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AIBU?

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Original poster

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

165 replies

onceamai · 09/03/2011 00:10

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.

OP posts:
BaroqueAroundTheClock · 09/03/2011 09:35

oooooo - actuall you know what - I am SO bad at art I had conveniently blanked the entire subject out of my mind.

I have a painting that DS1 did in YR3 of the Taj Mahal on the wall at home, it's not brilliant, but it is very good - and people that don't know it's his have commented on it before Grin. When he brought it home from school he asked me if I ever had any of my art on the wall at home, or if I'd kept any......"no" - well actually I lie - there is somewhere floating around 1 picture that I did of a bunch of flowers that does vaguely resemble a bunch of flowers.

I recently got DS1 to draw some stick figure type drawings for me for something I needed as mine were that bad Blush.

I say I'm hopeless at maths, perhaps "pretty bad" is a better description - as my art is truly atrocious. The only thing I can draw with any degree of aptitude is 3D shapes like cubes Grin - thankfully DS1 and 2 are old enough now to understand when they ask me if I can help them draw x,y,z I have a very good reason for saying no! Because they can do it bettter

wellwisher · 09/03/2011 09:35

What do you mean by "feminine" OP? There's nothing unfeminine about sport. Hmm

I hated school sport (lots of shouty hockey on cold rainy days) but am now super-active and recently qualified as an aerobics and spinning instructor! I think the answer would be for schools to make team sports optional - maybe just offer them in Y7 as a taster then go extra-curricular for those who like them - and focus on activities like dance, aerobics, yoga, circuits etc that are more suitable for a mixed-ability group.

MooMooFarm · 09/03/2011 09:36

PE in DS's school is sadly just as bad now as it was when I had to endure it - bullying PE teachers who suck up to the 'sporty' kids and pick on the rest; all having to stand at the front while the two teachers pets take turns choosing who they want in their teams, etc...

My son didn't mind PE in junior school, but now he's in high school the teachers there have managed to make him hate it Sad

MooMooFarm · 09/03/2011 09:37

And PS No, YANBU

elphabadefiesgravity · 09/03/2011 09:37

YABU.

Dd is very non sporty, she is pretty rubbish at it however she dances ballet, tap, modern & jazz out of school.

PE at her school is split into games where they rotate hockey, netball, football, rounders & tennis; PE which is gymnastics & dance in the winter and athletics in the summer. They also do swimming. Dd tries her best and occasionally even enjoys it though she really cannot see the point of tennis (her words)

It is important for children to get physical excercise. Lots of children these days don't do any physical activity at home. We are breeding a generation of computer playing couch potatoes.

LaWeasel · 09/03/2011 09:38

I was not a sporty child - asthmatic and unbelievably clumsy - you should see me play tennis. It's a whole world of amazing awfulness. Have to stand at a 45 degree angle to the net or the ball ends up on another court...

I really liked PE. It was fun. Normally you get subtly streamlined so there is a group of rubbish people just getting some exercise and messing around together, and what's wrong with that?

Plus, it turned out I'm not rubbish at everything. I was a good enough sprinter to make the athletics team (and then get dropped again after falling over passing the baton in a relay race Grin)

LornaGoon · 09/03/2011 09:39

YA soooo NBU.

Netball is the game of saddists and I learned nothing about the spirit of of fair play from PE. (Although revenge was mine armed with a hockey stick.)

Happily though it had no bearing on post-school life and am far fitter than when I was at school.

mollymole · 09/03/2011 09:41

just because you did not like PE you think that no one should do it ?
pe/games should , i think be every day in school - there are lots of different things to do (quality of teacher is a big thing though) and provide some much needed relief from academic study - and, of course it is not just team games, ball games, there are lots of other activities, including dance, circuits, movement etc - size is not necessarily relevent - skinny kid does not necessarily mean fit kid - positive encouragement and attainable target setting is the number 1 priority
as a former sports coach I was amazed at the number of children I coached who had parents motivated enough to bring them to a club yet they had never
played in the garden/house doing something as simple as tossing a bean bag or bowling a ball at a target and at least 5-% of the 8/9 year olds I met could not hop or do something vaguely resembling a simple forward roll

mollymole · 09/03/2011 09:42

sorry typo above i meant 50% not 5-%

vintageteacups · 09/03/2011 09:45

It's not only about exercise though - I do agree that there should be more variation (walking in the woods/laser quest Grin/horse riding on the beach etc), but PE type exercise (throwing/catching beanbags etc) is great for hand-eye co-ordination.

