TRIGGERED: Study Shows P.E. Sucks. Really.

"Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo" (rustyvandura) 01/30/2019 at 13:30 • Filed to: None

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The Atlantic asked for submissions and comments about P.E. and here’s what I wrote them:

Black dude dancing on a bench in the locker room fondling his penis, sort of singing, sort of chanting, “My penis don’ get enough sun shine...” (It was kind of purple.)

Getting up in front of the class to fail to be able to do any chin-ups during some state physical fitness test.

Actually hitting the softball and releasing a string of profanity, out of utter shock, while running to first base, and having the hit and the run disqualified for swearing.

One win: driving Dad’s car out onto the baseball field at the last period of my last day as a senior in high school — freshman P.E. — and parking behind the fence at Home Plate.

P.E. teachers have immense power to smash the self esteem of adolescents, probably more than any other teachers. And many of them do.

Matthew Fontaine Maury High School, Norfolk, Virginia, Class of 1982

facw > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/30/2019 at 13:50

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Obviously some things like the terrible locker rooms are difficult to fix, but I think you can get a lot of improvement simply by offering a bunch of choices on what activity to do. The point is to get the kids to do something, it’s not like other subjects where they need to learn about a bunch of specific things. Obviously you can only offer a limited number activities, but even a bit of choice is good. My high school also exempted most student athletes, which seems like a win win, they get to pick their activity and still get exercise, the school doesn’t need to deal with as many kids in PE, and less athletically talented students don’t have as much of a fitness gap with others in class so its less embarrassing .

DipodomysDeserti > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/30/2019 at 13:51

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My students are begging for me to teach a PE class. They want me to “get them ripped”.

However, my wife teaches PE at a girls school, and half the class gets out of it with notes. A lot of kids now don’t get any physical activity outside of PE, so they’re wasted from the little bit of exertion they experience.

When I was in highshool we got to lift weights and play this hybrid rugby soccer game. It was great. However, you got to have emoathy for the kids that aren’t quite into it, otherwise you’ll mess them up.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/30/2019 at 13:51

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Wow, I didn’t realize PE was so traumatizing . My children only complain when they have to run laps. They separate the boys and girls mostly in middle school and if showers are needed they have individual bays so the boys are not molesting each other.

fintail > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/30/2019 at 13:54

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I never had a problem with PE in the smallish town where I attended high school, I took it for the required 2 years (you could get out of it with an “Academic” elective, I think). GPA boost as you’d get an A for even a little effort, and it was nice to get outside sometimes, or learn weights and play goofy fun games (volleytennis?). A good teacher helped with that, I think, I still remember the guy, and I didn’t clash with him.

I can imagine it is hell for others, though. Maybe m ake it an elective.

Nibby > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/30/2019 at 13:55

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dude i hated gym in high school and playing school sports... don’t even get me started

For Sweden > DipodomysDeserti 01/30/2019 at 14:02

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Isn’t hybrid rugby soccer just Aussie Rule football?

Svend > For Sweden 01/30/2019 at 14:20

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I was thinking just the thing. Aussie Rules, rules. 

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > facw 01/30/2019 at 14:26

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Yeah. Then you’re talking about tracking kids by athletic prowess, which has the side effect of putting all the slow fat kids together. On top of that, in order to squeeze more blood out of the turnip, teacher unions agree to allow larger class sizes in PE, so you have PE teachers dealing with classes of 40 or 50 kids. When I was at the high school, PE was when the kids would settle their beefs and do their fighting. PE: another government-imposed solution to problems that may or may not exist.

Tristan > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/30/2019 at 14:27

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I absolutely hated gym class in school. I grew up on a farm and got plenty of physical activity, but I wasn’t even a little bit athletic so I just didn’t see the point . I ran slow and was always picked last for games. Later in life I learned to enjoy physical challenges and and value fitness. I think it’s important, especially as kids get more and more sedentary. Perhaps we should find ways to make it more enjoyable and engaging, or at least convey the importance of it. No growth happens in the comport zone, and we can’t just start eliminating stuff from curriculum and personal development because kids don’t like it.

someassemblyrequired > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/30/2019 at 14:27

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PE should really be the 1hr you spend walking/cycling back and forth to school. I can’t believe how close I’ve lived to schools and the kids still ride the bus when they could easily walk or ride their bike.

People are different, some will be well suited to team sports, some to individual, some will be fast, others will have lots of endurance. Some folks are extremely competitive, and others just don’t care . There’s too many variables to serve everyone properly, so the activity needs to be incidental rather than structured.

