To think PE is a waste of time

[ICantfindagoodusername]

I'm totally prepared to be flamed, but please take the time to read the thread rather than just saying YABU because of the title.
I think PE is a waste of time because:
•Why is it the school's job to make sure our kids get enough exercise? An example of the government parenting our kids for us.
•Why does it always have to be team sports? Schools could do other more interesting PE choices, such as zumba, aerobics, and other things that don't involve running around outside in the cold and rain.
•What good does it do for your education? If a kid is overweight, a couple of hours of standing on a football pitch won't change anything. The time could be better spent covering more of the curriculum. Kids run around at lunchtime anyways.
•PE is supposed to make kids foster a life long love of sports. But in reality, lots of kids LOATHE it, and as soon as they are 16, quit PE, never to do it again.

"I think PE is a waste of time. I hated PE and every waking moment was spent forging notes and being off sick, twisting my ankle etc to get out of it. I never participated very well it was just torture twice a week. "

That kind of behavour is something to be ashamed off. Life is full of things that we don't want to do. Lying to get out of PE should be punished as truancy.

If a child caught faking a PE note was forced to spend a day internal isolation with the really badly behaved kids then they might think twice. It would also send the message that the school expects the same standard of behaviour in PE as Maths.

No, dypraxia is not an excuse for being decietful.

Funnily enough I've managed to get through life without being remotely competitive, that's not to say that I don't seek to better myself and set very high standards for myself but I don't seek to beat anyone else because frankly I don't see the point.

If I go for a job it's because I think I might be a good person for the job, if I don't get it it's because the other person was better for the job.

I know that I infuriate competitive people because I won't buy into it, and as a result of being non competitive, sometimes other people take credit for my work which irks but I won't play the game. It's pointless. As is competitive sport, and forcing people to do PE past the age of about 14.

It raises interesting questions as to what subjects should be taught at school. Maths has been quoted as a core subject - but that does not mean we should not ask to what level it should be taught to those who are not going to take it further, and how it should be taught. Many children are put off maths by being loaded with stuff they will never use; or being taught badly. The same goes for English - tearing poetry apart kills the joy and the magic.

The same applies to PE. The fact that so many people feel passionately that it is or was awful should make us question its place in the curriculum and how it is being taught. I really do think that it is a throwback to the public school system which state schools tried to emulate. We need to ditch all of that and look at what might encourage young people to take exercise and, more importantly, to continue that when they leave school. The way that PE is taught discourages this, which is why it is right that schools should be asking themselves if they are doing the right things.

The argument that life is full of shit things and the sooner we get used to the idea that we have to do them the better cuts no ice with me - what a negative view of things!

I do agree about the competitiveness - that gene seems to have passed me by! And my children. At first DD's first sports day, she stopped to pick a daisy en route!!

It is wholely justified if your needs aren't met in a class and you are belittled, embarrassed and feel bloody miserable.

I hated PE( suspect I'm dyspraxic myself). Dragging myself to lessons served no point. It put me off sport and was partly to blame for crushing low confidence which only started to disappear when the lessons and humiliation stopped.

I make my dd go because I ensured she was catered for in the lessons and the belittling halted. Should my complaints not have sorted both out I frankly would have found forcing her to every lesson questionable and incredibly hard.

I think PE as it is taught at DC's school is a waste of time. My DC are not encouraged to improve or taught in any form. Instead they spend week after week underperforming in various sporting activities without getting any better. It is torture for them.

I spoke to DD's PE teacher at a parents evening and asked if she could be given some targets to aim for in order to increase her confidence. He said he'd try... and did nothing.

I can absolutely say that school PE lessons have turned off two non-sporty DC completely. DD now has CFS/ ME and when asked by the psychologist to think of one positive with having the illness she said that it was that she doesn't have to do PE.

ReallyTired anyone ever tries to put my child in isolation I'll knock their fucking block off, when did it become ok to treat law abiding children worst than convicted criminals, good the school system is nuts these days.

What do think happens to children who are caught attempt to skip Maths lessons? Is it disportionate to put them in internal isolation? Would you support the school if your child was caught trying to skip maths and punished?

Internal isolation is a common punishment for misbehaviour that is regarded as serious. A healthy child trying to skip lessons is taken seriously.