Climbing ropes - increases their arm strength

Swimming - saves their lives if they fall in a river

Team games - lets them learn to be a team player and learn it's not just about them

Dance - lets them have free rein to compose their own ideas and dance/act them out

Gymnastics - gives them good balance and teaches them how to safely use their body and stretch etc.

Perhaps it's more about the way they teach PE that's uninspiring.

Of course, it's all about budget and training too - they couldn't for example, teach ballet /horse riding.

strandedpolarbear · 09/03/2011 09:46

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

cantspel · 09/03/2011 09:47

Not all schools suck up to sporty kids and some seem to spend more time and energy on the ones who want to play but dont have the chance out of school even if they are not that good.
My second son is very sporty but he still does most of his sport out of school. His school stream for PE from year 8 and he is in top step but he still thinks school sport isn't competative enough.
He didn't do the school football team this year as they dont play to the standard he wants to play at and he doesn't want to risk an injury as he plays junior league football out of school.

cumbria81 · 09/03/2011 09:52

I used to love PE at school. However, in later years they decdied that girls didn't like sport enough and made us do some quite horrendous activities like aerobics and dance which I loathed.

Art- now there is something that is a waste of time. I am crap at drawing, hate sitting down to do it and really resented art lessons at school which were for me really boring and a waste of time.

Themumsnot · 09/03/2011 09:53

So far this year DD1 (13) has done in PE: badminton, cycling, dance, powerwalking, weights, acrogym. They also do cross-country. She is dyspraxic and totally non-sporty, but she enjoys most of it and tries hard. She is not teased or bullied and never has been, in fact her sportier friends are very supportive of her. They tend to work together in little groups and develop good team working skills as a result. Personally, I have terrible memories of school PE - shivering on the edge of the hockey pitch as I was never good enough to actually play etc - but things are very different now in most schools.

vintageteacups · 09/03/2011 09:55

Cycling -what a fab idea. They all love it and they don't really need to teach much! why don't they do that more?????

elphabadefiesgravity · 09/03/2011 09:56

Becasue they can't afford the cycles?

Themumsnot · 09/03/2011 09:58

Vintage - I don't know. Our house is on a quiet lane that runs between the back gate of the secondary school and a big park with a cyclepath round it - most days I see a group of kids from the school heading off with a teacher to the park. Saw DD's class going off powerwalking too yesterday - she was in the front! Shock I think the school takes advantage of having the park nearby though - probably not all schools have a suitable area to use.

cantspel · 09/03/2011 09:59

not many schools are near a velodrome and you cant really have 30 kids road racing

Abcinthia · 09/03/2011 10:00

I only left school 6 years ago and every year we did dance and aerobics. This was along with netball, rounders, cross country, hockey, rugby, badminton and tennis

I fucking hated aerobics and dance. All the boys would start making comments about which girls boobs are bouncing the highest. I much prefered to do hockey and rugby than to have boys commenting on my boobs or to have to do an interpretive dance about a tree.

And just a disclaimer, I'm not at all sporty.

Themumsnot · 09/03/2011 10:03

Interesting point Abcinthia. At DD's school boys and girls do PE seperately. Is that not the norm?

BaroqueAroundTheClock · 09/03/2011 10:03

and because not everyone will be able to ride a bike. It is highly unlikely that one of DS1's friends at school will ever manage to learn to ride a bike due to a (very subtle unless you know about it and look closely) bone deformity in his legs. He runs awkwardly - but manages football (one of his greatest passions) just fine - but cycling - nope.

vintageteacups · 09/03/2011 10:03

I was thinking more about secondary kids doing cycling really - taking their own bikes, rather than the schools forking out Smile

vintageteacups · 09/03/2011 10:04

It could be a choice - not a must.

elphabadefiesgravity · 09/03/2011 10:05

But not every kid will have a bike. They would have to split the class into two and fine something else/another teacher for those kids without bikes.

BaroqueAroundTheClock · 09/03/2011 10:06

yes - a great choice for those that

a) actually have a bike at home (or have a bike that they'd actually be willing to let the rest of the senior school pupils set eyes on..)

b) can ride a bike.