If you want structured PE, register the kid in an organized sport they are actually interested in. I know for me once I got to high school and it was optional, almost no one took PE, even those who I would classify as high-caliber athletes. It was just an easy credit for the knuckle-draggers.

BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/30/2019 at 14:27

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Middle school was normal PE games, like kickball and dodgeball. I wasn’t athletic or really any good, but didn’t hate it, and gave me a chance to play things like volleyball that I really enjoyed and never would have otherwise had a chance to play. And I loved dodgeball.

High school was all “life sports” or whatever like tennis, golf, bowling, and yoga. You got to pick what you wanted to do, it was fun. 

MattHurting > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/30/2019 at 14:33

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Look at the comments on the Jez article about this. Soooo many bitter women.

DipodomysDeserti > For Sweden 01/30/2019 at 14:37

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Basically, but we used a soccerball and soccer goals. I think our coach called it Speedaway. We was a bit wacky, so he may have just made the whole gane up.

AntiSpeed > For Sweden 01/30/2019 at 14:41

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Gaelic football.

For Sweden > AntiSpeed 01/30/2019 at 14:42

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Australia has cooler cars than Ireland

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > DipodomysDeserti 01/30/2019 at 14:43

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However, you got to have emoathy for the kids that aren’t quite into it, otherwise you’ll mess them up.

My P.E. teachers were downright abusive. I had a lot of lame teachers in high school.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever 01/30/2019 at 14:45

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Not every PE program is a camp of abuse, and I think the article takes some pains to say that. And I’d say that things have improved since my time in school, but I’ve seen some real doozy PE teachers during my career... All about punishments and do more burpees, and so on.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > fintail 01/30/2019 at 14:46

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Making it an elective would be a good thing. But I’ll guess that you are comfortable in your skin and were as an adolescent. That makes PE much more survivable.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Nibby 01/30/2019 at 14:47

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There’s a mentality around athletics that I loathe.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > MattHurting 01/30/2019 at 14:48

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Well, I’m a bitter man, when I talk about PE in junior high and high school. Very, very bitter. PE was agony.

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/30/2019 at 14:48

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I grew up in the 80's and was average at most athletics so I can imagine that old school PE would suck for some people.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Tristan 01/30/2019 at 14:52

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There are multiple subjects in your comment. In the end, we have an ugly set of complications brought about by an overly simplistic government-imposed solution. Obesity? Eat less chips and ice cream and flour and sugar and processed foods.

...always picked last for games.

#metoo

Tristan > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/30/2019 at 15:02

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Like most of the behavior problems faced by faculty, it was a problem before the kid ever set foot on the campus. If mom and dad dump their offspring in front of the TV/iPad/smartphone/vidya game versus taking family walks, wrestling on the floor, going for hikes, throwing the ball in the back yard, etc. they aren’t going to take to a gym class. And just like it’s easier to plop them in front of a TV, it’s easier to feed them potato chips and chicken nuggets. If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard someone say “But little K ay dysyn will only eat chicken nuggets” I’d have at least 8 dollars.

O verly simplistic government-imposed solutions to problems that didn’t exist before the government imposed itself on something are the reason I lean libertarian. I can’t wait to see how much more the government can fuck up healthcare.

DipodomysDeserti > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/30/2019 at 15:37

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The position does seem to attract assholes and wackjobs. My dad’s PE teacher kicked a gym door shut on his finger and cut the tip of it off.

W e had a bad one at my high school too. He always gave my step brother shit until my dad showed up at school one day and threatened to kick his ass.

nermal > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/30/2019 at 15:46

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Kids need to stop being such weenies. Physical activity is important, and being more active improves basically all aspects of learning & development. They can even rename it from PE to general health and fitness or whatever.

In addition to teaching kids basic health and fitness concepts, there also needs to be a mandatory personal finance class. If kids are taught useful life skills early on, they will stick. 

Chuckles > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/30/2019 at 16:06

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Gym class always seemed too short to be practical. Like between locker room time before and after class, plus taking attendance, you only had like 15-20 minutes to actually do anything. Same with swimming class. If you’re going to have P.E. you might as well make the class twice as long but meet half as often.

I didn’t love gym class, as I was very much a fat kid in high school (and I still am now), but I wouldn’t say I was traumatized by it.