I feel a child who fakes a note to get out of PE is as bad as the child who attempts to skip maths. A day in internal isolation is appriopiate in both cases. The child who tries to skip maths as bad as the child who tries to skip PE. No child is being criminalised, but both children deserve a sanction to act as a deterrent.

Internal isolation involves sitting insolation for a day. The child eats their lunch seperately and does work at desk in silence. It's not meant to be fun. It's also an opportunity to sob reflect and think about their vile behaviour. Internal isolation is not criminalising a child. It's a widely used punishment in many secondary schools.

DH and I are perfectly able to function in teams at work despite being shit at team sports

This. Exactly this. I totally agree. I remember our PE teachers trying to drum into us that if we could not function at competitive team sports we would be useless on any other sort of team. It was utter bollocks, though I wish I had known that at the time.

I too can function well and happily as part of the team in the various places I have worked (offices mainly). I was totally shit at team sports though and always felt that being forced to participate in them come what may actually undermined any confidence I had.

I'd hope that if a child was avoiding a lesson because of underlying disabilities, the school would seek to understand that and seek to provide reasonable adjustments (as per the DDA) rather than punish them.

I cannot believe people condone that action by schools, it won't ever happen to any of mine I know that for sure, wtf I mean really

Hated PE - was never that sporty at school and the teacher's seemed to only focus on the ones who already knew it - which seems to defeat the objective of "teaching" really? Would the teacher focus on Maths only on those who know how to do trigonometry?

Hated the PE kit - it was humiliating and impractical - horrible ill-fitting red tops with nasty baggy shorts. Knee socks that never stayed up if we were outdoors, ankle socks if we were indoors - why the difference?

Standing in the freezing hall in bare feet for dance lessons when we had been in their earlier in the day with outdoor shoes and socks on...

Need I go on??

The purpose of PE and games is not to make children fit; it is to make them resourceful in finding ways to avoid them. I generally did.

The trouble with team sports is that they become an obsession with teachers (and that spreads to pupils) who don't want any alternative because that might take sporty types out of the team. The idea that "the team comes first" is fine in a club which you join because you want to (and can quit if you want to) but it is dangerous nonsense in schools where you go because you have to and cannot just leave. We all know the results; the non-sporty types are left bored at best and humiliated at worst, which is not the way to lead them to staying active in adult life - for which school is supposed to be a preparation, not an end in itself.

At age fifteen four or five of us reached an agreement with a sensible games-teacher (a rare bird indeed!) that on games days we would go for a vigorous walk round the area - in normal clothes - rather than skulk away from the action on the sports field - and we stuck to it. After O-Levels, as they then were, I stopped even going to the sports ground and nobody tried to make me. And since I left school I have taken no real exercise apart from walking - see earlier in this paragraph for why - and (non-competitive) swimming which I like.

Andrewofgg your PE teacher sounds really sensible!! Normal clothes, sensible exercise and everyone is happy!!!

Actually I think PE might help you function in a team if you are one of the non sporty types ...by teaching you what not to do.
Not exclude quieter people who might with encouragement and opportunity be able to excel and bring strength and different qualities to the team, not leave them bored and feeling useless cos they aren't the loudest, obviously naturally gifted and most competitive...

I agree pissedoff

reallytired you sound really rather unpleasant and way over the top.

It's all very well complaining about this but what are we actually going to do? We should start a campaign about this.
In general, primary school Peugeot seems to work better ans i wonder if that is because there is more focus on play and activity rather than competitive sports. The combination of competitive sports and puberty is a toxic one.
As for me I was ambivalent about PE but all the sport I do is solitary and everything I learnt about teamwork was as an adult.

Teaching PE still seems to be analogous to only teaching literate children English or numerate children maths.

Peugeot? Let I meant PE!

PE at my kids' school looks like fun. I wish there were adult exercise classes like it. Loads of games, group exercises, just general fun.

My oldest daughter's school also does loads of Boffer, and to meet their PE requirement they can also just track how much of their chosen fitness activities they do, or they can do group fitness which again is mostly games and fun.

So why is it ok to lie and produce fake sick notes for PE. Surely schools should teach values like honesty? Do you encourage your children to lie on a regular basis? Or are you selective which teachers your child respects?

