Should Sports be Optional in School?

omnicorp

Should PE be an optional subject?

Many Schools, mine, Colaiste Eanna, among them, are without PE facilities such as a sports hall or teachers.

Obesity is rising.

The Government has realised that ignoring this problem won’t solve it.

Then why are many schools, in many areas not only without PE, they also don’t provide decent information on healthy eating and fitness.
In all my years at secondary school, we have had TWO lessons on Healthy Eating and Fitness!

This is, of course, unacceptable.

And, to make matters worse, unhealthy food is readily available at lunch time.

But it’s nice to see the Corporate Boat is sailing on time, Coca Cola is present in science books, Tesco and other shops are running “Box Tops for Education” offers.
Arial is providing Student “science packs”, where students place some ketchup on a piece of cloth, and wash it in a machine with arial washing powder.
No Science involved whatsoever.

And, in the PE region, in my Primary school, McDonalds was providing Footballs and Bibs, coincidentaly, with their logo on them.

I got an email from a Politician who shall remain nameless who said that he thinks PE is not optional and every school should be able to have it.
Needless to say he is not in power for whatever reason but I hope he tries to do something about it.

Just because us Secondary Students Can’t vote does not mean that we should have to go to under funded and poorly facilitated schools. You wouldn’t catch Socialist Bertie sending his kids to a state school, that’s for sure.

gimmick

I, for one, cannot believe that PE is not an essential part of school. And by PE, i dont mean just playing soccer for 2 hours a week, I mean tough physical excersize that gets the heart pumping,a nd the lungs open.

As mentioned above, obesity is rising, and schools are doing nada to combat it. They seem to reckon that sports are only for those who are good at them, and acamdemics are fine for others. They will have canteens filled with crap, and will not educate about high cholesterol etc, as that a problem for older peope, apparently.

Physical fitness should be every bit as important as being mentally agile. In fact, one goes hand in hand with the other. Those who have regular excersize generally do very well in school/college/workplace.

In fact, it makes me sick to think my folks gave my sister a note out of PE week in week out throughout her school going years. She is lucky in that she keeps slim anyways, but others are not so lucky. Reason they gave her the note? She hates gym/pe. Well I hated maths. Somehow I doubt a note every other day would have got me away from that.

So to answer omnicorps Q, no sports shouldnt be optional, they should be essential, and the same punishments/measures should be in place for people who are crap a PE as there is for those who are crap at maths/science etc. The same help should be available to those bad a PE, as there is to those bad at maths.

Fact of the matter is that ireland (the world) is getting fatter, and there is F all being done about it.

chill

Individual sports should be optional.

A general 'activity' period each day should be compulsory.

seamus

I would like to see compulsory PE, right up to 6th year, with three one-hour sessions a week. And not just kicking a football around either.

As gimmick says, people wouldn't get out of doing other subjects due to inability, so I really don't think PE should be any different. When you're in school, PE seems to be the trivial subject, but certainly the thing that shook me into action, was hearing about guys who were my weight or maybe a stone heavier, dropping like flies from heart attacks and other weight-related problems in their late twenties/early thirties. Not far off it at 22, it made me cop on. Exercise is essential to our overall health. It has definite, everyday and lasting effects in a person's real life. What's the biggest complaint when kids are in school? "When the hell will I ever use algebra/poetry/French?". We use our bodies every day. PE should be the honing of those skills.

In fact, it makes me sad now, that I only realised that fact 4 years after I left school, where I'd spent years dodging PE to go and sit on my arse.

rob1891

In Poland they must do a PE/sport module in University as well!! [disclaimer: in a university possibily not all, and I don't know if it continues for all 5 years, but certainly for the first three.] We should take sport and exercise a lot more seriously, how do you think all them Eastern women got so attractive

Xterminator

Yes i think physical education to combat the inactivity of todays youth, along with education on health eating is essential. Perhaps more can be done to address what school kids are eating for lunch, but then the older they get, (eg secondary kids), like to be treated like adults, and not told what they can and cant eat, or bring to school etc.

My boys are curently in primary, where the teachers monitor the contents of lunch boxes, and wont let the children eat chocolate, or drink fizzy drinks crisps etc. However it is left to the individual teacher, and somethines they have personal quirks about what is or isnt allowed. For instance no popcorn? Tis a healthy enough food! I buy the perri multipacks as they are a good crisp replacement product!

