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| Will future generations not climb the ropes? |
It’s
meant to be a potential cost-saving device if they don’t have to maintain
proper facilities to offer gym class to every student on a regular basis. It’s
also seen by some as a way of allowing local school officials to set their own
priorities.
ALL I KNOW
is that it would seem my memories of spending an hour per day in high school in
gym class, engaging in whatever athletic activity the teachers/coaches felt was
timely are a part of the distant past.
Modern-day
kids aren’t engaging in such activity. Which may be for the best.
Since my
own memories of gym class usually bring to mind spending some 45 minutes or so
ambling our way through some game that nobody seriously cared about.
And for
some, were anxious to ignore at all costs.
MY OWN
PERSONAL horror story was a time when we were supposed to play badminton, and
the person I was partnered with was something of a klutz. Not that I was ever one
to excel athletically. But that day, I was the “elite” player, which wasn’t
saying much.
It was
also the day I was trying to hit the so-called bird and my “partner” flailed
away with his racket – smacking me in the back of the head in the process.
Yes, we
lost that game. I was dazed for a few seconds. I’m not sure anybody’s physical
fitness was improved with such activity. Gym class always added “C’s” to my
report card, just because I didn’t care.
Which
supposedly was the purpose of having daily gym class – to get us engaged in a
little bit of physical activity that might actually improve our overall
fitness. It’s a nice ideal, but I’m sure the way that gym class was handled
back in the day usually meant the only people who benefitted were the ones who
had their academic struggles in all their other classes.
MEANING
GYM CLASS was the one bit of the day where they weren’t aimlessly flailing
about. Unless, by chance, they were also clumsy. In which case, the entire
educational experience they endured was something of a loss for them.
I’m also
sure that the people who went through school thinking “gym class” was their
favorite part of the day are the ones who grew up to become individuals who
bad-mouthed former first lady Michelle Obama and her own efforts to focus
attention on physical fitness.
They
probably wanted to think that gym was all about the actual ballgames played in
class, and are probably among the people who are going onto the Internet to
bad-mouth the current Illinois policies as somehow “sissifying” physical
education and our society, in the process.
I do
wonder at times if that time I spent in gym class could have been put to more
productive use. Although I’ll also admit I mostly remember gym class as
something of a break in the day. My own horrid memories of the experience come
from the one year in which physical education was my first activity of the high
school day.
TO SHOW
UP at high school about 7 a.m. and have people immediately expect me to be
active was a little cruel. Although I remember having high school newspaper
activity scheduled at the end of my school day always seemed like a pleasant
way to end – regardless of the nonsense that had occurred in the hours leading
up to it.
Remembering
high school gym and the hour devoted to class does bring back one memory that I
must admit repulses me if I think too much about it. Remember I said it was 45
minutes of activity? The rest of the time was devoted to getting dressed for
gym, then changing back into regular clothes for classes.
My own
memory is that I rarely showered after gym class. Very few people did. I’m sure
there were times I was sweaty and smelly as a result of gym class activity.
It must
have been a funky experience – one whose aroma I’m pleased to confess I seem to
have suppressed.
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