PE Class Over the Years

AmateisGal · Sep 28, 2012

My daughter is a 7th grader. I just got her report card for PE class. To my utter disbelief, she was graded on the accuracy of her frisbee throwing, her frisbee movement, and yes, even her frisbee throwing form. My daughter is bookish like me and except for a stint in summer softball this year (which she won't be repeating) is not interested in athletics at all. I have no problem with that. What I do have a problem with is her being given D's and C's for FRISBEE THROWING.

Yes, I've sent an email to the PE teacher asking why in heaven's name they're grading my daughter on this. When I was in PE class in the 80s, you got an S for Satisfactory or something to that affect. My grade was never broken down like this. I suspect it is the bureaucrats at either the state or local level who have brought this madness down on my ears. Of course, I told my daughter not to worry for one minute about her grade in PE class. I believe that as long as she is behaving, following the rules, trying her best, and participating, that is worth an A in my book.

I'm curious. What were PE classes like back in the Golden Era? I'm assuming it was on par with what I had - you participated, you passed. You were a jerk, you didn't.

LizzieMaine · Sep 28, 2012

In the 60s and 70s, we were graded letter grades, but this was in the era of "The President's Council on Physical Fitness," when phys-ed became a required course and was heavily emphasized. In the primary grades we had easy stuff like bouncing around a weather balloon or swinging around a parachute canopy (our PE department spent most of its annual budget for supplies at Army-Navy auctions), but after the second grade we did hard-core stuff like box vaulting, "suicide runs," rope climbing, basketball, volleyball, flag football, and fleeceball. About the easiest thing we did was archery, where we fired arrows into haybales placed at the opposite side of the gym. I always expected they'd give us rifle training too, but somehow they never got to that.

At no time did we ever throw frisbees.

Our PE teachers were old-timers, so one would presume they were doing exactly the stuff they'd always done. No mercy was shown to the kids, either -- you hopped to when they called your name, or they'd razz you in front of the whole class.

Girls and boys had separate classes, with a heavy canvas curtain drawn down the middle of the gym to segregate the sexes. Anyone caught peeking around the curtain was in deep, deep trouble.

The worst part of gym was gym suits, those cotton one-piece snap-front things we had to wear. They had a seam going straight across the crotch and up the backside, which ground you unpleasantly when doing situps.

AmateisGal · Sep 28, 2012

Oh my gosh, Lizzie, that whole thing sounds tortuous. I know my mom told me that her PE teacher would have them do exercises to "increase their bust size" and also supervised their shower time. :eeek:

Those gym suits sound horrid.

Amy Jeanne · Sep 28, 2012

When I was in PE in high school (1989-1993) it was really a pass or fail class. If you turned up and had your uniform, you got an A. If you "forgot" your uniform 3 to 5 times a semester you got a D (I think). Sitting out 3 to 5 times was the same -- unless you had a doctor's note. You got an F if you didn't turn up or if you "forgot" your uniform over 5 times. We were never graded on our "abilities" or I would have had triple F's lol

1961MJS · Sep 28, 2012

AmateisGal said:
Oh my gosh, Lizzie, that whole thing sounds tortuous. I know my mom told me that her PE teacher would have them do exercises to "increase their bust size" and also supervised their shower time. :eeek:

Those gym suits sound horrid.

Hi

Our PE teachers were supposed to supervise showering, but he didn't seem to like it much. Apparently, our girl's coach DID enjoy that part of her job though. My Freshman year, the Boy's grading scale was Freshmen get a C, Sophomores a B, Juniors and Seniors get A;s. Dad pointed out (he was a Math Teacher) that he was guaranteeing that the Valedictorian from our school would always be a girl. Our grading scale changed for the next grading period. Everybody starts with a A, irritate me once and it's a B and so on down. We played a lot of sports, including Army Basketball (no fouls), but we never played Soccer.