PS i dont see what omnicorp, (original poster) has against 'the corporate boat'?
I reckon offers like Tesco's computers for Schools, and various books for schools offers etc. have helpded Irish schools become better equipped and have a positive effect. IBM kitted out a local school or two, while i worked with them, and i'm sure other corporations do other things the help a little.

Sure they get publicity, and brand loyalty back in return, but not all corporate involvment is bad.

Perhaps if house builders offered tokens for school buildings when people buy their houses off them, it might address some of the schools waiing for buildings to be repaired/built eh?


X

gimmick

seamus wrote:

In fact, it makes me sad now, that I only realised that fact 4 years after I left school, where I'd spent years dodging PE to go and sit on my arse.

Its the same here. Im 26 in a few weeks (theres a sobering thought ), and only really discovered that physical fitness is essential about 18 months ago. I was fit at aschool, very much so, but once I left, and went to college, where i had sex, drugs and rock n roll, fitness was walking up the stairs.

In fact, at one point, i went about 2 years without any excersize, my weight was ballooning, and i went and played a 5 a side game of ball. I was not only stiff for 5-6 days after, i was in pain. I was then I decided that this will never happen again. Now, i try to go to the gym at least once a week, and play at least one hour of 6 a side football.

Im nowhere near what one would term 'fit', but I am getting there, and I swear to God, I am feeling so much better. Appetite has improved, I sleep way better, and I have more confidence in myself. Not to mention the once growing belly is now shrinking!

Its very important, and it should be thought to kids from a young age.

The Sweeper

Many kids try to dodge PE when it's compulsory. I know girls try dodging it for a number of reasons.

• Communal changing rooms. Girls are more body conscious than teenage boys.
• Not wanting to exercise during their period.
• No shower facilities at the school.
• Having - no laughing now - geniune discomfort and self consciousness about the all new bouncing bits on their bodies - sport without a sport bra is BAD.

I went to one of the biggest girl's schools on the East Coast, which now apparently has waiting lists as long as your arm, and when I was there we used to do a 30 minute run around the school grounds in PE, up hills, down dales, the lot. You'd come out the other end of it puffing and sweating, and have to make do with smothering yourself in bloody MUM spray deoderant and sit festering for the rest of the day's classes.

omnicorp

I find it disgrace that shops are allowed to sell junk to people in school uniform aswell.
And why learn Quadratic Graphs and not PE or Food knowledge?

rainbow kirby

When I was in 6th year (Sancta Maria, next door to you Omnicorp!) we had the choice between honours maths and PE... Wonderful.

daveirl

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omnicorp

New principal in Sancta Maria.
Now we're in trouble for "walking through school grounds"

Anyway.
I don't like PE or sports for that matter but I would do them if they were compulsary.
If they're voluntary I wouldn't. (excpet for that maths thing)
I have never been part of a school sports team (or any other sports team).

Seraphina

Minesajackdaniels wrote:

Many kids try to dodge PE when it's compulsory. I know girls try dodging it for a number of reasons.

• Communal changing rooms. Girls are more body conscious than teenage boys.
• Not wanting to exercise during their period.
• No shower facilities at the school.
• Having - no laughing now - geniune discomfort and self consciousness about the all new bouncing bits on their bodies - sport without a sport bra is BAD.

I went to one of the biggest girl's schools on the East Coast, which now apparently has waiting lists as long as your arm, and when I was there we used to do a 30 minute run around the school grounds in PE, up hills, down dales, the lot. You'd come out the other end of it puffing and sweating, and have to make do with smothering yourself in bloody MUM spray deoderant and sit festering for the rest of the day's classes.

this was the biggest problem i had with sports in school. we were required to do fitness training for the hockey team as well, which i wouldn't have had a problem with, but it was during our lunchtime (which was only 40 mins anyway)
the worst part was, we had showers, but we weren't allowed use them! it was ridiculous. nobody wants to do a decent bit of exercise, followed by rushing to get changed for the next class, spraying deodrant, and like MADJ said, sitting stinking up the place for the rest of the day. it feels disgusting and its not fair on teenagers who are all becoming increasingly self conscious.