If you think your child had dyspraxia the surely you would have noticed and got your child some help by now. Your GP will refer your child to the commutity paediatrician. Ds has had loads of help since he was 20 months. He saw the community paediatrian every six months up to the end of year 3. He had physio, OT, and speech and language therapy. He had a referral back to the child development centre because he struggles with the writing and organisational demands of secondary. Recently he has had another course of NHS physio because he was experiencing pain walking down stairs. He now has orthotics.

Suggesting that every brat child who is badly behaved in PE has dyspraxia demeans those with real problems. It trivialises the harsh difficulties that children with dyspraxia face.

Getting a diagnosis for dyspraxia can take years. My son was formally diagnosed at 14. However he has been under various specialists for years. His schools have always followed the advice of the child development centre professionals.

My son has never had a bad PE teacher. I suspect that many people on this thread have zero idea of how PE is taught in schools in the 21st century. He has never experienced humiliation in PE or been laughed at by a teacher. He was once laughed at by another child and the PE teacher swiftly sorted it out.

Some badly behaved children have no neurological difficulties or special needs. They are simply spoilt or lazy or both. I realise that it's not a popular thing to say, but not all bad behaviour is caused by special needs.

Yup, still unpleasant reallytired ...brat. Lovely.

Dyspraxia is four times more common in boys than girls. Surely you would expect most children who are avoiding PE to be boys. On average girls are less physically active than boys.

I can find any evidence to state whether boys skip PE more than girls.

reallytired has a point, I'm sure we all know people back in school who made up excuses to skip P.E. who had no health issues, just didn't want to do it. There was a whole culture of hating P.E. unless you were sporty when I was in school. I know I used my bad knee excuse many times when it wasn't actually hurting because I couldn't be arsed to run around in the cold but I was perfectly capable of doing it (and I was good at P.E. and no one laughed at me so wasn't fear of humiliation either - no one laughed at anyone in my class)

If you think it's that easy to a) know about dyspraxia, b) Get a diagnosis of dyspraxia, c) get help for dyspraxia - you have no idea outside your own experience.

My son has learning disabilities, dyspraxia, autism, sensory processing disorder - it's taken 11 years to get those diagnoses and in spite of the fact that he is now at special school, he doesn't meet the threshold for interventions. The only reason he gets any therapy at all is that I'm a HCP by background, I did my own research and training which is only available to me because of my profession. My husband and I have often said thank god for our jobs and how hard it is for people who have no experience or knowledge.

You can villify kids as much as you like because they don't fit with your experience and view of how things should be but from your posts of this thread, your view of the world is clearly quite a privileged one - which is nothing to be ashamed of or criticised for, but if you're going to start making judgement calls you really need to broaden your knowledge base, if not your experience.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/oct/29/dyspraxia-serious-recognition

Lucky you ReallyTired. Your experience couldn't be further than ours if you tried. I went to our Senco and got fobbed off- repeatedly. I even highlighted my dd's list of symptoms off the NHS site and sent it in. It got ignored and we never got a reply. I have several years teaching experience myself and let myself be fobbed off. If it wasn't for friends with Senco experience,my thick skin and my amazing GP who eventually took things in hand we still wouldn't have a diagnosis. You overestimate parental confidence and knowledge in school settings. Many don't want to be "that" parent and will believe whatever they are told by professionals.

The problem is my dd is bright and desperately wants to fit in. I think the numbers of girls diagnosed with dyspraxia is lower because of this. It is certainly an issue with autism. Shedid hours of work on handwriting and balance activities at home. Kids with dyspraxia can often be quite bright,I do wonder if this is also why so many go undiagnosed ie there are deemed to be bigger fires to fight which I get to some point. However in areas where dyspraxic kids are really struggling there should be support and there isn't. As I said( but you keep ignoring) our OT team have highlighted ignorance in schools as a problem so they will do visits if needs be.

Oh and we had a string of unpleasant PE teachers during primary.One Senco we dealt with said in her experience PE teachers often have unpleasant attitudes towards children that struggle with the subject in a way that doesn't happen in other areas.

You can't dismiss children struggling in a bottom set as brats. Many will have suffered previous humiliation,many may well have undiagnosed conditions,many may be engaging in lessons simply not differentiated well enough for them and many may simply be struggling. As I said previously the PE lessons my dd was engaging in before I complained weren't even differentiated,they were never really tailored for her needs and the teachers were frankly highly unpleasant in a way they would never be if she was struggling in a different area of the curriculum.