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.

Not hating but a kind of lasting lack of confidence and disillusionment.

I went to school in the 80's and was hopeless at PE, I'm not naturally athletic, geeky and shortsighted. It's taken another 20+ years to start to get involved with exercise classes and 5k running to try and keep the middle aged spread under control. I wish as a child I'd been taught how to get involved in and enjoy sports rather than just being the slowest/last picked all the time.

I'll walk or cycle anywhere but I really don't get "sporty" sports as a fun occupation, I think I've missed out there and I hope schools teach it better these days. I envy people who say they love sport and couldn't imagine not doing it. I certainly can!

I don't really think kids should be able to stop learning maths, I just meant children have to learn to accept that they sometimes have to do things they don't want to and deal with it.

I am sitting on the fence on this one...

I hated PE at school aswell. In every games session that we had, as usual there were two team leaders who would pick their teams. I was always the one at the end who each team-leader would fight NOT to have.

I've remembered it always and would hate to think of my DD going through that. (She's not quite two so a way to go yet...). I can't say the experience that I went through gave me any life lesson other than denting my confidence which has never recovered.

However, exercise is good for children, the freshair helps if nothing else! But I think sports where children are singled out and have to 'perform' individually should be a choice/after school club type thing and not compulsory. A dance/aerobics/athletics session however where everybody does it together at the same time so that those less-coordinated are not focussed on, would be much better I think.

I loved dancing when I was younger and attended dance classes until I was 16. If they'd had that at school, I would have been in my element, but they didn't... But now I LOVE doing Zumba and I know that people aren't watching me because they're too busy enjoying themselves. That's how PE classes at school should be.

Stand down people. Tis but a silly troll thread.

I believe that sports lessons at school are invaluable.
They teach, or at least should teach, so much.

Being part of a team is a fabulous life lesson. We are the sum of our parts and no-one is bigger than the team. We enjoy the highs together and the lows. We make decisions for the good of the team.

Learning to lose, pick yourself up and dust yourself down is so valuable.

Improving times, or balance, or how far you can throw a ball is great. Anyone can do it with help. It teaches us to set goals for ourselves and that with time and patience we can achieve them.

It's also my view that the school day is better punctuated by physical activity outside where ever possible.

Finally, I never much liked geography. I found it dull...but I'm not calling for its ban from the curriculum.

in my school pe was a waste of time, the irls who were in private tennis lessons, learnt hockey in their private preps, and had out of school trampolinin activities etc ot in to the teams and the rest of us were never tauht to the standard to allow us to be in the teams and actually enjoy the sport.

i mean 30 irls 2 trampolines and one hour that equals less then 5 mins each, how can they teach us anythin? if you wasnt ood at it to bein with pe wouldnt help you.

how can you learn to love a sport when any talent or interest you have hasnt ot time to be developed and nurtured?

Why not play monopoly, go and play frisbee with friends and have your 5 a day :)

Mathanxiety, I managed that. I hated PE. Strangely, although Tiny Clanger is very sporty in her own way (rhythmic gymnastics to competitive club level), she detests PE and periodically tries to get me to conspire with her coach and have her withdrawn from it, mainly because she is coerced into playing hockey and keeps injuring herself.

I'm all for children getting exercise and enjoying sporting success if they can, but I honestly don't believe that compulsory lessons in schools is the way to do that. PE puts off more children from exercising than it encourages.

Judging by my daughter's experience, sport in schools hasn't really moved on since the 80s.

Interesting aside - my friend's daughter's PE teacher is obese. Surely that is like having an art teacher who can't draw or a tone deaf music teacher?

YANBU.

The selling off of playing fields and general removal of spaces where children can run around like maniacs playing has had a far bigger impact on childhood obesity that PE lessons ever will. IMO.

Don't get why people are comparing it to maths. A maths teacher would not force a child they knew to be bad at maths to do equations in front of the class; they wouldn't allow bullies to corner the kids who weren't good at it and bully them during the lesson; they wouldn't tell someone that if they struggled with maths, it meant they were a terrible loser and deserved to be picked on- PE teachers do all these things (or did when I was at school- thank god at my daughter's school they seem to be better, or I would be writing a permanent sicknote for her). It's not so much the subject as the neo-nazi psychopaths who are allowed to teach it, presumably because no one better thinks it's worthwhile.

Our secondary school had changed so much regarding PE than when I was there. Girls wore trackie bottoms as opposed to shorts/tiny skirts. Swimming lessons were single sex and no questions asked re sitting out when on periods, we had to swim with boys . There was also no picking sides etc. Still DD hated it and would do anything to get out of it. I think it should be optional in secondary schools or at least have such a variety of activities that there is something to suit everyone.

It's well known that school can puts young girls off sports. My DD has just completed a gruelling event through choice so all isn't lost.

I was still at school 5 years ago so have recent experience of primary school in the 90s and secondary from the Noughties.