Also, and this is just a random observation, why did you feel the need to specify that the student was a black dude? If it had been a white student, would you have said "white dude" or just "dude" to describe him? Just curious.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/30/2019 at 16:06

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I never disliked PE. Changing for gym clas wasn’t a thing Untill highschool, showering was never mandatory, and nudity was only allowed in the shower. The jocks who actually played sports did usually shower, play around dicks out, and call other gay for not getting naked... because that makes so much sense.

But hey a class where I was allowed to play, run, yell,  and be a bit competitive? Sign me up. Not to mention gym never had homework which was the worst part of highschool for me.

fintail > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/30/2019 at 16:12

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I wasn’t quite an elite level athlete , but I suppose I was able to participate, and it was also good BS time with friends. I don’t have many irritating memories of it all. Funny thing, I am more active now than then .

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > DipodomysDeserti 01/30/2019 at 17:14

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Your dad’s finger? Was there a lawsuit? Any ramifications for the teacher?

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > nermal 01/30/2019 at 17:15

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Weenie because life and what kids aren’t getting at home we can’t fix at school.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > someassemblyrequired 01/30/2019 at 17:37

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Yes, all of that. And there is this mentality about team sports that is anathema to me. I am not athletic at all, though I enjoy strength training at the fitness studio and being able to lift heavy things when I need to; feels good.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind 01/30/2019 at 17:38

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I have two sports, very similar, that I enjoy watching on television: golf and rugby.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Tristan 01/30/2019 at 17:40

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I like you.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Chuckles 01/30/2019 at 17:50

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Because his dick was purple and it was at my eye level as he danced on the bench and I’m white and at 15 years of age, those details really stood out to me. When I look at you, I don’t see black , wasn’t really anything that occurred to me then or now.

I’m glad you asked, and I wondered whether anybody would, and I wondered if, by opening it that way, I’d trigger anyone. My school was 50/50 black/white. I was physically assaulted regularly in the stairwells and in the halls by black students. Once I started taking my cigarette s with them — we did that, right outside the doors, in those days — I gained a measure of acceptance with them, as I was ostracized by most of the white kids as well, because they were all a bunch of preppies and I was an outsider. My middle school and high school experiences were absolute ordeals and my parents could not even begin to fathom what I went through.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles 01/30/2019 at 17:52

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Like my 8th grade boys who say, no homo and then proceed to draw penises on everything.

But hey a class where I was allowed to play, run, yell, and be a bit competitive? Sign me up. Not to mention gym never had homework which was the worst part of highschool for me.

Sounds like it might well be offered as an elective...

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > fintail 01/30/2019 at 17:53

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Like I said: you were probably comfortable in your skin, more than anything. Many youth are far from it.

DipodomysDeserti > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/30/2019 at 18:28

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My grandma sued him for medical cost, but it was the 1970s, so I think they only  got a few hundred bucks. They were able ot sew the tip back on, but it’s all hard and calloused.

someassemblyrequired > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/30/2019 at 18:48

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Yeah I wasn’t very coordinated and super husky from 10-12, which means you’re pretty much not gonna be the sporty kid . I ended up just mowing lawns in our hilly neighborhood. Eventually I ended up taking care of half the neighborhood, lost a pile of weight and finally obtained some coordination. W hen they tried to grab me for football or rowing in high school I just had no desire to give up a bunch of $$$ to help out people who used to treat me like crap. It felt good to tell them to get lost.

I’ve heard in Australia they do a test in schools to see what individual and team sports would be best for you personally - that seems like a way better plan, but in any case the goal should be to set you up for the long term, rather than just keeping you active through high school.

Chuckles > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/30/2019 at 21:33

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It’s not a matter of “ When I look at you, I don’t see black.”  It would be foolish to act like you can't see color. But it's about being mindful of how we share stories and the words that we choose. You remember the student being black. That's fine. But like I said, if he had been white would you have mentioned that? It would be unwise to create a false dichotomy where someone is either a "black student" or a "student." 

fintail > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/30/2019 at 22:02

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Well, I always wanted to be more athletic or better looking, but I suppose so, yeah.  Many had it much worse than me.  

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > someassemblyrequired 01/31/2019 at 08:12

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I wasn’t very coordinated and super husky from 10-12

They called me Fat Matt . Incessantly. For years and years. Nothing about anything athletic my whole life has helped me to feel good about myself, and when people I know talk about the “No I in team,” I wanna reply, “There’s no I in fat , either, so get lost.”

