for our pupils that they wouldn't get without the dedication of their teachers (training with the local rugby club is what keeps some of our boys in education, and that is just one example)

I'm sorry your DD is having such a tough time, but please don't write off all PE teachers as bullies. They're not.

At my eldests school they get streamed into PE groups from Y9 - the top group get all the muddy team games and the other group get to play badminton/squash/table tennis and do trampolining - oddly my supposed unsporty child is top of his B stream and great at all these sort of sports - in fact they offered him the chance to move up and he declined. He just prefers this sort of sport to rugby/football/hockey.

The human brain has evolved with us in regular exercise it is at it's most productive when it has a good blood supply which only comes with movement. Regular exercise is absolutely essential to most of us to be at our mental peak so it is absolutely no surprise that schools and educators want active children.

PE should be a range of activities with awareness that we all have strengths and weaknesses but it is an absolutely fundamental to have in some form.

Just to clarify, I don't think there's anything wrong with physical exercise but I do think the way it is organised in schools with the Lord of the Flies mentality encouraged and focusing on ball games and team sports is necessarily right. I also disagree with children or young adults being publicly humiliated and told they are "rubbish", put through the ordeal of the being the last on the bench, etc., and the mentality of PE teachers I have met in perpetuating bullying activity and devaluing femininity. I am fit: I walk, I garden, I swim, I can ride a horse (as can dd, very well) I am always busy and I am generally active but I do not participate in organised sport (DH and DS do, it's their bag) and the day I left school I vowed I would never be forced to again. I don't believe in children being couch potatoes but in having lots of varied interests, including sport, if that's what they enjoy. I don't however think it should be compulsory when for a significant minority in every school year it contributes to misery.

I think being active is important but don't agree we need PE. It's important for adults too but imagine if it was a compulsory part of the working day! I'd rather see a shorter school day and less pointless homework especially for younger children, leaving them more time to play.

I was active (and slim) as a child, lots of running around and skipping (do little girls still skip? that was very good exercise, though we didn't realise we were exercising!) and bike riding and being dragged on interminably long hill walks with my parents. Hated organised sport though. Maybe it's just me, have always hated organised activities of any kind and preferred to do my own thing.

My experience of pe was similar to you and J am pretty slim too but my kids adore pe. They have a chance to try a big variety of sports like cricket which I never would have thought if organising out of school. It's the only chance to shine for some kids and maybe we'll discover the next world class athlete?

Ephiny- Skipping is big news at my kids school. Sainsburys vouchers mean that the school can get free ones for pe/ playtime.

I think it would be a bloody good idea if it was a compulsory part of the working day! It doesn't have to be "organised team sports" - half an hour of aerobics/yoga/brisk walking/running/dancing/doing whatever that involves moving constantly would be great! might improve the obesity rates too.

I am not a sportaholic, not by any stretch. I wasn't even that good at sport, and being a glasses wearer as well, was nearly always among the last to be picked for any team (I agree that THAT ritual humiliation could easily be got rid of, there is NO need for it at all). I don't run fast or well - but there are other things that don't require fast running. I was a halfway decent tabletennis and badminton player, I love dancing, cycling, rowing - none of these are particularly "organised" sports, although some of them require organising in terms of venue and people to play with.

PE should be MORE important in schools, not less - but there should be a wider variety so that pupils can choose a form of activity that suits them (apart from sitting down).

YABU-I wish ds' school would do more PE. I don't think 2 sessions a week is enough. I also find it odd that so many people find it acceptable to suggest that PE be banned, but would be aghast if it was suggested that, for eg, maths or English was. In many ways sport/exercise is more important for development and health than traditional written subjects-as people have pointed out it's the only exercise a lot of children get.
If your child's English teacher was bullying and intimidating her then you would go to the school and sort it out. I can't see anyone suggesting that she stop learning English because the teacher was atrocious, even if she could learn it/practise it at home.
Lastly, it's actually beneficial for sporty children to excell at something-especially if they're not good at other subjects. If you're going to encourage your daughter to drop any subject she doesn't like or isn't good at she's not going to be a very rounded individual, is she?
But then again I was a sport loving, obviously "unfeminine" child...

Exercise would be great as a compulsory part of every school day. These days there's so much focus on academia that with a full school day and then homework afterwards, especially in GCSE years, there's not much time left for it, especially if you're not that motivated.

Team games and the attitude that if you're not great you're a complete waste of space, though, need to go. Although having said that, I don't think team games themselves are the problem. I think it's the attitude. I never minded playing football or basketball with my cousins even though I was rubbish because it didn't matter to anyone (even the ones who were excellent) who won. I hated netball and hockey at school because it was all about winning, even in normal games lessons, so I always got ostracised because I was shit. Which made me want to participate even less. Ugh. Maybe have two different streams - those who are there to win and those who are there to have fun?