From the age of 5 I was laughed at, pointed at and called a 'spaz' when doing PE/Sports Day. I have dyspraxia and joint hypermobility syndrome which were not diagnosed until I was an adult and had left Uni, let alone school.

For me PE was pointless, I was bullied and laughed at. I hand flap when I run. Even one of my PE teachers said I was the worst person she'd ever attempted to teach tennis to. I had to hit the ball at a fence by myself whilst all the other girls played tennis with each other in the tennis courts.

I'm a size 10 despite having fibromyalgia as well now, physiotherapy is teaching me to exercise via stretching and pilates. I've been told the only exercise I should do is swimming, walking and yoga/pilates as my ankles are so hypermobile it's a wonder I've never injured myself seriously yet.

I would have been much better off taking an extra GCSE/A level during my PE lessons. In the 6th form I skived them to study French or to write a Geography essay.

I think PE is a good idea if they teach a variety of activities, rounders etc were pointless for me - I can't hit a ball, I run screaming from the ball as one approaching me messes with my sense. Yoga would have been great, despite the balance issues as it's non competitive. Leave the competitive stuff to the sporty kids who will enjoy it.

I was good at English, Geography, History etc - we didn't compete in those subjects. I wasn't allowed to point at the other children who weren't good at English and call them a 'spaz' so why should they have been allowed to laugh at me and call me a 'spaz' or a 'freak' during PE? In fact if you were bad at English etc no-one would know as we weren't forced to show our essays etc to the rest of the class!!!

It would be better to chop all the children's legs off and cook them up for lunch, thus also saving on dinner costs.

I was a PE dodger, and it wasn't because I don't like exercise. My family were into walking and at the same age I was dodging PE, I would happily hike up scafell or go swimming in a lake. The problem was the humiliation, making non-sporty people feel bullied and exposed, making you feel a failure if you weren't helpful to the team. That isn't about exercise, it's about tribalism and I suspect PE teachers getting their own back on academic kids.

No one explained to us about why exercise is healthy - that wasn't even an issue, the issue was sorting people out into stars who played on the school teams and saddo losers who got picked last.

It should be about exercise, and after having a taster of lots of sports and fitness activities, you should be able to choose - so for example I would have been happy to do walking, cross-country running, dance and fitness classes, swimming - but not the team sports where I just let everyone down.

I do hope it's better these days.

MintyMoo, my point exactly :0)

When I was at school all P.E. teachers were fat, thick bullies. They probably put most children off sport for life and IMO have a lot to answer for regarding the obesity crisis that we have now.

I have heard that things have improved at schools so maybe there is hope.

mintymoo what you're describing is appalling teaching.

And yes, sadly, many children are left feeling crap at academic things by poor teaching in schools.

Good sports teaching is not rocket science.

Ladyword, I hated team sports too but would happily walk the fells and swim in the lake! Sounds like we grew up in the same area. I'm glad our school changed by the time DD got there. I di note though that most of the girls gave up team sports part way through their teens for some reason.

PE taught and run badly seems to be the issue here then, not PE as it really should be.

wordfactory - indeed. The thing that worries me is that it started when I was 5.

Why would a 5 year old know words like that!!!??? and why wouldn't the school stop it!!?? I left that school pretty sharpish , no wonder Mum took me out.

It wasn't quite as bad as I got further up my secondary school, I knew others who were bad at PE too and they started seperating us, some of us would go and muck about trying to get balls across the tennis court fence into the field next door play tennis whilst the more competitive girls got to go and play rounders, or do some track running.

I think offering a range of activities and letting the kids choose is better. I actually enjoy physical activity, I just prefer not to be insulted when doing so :)

I hated PE so much I went to do extra maths instead. My deep loathing of the ritual humiliation I felt during every lesson (why did they never teach you the rules, ffs?) led to a pathological avoidance of exercise until I was 30, when I took up running on a whim and three months later ran the Race for Life in 21 minutes. Everyone says "bet you were good at sport at school!" and I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Im fat as fook, and doing the race for life

Ive got no point sorry

Well maybe I have Not all 5k walkers are " I am a very healthy weight for my height and hardly get ill."

well done for raising the money for charities though
My unhealthy fat ass is raising money too

PE at school today is completely different to the 1970's when I was at secondary.
My DC's get to chose the pathway they want to take, the get to do fun sports like golf and trampolining and have a pool so can also swim.

I think if they offer a variety of things to try and don't bang on forever about blimmin 'team' games all the time like they did when I was at school it can be a good way of finding out things you enjoy for life.

The team game/competetive thing put me off exercise for years and years. It wasn't until I was in my 40's I found I liked running for it's own sake.

The subject I'd ditch would be drama. Or at least give people the option of not doing it. Either you gravitate towards the limelight or you don't. And if you don't it can be hell. Sorry, that's not really on the pe topic of the thread though...