To think frankly, PE is pointless and not as important as getting good grades in english/maths? And that avoiding it will not make you obese?!

[bananasinpjamas]

I was a geek at school. I have only deliberately faked illness once and that was on sports day- it was humiliating and the team sports made no sense and were overwhelming for me- I was put with the 'YRs' in year 6 to 'Help' them as I couldn't do the activities properly (and was terrified of falling off the bloody balancing equipment, thanks shit depth perception).

I also avoided it when I went to Sixthform - said I was on a uni open day (Tutor found me out and found it hilarious as I frantically tried to blurt out a 'cover' story and told me she would keep it hush as she did exactly the same as a kid so wasn't one to talk!).

Avoiding PE does not equate to challenge avoidence or even avoidence of exercise. I bet there are people that have sneaked off something in life and still are very successful people.

For the record, I have severe dyspraxia, SPD and mild cp. I have done my DofE award, 200 hours volunteering award, will be doing race for life, raised over 1300 for charity and at the top uni for my subject. I am a very healthy weight for my height and hardly get ill.

PE really doesn't matter when you leave school. Its not essential like english and maths, and tbh a good parental influence on healthy eating/lifestyle choices is better than any PE lesson. No one, unless you are going to be an olympian, is going to use skipping PE against you as much as they might rely on your SATs results.

And I don't think the Jamie's school dinner thing was pointless either as it has made some obvious changes to the shit some kids were fed at school and allowed to bring in.

PE is not just about health and fitness. If parents are allowing their children to become fat and get very little exercise, PE won't change that.

What it does do (or can do) is build confidence, teach the rules of sport and encourage team playing.

It sounds like YOU hated PE, but there are many children who love it. Some people dislike history - is that pointless as well?

Thing is, there are so many children who wouldn't do a single bit of exercise if it wasn't for PE - they need to get moving at school. Personally I think there should be a more competitive sport in school.

I do agree with Alps about the cocking popularity contest though.

I was a geek at school, and I know this is a massive generalisation, but when I went to university, I found that for people who'd gone to private school, it seemed more common to be sporty and intelligent. At my state school (of course with exceptions) people tended to be clever or sporty...

... so, I think PE is very important, and being sporty will really benefit someone for the rest of their life, perhaps much more than an extra few points in the exams.

Arrogant? Far from it. Can't be good at everything? I know that. I do have a very can do attitude but if I was made to feel humiliated, bullied, crap, dented my self confidence and stressed me out so much I couldn't use the telephone, public transport, deal with going to a local shopping centre I can't see how that helps people, far from it. So much that I felt physically sick, shaky, disorientated and put my anxiety through the roof. I can't see how that's healthy at all.

I realize academic achievement is a tiny bit of life- my brother is in the top 3% at music, has a band, job and has got record label support. He has 'only' 4 or 5 gcses to his name and didn't go to sixthform. He is an amazing communicator and can talk with anyone about anything and can organize to cope under extremely stressful situations including a death of a close relative and booked tickets/directed/got through a foreign aiport/packed at age 13. I would of been in a complete mess and no help at all, but he can do that.

I was very studious at school too, and got excellent grades (got into study law at university so can't have been that bad) but I used to look forward to PE all week. It was a such a stress relief from studying and made me feel refreshed afterwards. And honestly, I have little interest now in some of the sports I did in PE, but I think its nice I could still respectably handle a tennis or badminto racket.

Obvs it's unreasonable to think PE is pointless. I just bloody hated it.

Don't know what PE is like nowadays but when I was at school (1980s) it was a massive waste of time.

No teaching about how/why to warm up and cool down.

No teaching about rules of the games we were supposed to be playing.

No tactics, which might actually have shown us the point of playing as a team.

No realistic target setting. No guidance on how to work towards a target.

It was basically ordering the class in terms of their natural sporting abilities, then leaving us to get on with it. The usual helping of public humiliation, with a side order of cold shower at the end.

The whole experience put me off exercise to the extent that I was in my twenties before I started cycling and realised that I was actually quite good at it. Before that I'd just been pigeonholed as one of the fat useless kids that weren't worth picking for anything.

I actually picked up an injury in PE as a direct result of not being made to warm up properly and not being shown how to do something properly, which I still carry today. Anyone who claims that my PE lessons were good for my health can sod off, frankly.

All because of PE lessons, OP? I am guessing that is more down to a bad teacher/experience and not PE lessons in general though.

Also, how can you be in the top 3% at music? I am intrigued by how that is measured!

Your experience is not particular common. Plenty of kids don't enjoy PE much or aren't very good at it but what you describe sounds more like a phobia or a serious axiety disorder. I don't think you can use one extreme experience to justiify removing physical activity from the curriculum.