I guess I was fortunate, my Brother-in-law attended a Wichita High School and he graduated in about 1972. They had swimming, but didn't get to wear suits...:eeek:

Later

LizzieMaine · Sep 28, 2012

I disliked most of PE -- I was skinny and nearsighted and unathletic -- but I loved fleeceball, which was baseball played with a ball that was just a skin stuffed with raw wool scraps. The only home run I ever hit in any kind of an organized game came in one of these competitions -- I actually hit it over the curtain into the boys' gym -- and I never admitted to anyone that I couldn't actually see the ball, I just watched the pitcher, exhaled, and swung the bat.

We also played "Bombardment" if the teacher was in a really bad mood -- it's the same thing as dodgeball, only nobody ever had much of a chance to dodge. And also floor hockey, which was field hockey played indoors, and always a chance to take a chunk out of the shins of somebody you hate.

My grandmother loved PE in the twenties -- they played basketball pretty much constantly, and she got to be very good at it, or as good as one can play in bloomers and a middy blouse. Our gym suits, as distasteful as they were, were at least an improvement over hers.

Fletch · Sep 28, 2012

Boys' phy ed got a lot worse during the cold war years. When discharged junior NCOs flooded into the ranks of teachers, it became an unofficial preparation for universal boot camp. All the mental attitude adjustment those ex E-5s and E-4s had been trained to dish out was being visited on younger and younger fellows.

No particular help was offered stragglers, either - the lesson wasn't to learn fun sports or healthy habits, but to get ready to become men. It was assumed most boys would, and the few that wouldn't were best made an example for the rest.

AmateisGal · Sep 28, 2012

So I got a response from the PE teacher:

"It is a district requirement that we have a skills grade (which makes up 25% of a students overall grade), a knowledge grade (which makes up 25% of a students overall grade), and a participation/behavior grade (which makes up 50% of a students overall grade). The frisbee throwing form, accuracy, and movement in the game make up the skills grade. The quiz makes up the knowledge grade, and her day-to-day participation makes up her participation/behavior grade. Students do have the opportunity to re-test the frisbee quiz or throws after school if pre-arranged."

So much for "pass" or "fail"!!!

LizzieMaine · Sep 28, 2012

What would a frisbee quiz be like? Which side of the frisbee faces up?

AmateisGal · Sep 28, 2012

That is a good question. I'll have to ask my daughter.

I knew there had to be some kind of bureaucratic thing going on here.

AmateisGal · Sep 28, 2012

I love that you can re-test the frisbee quiz or the throws after school! So what happens if you just really, really can't throw and have zero athletic ability? Getting a good grade is completely out of the question, apparently.

dhermann1 · Sep 28, 2012

I think that's outrageous. The purpose of PE is for health and fitness, especially health. The idea is to get muscles moving and blood flowing. To grade a child on athletic ability is disgraceful. I'd write a letter to the Board of Ed. This really riles me up. SO many aspects of education are getting perverted these days, and athletics especially. This teacher's whole concept of the job is wrong. Is this what they're teaching phys ed teachers nowadays? Makes my blood boil.

AmateisGal · Sep 28, 2012

It upsets me too, dhermann. I found this website, www.pecentral.org and one of the articles offers an interesting reason for assessing PE class:

" A major implication of educational reform presently occurring in many states is the expectation that teachers should be able to show what students are learning as a result of their participation in physical education. While this might not sound very new, after all most of us who teach PE obviously know what we are teaching, some different expectations need to be appreciated.""First, stating what you are teaching (e.g. basketball dribbling, shooting, and passing) does not adequately answer the question, What are the students learning? In view of the vastly different skill levels of students entering many PE classes, what each individual student will learn by the end of the class will also be different. Second, you should anticipate being able to answer a parent who poses the question, What is my son/daughter learning? or even more specifically, What is it that my daughter/son will be able to do after this class that s/he couldn't do before?"

I honestly have NEVER once thought to ask my daughter's PE teacher any of these questions. In fact, I never go and talk to the PE teacher during parent-teacher conferences because I don't see the point.