Sports and athletics garner the “lucky” ones who are genetically prepared for it and put those who are not, by luck of the draw at birth, in a second tier. And the environment makes a rich broth for abuse and bullying and unhealthy dynamics and corruption and, did I mention abuse?

Good on you for making a man of yourself as a kid.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Chuckles 01/31/2019 at 08:20

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It would be foolish to act like you can’t see color.

Agreed. But that student was using his color as part of the shock value of what he was doing and it was quite effective. He chose his approach, referring obliquely to the color of his penis as he exposed himself. Am I now the victim of a sexual assault now having the manner in which I reported it brought into question?

Is it a dichotomy? I have to ponder that one. Do I create the dichotomy or does the astute reader choose to perceive a dichotomy?

I’ve had many yellow flags thrown at me over the years by being the white man wading into discussions of race and I don’t shy away from it and like I said, I’m glad you brought it up.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > fintail 01/31/2019 at 08:23

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And that’s where this entire thing lies. If you are one of the genetically chosen ones, then it’s all good for you. If you are not a distant outlier, then it can still be okay. Think: brown-haired Nazi. The rest of us? Churned through the one-size-fits-all, government-imposed mill of a solution that is physical education.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Chuckles 01/31/2019 at 08:31

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It’s part of the unlevel playing field, and the aspect I suspect that narrow-minded whites choose when they want do conclude that they are the oppressed ones: that when they speak their truth, stuff that really happened to them, they get called out for saying it wrong, or using a loaded term, or whatever. Sometimes you get told something that, because your are white, you are not allowed to repeat. Stuff like that. There’s not enough assumption of, or hope for, positive intent in these discussions generally and way too much courage required for courageous conversations to take place often enough.

In this particular conversation, you are taking pains not to clobber me, but you are exceptional in this.

In the end, I don’t think it’s only about how we approach the problem, or how we express ourselves, but how effectively we make our motivations known that will carry the day.

Chuckles > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/31/2019 at 08:52

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Maybe not a dichotomy, but as white men, it becomes easy to think of “white man” as sort of the “default person” and everyone else becomes an “other.” We sometimes have the tendency to use terms like “black” or “woman” not as a descriptor, but sort of as a qualifier. When a man says a phrase like “best female author,” there’s an implication that he’s saying “not the best author, not as good as some male authors, but the best out of the women.” We just want to avoid a situation where a person’s whiteness and maleness is implied, and anything else is regarded as a deviation from the norm. It’s not my intent to bludgeon anyone over the head for what they say, but rather just to say “hey, be mindful of your words and how they impact others.” There was recently a newspaper that ran 2 articles on the same day. In one, a black teen had kicked a police officer and was labeled a “thug,” in the other a white teen was on trial for murder but was labeled a “teen.” I’m not saying that you called anybody a thug, just pointing out that as a society we often choose to use different sets of vocabulary for different groups of people, which shows a clear bias.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Chuckles 01/31/2019 at 09:23

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Andfor the record, I do not feel bludgeoned. I just wanted to open the conversation up to the larger picture of how folks who want to provide assistance in the manner that you are, get it wrong and do more harm than good. D o they want to make sure all the technical fouls are properly assign ed, or do they want to win the game? Irony: I, the genetically unchosen, am using sports metaphors...

I hope I do not sound defensive, because I do not feel that way.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Chuckles 01/31/2019 at 09:23

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But I get what you are saying here. Totally. That newspaper example is a perfect one.

someassemblyrequired > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/31/2019 at 09:35

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Yeah it is not a good feeling being there. I came from a long line of farmers and it turns out that’s not real good genetics for city life. I was built to work all day, not to run the 100-yd dash . Once I walked into a job that kept me active all the time, I was good, but PE certainly didn’t help me, although I was lucky to have good PE teachers who kept a lid on the craziness.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > someassemblyrequired 01/31/2019 at 11:37

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Farming is honest work. Hard, honest work. I come from farmers on my father’s side and his mother, Grandma to me, had little patience for much of anything, let alone laziness, and when we city slickin’ grandkids came to hang out for the summer, I’m pretty sure she thought we were pretty useless. Oh, how I miss my Grandma. I look forward to seeing Pappy again and getting to know him again on the other side of the veil one of these days.

someassemblyrequired > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/31/2019 at 21:27

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Yep, especially in the 60s, 70s and 80s it wasn’t an easy life. You had to work hard and watch the $$$$ hard.

That whole generation was awesome - they knew what was important and what could slide.  I miss mine as well, they were great folks and awfully fun to have around.