I loved PE and looked forward to every class. I wasn't that good at it, but the teacher was enthusiastic and fair and made the most of equipment and facilities that left a lot to be desired, and stood up to parents who thought she was pushing their DDs too far in gymnastics and other strenuous sports. I had the great good luck to have the same good teacher from age 5 to end of secondary school. However, I hate running, always did, and you could not pay me to attempt any sort of serious running regime now. I volunteered to be goalie on the hockey team just because I figured out that if I got the pads and kickers on fast enough I wouldn't have to do the obligatory five laps of the pitch before practice. I walk a lot and always did.

Right. Maybe I didn't phrase this thread properly.

IF you hate PE, it is pointless.

awaits more flaming from people who haven't read this post

If your kid loves PE and that is their chance to shine, fair enough and all the best. But with some of us that doesn't happen. I also disagree with the statement of "No PE = UNHEALTHY AND FAT THATS THE ONLY EXERCISE THEY GET" for the majority of people, unless you are telling me everyone on mumsnet allows their kids to eat smilie faces, fruit shoots and processed crap all day in front of the PS3.

Yes I know that is a generalization, but so is the above. Its a bit like saying all muslims are extremist terrorists or all rotties are vicious or all teenagers are incompatible with society.

But OP - your experience was awful but PE just isn't really like that nowadays

I left school looking healthy and slim but I was chronically unfit because I had no cardiovascular exercise. That's just NOT healthy and no amount of healthy eating etc can make up for lack of that lack of exercise.

I think that exercise actually helps concentration btw

I hated PE at school.

Two main reasons IMO now - my eyesight wasn't great (no glasses till I was about 20, but I reckon I was shortsighted at maybe 14-15) and I hated revealing my fat white hairy legs in a short skirt.

Wish someone had offered jogging bottoms and glasses - I might have enjoyed PE as much as I do now (runner, swimmer, football coach!).

Playing and enjoying games, especially team games, is a vital skill to learn at school - one that will genuinely stay with you all yr life and give you enjoyment, keep you fit, help you lose weight and help you work as part of a team - now that's a skill useful in every area of life!

So yes YANBU OP. You are a good weight, healthy and run the Race for Life; great. Someone who hated maths at school may turn out to be prefectly able to do necessary calculations late in life - doesn't mean maths lessons are a waste of time.

BTW I work in a sports college and none of the PE teachers are fat or stupid, FWIW.

PE is not just about getting kids who would not normally exercise to do exercise. It is also a 'subject' that some children have a strength in. Just because some of you don't like PE or exercise, doesn't mean some children don't love it. It's nice that some children who may not be the best at art or literacy etc can excel at running, or team sports etc. My DS is no good at drawing but is a fast runner, so my point of view is that they spend too much time painting and not enough time on the sports pitch! Each to their own.

GrungeBlobPrimpants it was only 4 years ago! Can you believe it?

READ MY MESSAGE.

Welllll, even though I know the good things about PE, I agree with you wholeheartedly. I think for a certain type (eg. you and me ) P.E. is like a punishment. I was really glad to leave school and be done with the whole business of it. I'll take Maths over it anyday.

sorry, think i just basically repeated what other people have said already

I loved Games at school

I hated PE at school because I was very short sighted, quite small and not interested in team sports. The teachers quickly picked up on my lack of interest so they lost interest in me. I really do hope that PE is very different now as it took me until my 30s to discover that I like running. Since then I've completed 3 marathons and an Ironman triathlon. Just think what I could have done if I'd been encouraged to run as a kid.

I agree that if you hate PE is is a bit like Chinese water torture, and also agree that it will do nothing about the obesity epidemic. Better to ban eating with your fingers if you want to eliminate obesity.

I think it must be hard to keep up a 'hatred' of PE over your entire school career though. I can see lacking enthusiasm, or feeling inadequate, or never looking forward to class (have been in that boat wrt maths) but hatred takes a lot of energy and devotion to the cause.

I hated maths at school. To the point of feeling shaky and sick before lessons & I could argue that aside from the basics, I don't use anything I learned from age 12 upwards - algebra, long division, simultaneous equations etc. Should we allow kids to stop maths?

Gah! None of the PE teachers is fat or stupid, that should be! I also meant YABU OP!

Nobody says as far as I can see that structured exercise is the only way to be healthy - but it's a way, and maybe a way to really have an effect. My brother played football at school - he still plays each week now, and he's in his 40s. That's giving him activity, a social outlet, teamwork - what;s not to like?

BTW my post re short skirts etc was meant to stress how PE has moved on - tracksuit bottoms are the norm now in most secondary schools AFAIK.

Not sure what happened to my bolding there....

Yes, I think we should Hammy. I know an older lady who was allowed to take practical bookkeeping/arithmetic sort of classes in school and forget about the algebra/geometry/calculus track. Sounded sensible to me.