What is my daughter learning in PE class? Well, hopefully how to play on a team and get along with others and the importance of physical fitness. She does NOT need to know how to throw a frisbee and be GRADED on it for any sort of aspect of her future, unless she plans to appear on Jeopardy! one day and needs to know facts about frisbee throwing!

Bluebird Marsha · Sep 29, 2012

Frisbee throwing is a sport? Maybe if you embedded razors in the rim... Nawww. They wouldn't go for that!

Somehow I remember PE as being a mix of exercising (sit ups, push ups, running), and various games (softball, volleyball, tennis). I think the grade was satisfactory/unsatisfactory, with notes for parents on areas we should work on. The gym suits were ghastly. A one piece that buttoned up the front. Same problem as has been mentioned. The seam rode up in a most uncomfortable manner.

Yeps · Sep 29, 2012

In my school, gym class was replaced by a sports requirement after my sophomore year. Too many fights kept breaking out in gym class, and there weren't enough teachers to control it properly.

Baron Kurtz · Sep 29, 2012

We did PE, but all the grading was done on the basis of participation, team spirit, and attitude.

Surely this is what PE class is really all about? It has nothing to do with actually being good at the sport (ability); much more about teaching kids about teamwork and effort?

(Incidentally, one thing I hate about sports is competition. People take it far, far, too seriously. The number of fights I saw playing college soccer - both intercollegiate and intramural, full sides and indoor 5-a-side - was shocking. That experience convinced me never to play competitive sports again, only lunchtime games for fun. I fear, OP, that this competitiveness is what they're trying to instil in your daughter - she'll be a jock (do they have frisbee jocks?) before you know it!!)

bk

Noirblack · Sep 29, 2012

This is the kind of thing that can traumatize a child. But only if you let it. The best thing to do is just accept the mark and move on with it, or ask for a retest and try for a better mark. The marking system has been set by the school board, so that cannot be changed just for one person.

AmateisGal · Sep 29, 2012

I already told my daughter not to worry for one minute about her grade or if she doesn't know how to throw a stupid frisbee. lol I said to just try her best.

I'm not surprised that this has all been laid out by the district. I'd love to know the reasoning, but I don't have the time nor the energy to challenge it. I made my feelings clear to the PE teacher, so that is enough for now.

AmateisGal · Sep 29, 2012

Baron, you're right - that is what PE class should be about. I fear for those kids who are already struggling with their classes and then have to worry about their PE grade (and what many may see as just one more failure). It has the potential to do some damage, I think, especially if the parents take it as seriously as the PE teacher does with the grades.

sheeplady · Sep 29, 2012

When I took gym it was graded out of a scale of 100 points. 65 was passing. We were graded on effort (I think) but also on skill and most of us got in the upper 80s, low 90s. I think I always got around a 92. Some people did much better than I did. I knew a couple people who got 70s and 60s, but they often sat out due to illness or slacked. One of my girlfriends had asthma, and she always got in the low 80s or high 70s, which I thought was unfair. It wasn't her fault that she tried but had an attack every class.

Interestingly, my grade didn't change quarter from quarter, despite what we played changing, and my skill level was really different. For instance, anything with a stick I was pretty good at- field hockey, floor hockey- which we played 1st and 3rd term. Volleyball, basketball, softball, and soccer I was less good at. I was good at football, the few times they let us girls play football. The one time they let us play lacrosse I was awesome, but they never let us girls play again because the rules for the girls were "There are no bounds. Anything goes. Just don't look like you're hitting people on purpose." You can guess what happened.

I'd be pretty upset if it was on athletic ability. Not everyone is a born athlete. Even if someone is good at something (my middle school gym teacher always tried to get me to join the field hockey team) doesn't mean they are good at everything (I absolutely stunk at volleyball, I was completely useless dead weight). I can see the upper A's as being reserved for those who are truly good at a sport, but I never saw the purpose of grading based upon skill. The purpose of gym class isn't to teach skill in a sport (that requires a lot more practice than 3 times a week for 45 minutes) but to get students moving, teach them team skills, and the basic rules of various sports. It's supposed to ingrain in students a love for physical activity.

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