There should be more pe, not less. And watching dh leave to go to the gym at 8.00 in the evening , I would approve of it being part if the working day too.

Scrap pe if you want even fatter chi,den with even poorer levels of concentration.

This fucks me off actually. Trying to find suitable excercuse for ds2 is a bloody nightmare and people are hitching about the smallest amount offered to their child at school.

If you have a problem with the sports on offer talk to your fellow parents and the head and the governors.

I hated PE, too, and I was in South Africa at the time. One witch that took PE used to pull the hair just above our ears if we forgot our kit at home. Her name was Mrs Liebenberg.

Miss Muller used to force us to wear awful shorts or tiny, tiny skirts rather than track suit bottoms. Even at 10 I hated my legs and just wanted them covered up.

They were dreadful individuals.

I do think YABU regarding not having PE at school, but it definitely should be fun for the kids. DS already hates it and he is only 6..............

Arf at hitching. Not quite what I meant

I think that PE and Games teachers have a lot to answer for. I loathed the subject at school but am now quite active and I come across adults all the time who do all sorts of sports but often say 'I hated it at school'.
The whole culture of team sports is wrong and I get very irritated with those who say they give team spirit. They don't, they teach you that no one is interested in having you on the team unless you are good.It is a viscious circle-I was chosen last-how is that supposed to make you want to do your best? My attitude was they didn't want me in the first place so I made no effort-ensuring a I was chosen last next tim.......Proper team spirit should be fostering the weaker and motivating them.

I do think we need more PE, and the sort of DC mentioned in OP most definitely needs more, BUT there needs to be more choice and more opportunity to work on what they do like and develop it. I hated hockey and netball, throwing the javelin and the high jump, and nothing on earth would get me to enjoy them-that isn't to say that I won't like dance, badminton, basketball, trampolining, swimming etc etc

Games teachers need to understand that not everyone loves their subject (they have this weird view that they do!)and that some DCs much prefer Maths, Science, History etc. They need to find ways to motivate and help the weaker.

i hated PE too. every week i would be in tears at the thought of freezing to death in a little skirt playing hockey in the middle of winter.

i would have loved to have done aerobics or dance inside in the warm.

if either of my dc want notes off PE in the future i will write one out with no arguements.

PE and Games were two different things at my school. PE was dance, movement, gymnastics, step aerobics etc. Games was netball, hockey, athletics etc.

I think as long as physical activity is a mix of PE and games as described above then yabu.

I have ultimate respect for PE teachers in 21st century. I don't know how they manage it. When I was teaching in a classroom and a pupil refused for one lesson to do any work, as long as they sat still and shut up and stayed in at break then it was manageable in the classroom. How do PE teachers manage to motivate so many young people to get on and get doing? Am in awe, really :)

Hmmm I think the problem must be in the teaching rather than in PE as a whole. I hated it at school and that is partly because of having to wear the dreaded PE knickers and skirt, and no one suggesting helpful things like sports bras to the girls!

I now play a (very unfeminine!) organised team sport that I started at university and have continued. I LOVE it, and it has given me such confidence and pride in my body and what it can do, even though I am still pretty fat and not the fittest. I think that sport can be so beneficial if it is properly led and taught, and FFS let the kids wear what they want! I also agree that some are written off as 'non-sporty' at an early stage- I doubt my PE teacher would have picked me as likely to be playing sports at 30+.

Another one who thinks there needs to be more sport and PE.

If your DD is being taught badly that is not a reason to scrap it per se. I had a dreadful maths teacher at school, he made my life a misery...but I'm not calling for maths to be scrapped.

When done well sport enhances an education so much.

Team sports are important.
It teaches children that working as team is fun and important. That no one is bigger than the team.
It teaches them to lose well...so what the team was trounced, you survived, you'll play again next week, maybe improve.

And it shouldn't matter if you're pretty poor. There should be setting like in other subjects. Schools should field A,B,C and D teams...play other schools and offer those children tea afterwards.

And individual sports can easily be done well. Get children to set their own targets. Everyone can improve in running and swimming. They don't have to race one another...they challenge their own PB.

I would encourage parents to push for better sports teaching not its abolition.

As some parents are hopeless, PE & Games are often the only exercise children get. Given the increasing levels of child obesity, there should be more PE at school, not less.

I don't quite get the "if they're not very good at it it brings misery therefore we should drop if for their sake"

I was (and still am) hopeless at maths, everyone knew I was hopeless at maths. I HATED maths with a passion, because I found it so hard, and uninspiring. Maybe I should have been allowed to drop it as soon as it became apparent my brain is not wired for the subject to prevent my misery?

Quite Baroque.

My DS is dreadful at art. Truly dreadful...no pen control, no dexterity. We have taught him to laugh at himself and take what he can from it.

I'm not calling for the ban of art lessons.