but then some people are just lazy. there was one girl in my year who rarely did PE. there was always some excuse or note, or missing piece of PE uniform, but nothing was ever done about it. if you repeatedly turn up unprepared for another class you'd get into trouble, but with PE anyone who didn;t want to participate just needed to stay in their uniform and they'd be sent to the library.
i didn't like PE myself, but often because it involved games netball, volleyball etc all stupid sports that i hated. however i will now happily spend an hour or two in the gym maybe three times a week because i can do it when it suits me, i can do what i want, and there are showering facilities.

omnicorp

the reason nothing was done about someone skipping PE is that it is FUN.
it's not seen as education or a school subject. In primary school we were punsihed by skipping PE, not maths, geography aor even art.
People have this nstrange idea that just because school wasn't fun in their day it shouldn't be fun at all. Having Fun, thats no way to learn(!)

simu

They should have a bigger choice of sports on offer. I hate team sports but that's all we ever got to do at school, for example.

Tiriel

simu wrote:

They should have a bigger choice of sports on offer. I hate team sports but that's all we ever got to do at school, for example.

I agree with simu here, I wasn't much for team sports, but would've like badminton etc if it was available!!

daveirl

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simu

daveirl wrote:

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What other way is there besides sport to get fit???

omnicorp

excersize. eg) Gym etc.

I did get a phone call from a TD, (name with me) who was a PE teacher and was very surpised that my school didn't do any sports at all.
proving that it isn't the Parlaiments fault but it's the Department of Education's fault.
I think there should be a seperate Givernment department for Sports & PE in school.
That might help.

Nasty_Girl

I think PE should be optional in secondary school. I personally didn't see the educational value of standing on a freezing basket ball with a bunch of stick insect stuck up bitches screeching abuse at me and glowering at me for a week because their precious team lost a f*cking friendly game. God there's a bout 3 years of fake sick notes sittin in a file somewhere in my old school. Thankfully they made PE optional in my school after third year. PE in my mind is in the same boat as music and art. I think PE only encourages peer pressure, its hard enough being a teenager without having to don PE kit or swimsuit and make an ass of yourself physically.
And before ye start on about obesity and health and exercise that's all me b*llix tis no one business only our own and I don't see how an hour and a half of being put in goal and verbally belittled by classmates is gona help. If anything it encouraged me to eat more.

dudara

Originally Posted by Minesajackdaniels
Many kids try to dodge PE when it's compulsory. I know girls try dodging it for a number of reasons.

* Communal changing rooms. Girls are more body conscious than teenage boys.
* Not wanting to exercise during their period.
* No shower facilities at the school.
* Having - no laughing now - geniune discomfort and self consciousness about the all new bouncing bits on their bodies - sport without a sport bra is BAD.

That's pretty true for us ladies. I avoided PE (which was optional) all the way through as I was just too self-concious for such changing room activity. Theses days however, I'm reasonably fit and have lost all such hang-ups, but we do have to realise that they exist and are a serious concern for teenagers.

As to Nasty Girl, I have to disagree with you in the sense, that while PE itself need not be compulsory, some form of healthy eathing/living education should be.

Sleepy

Nasty_Girl wrote:

I think PE should be optional in secondary school. I personally didn't see the educational value of standing on a freezing basket ball with a bunch of stick insect stuck up bitches screeching abuse at me and glowering at me for a week because their precious team lost a f*cking friendly game. God there's a bout 3 years of fake sick notes sittin in a file somewhere in my old school. Thankfully they made PE optional in my school after third year. PE in my mind is in the same boat as music and art. I think PE only encourages peer pressure, its hard enough being a teenager without having to don PE kit or swimsuit and make an ass of yourself physically.
And before ye start on about obesity and health and exercise that's all me b*llix tis no one business only our own and I don't see how an hour and a half of being put in goal and verbally belittled by classmates is gona help. If anything it encouraged me to eat more.

And that's exactly why PROPER physical health education should me mandatory in school. In my opinion PE should be done in proper gyms where you get a good cardiovascular work out and are given enough time to shower afterwards instead of just playing sports.

And Nasty Girl, you're wrong, health and obesity aren't your own business because we have a publicly funded health system and obese people are far more in need of health care than healthy people so either people need to be taught to take care of their health from an early age. Otherwise the only fair thing to do is to levy an extra tax on obese people (similar to the current levy on smokers) to make the tax system more equitable.

rob1891

Nasty_Girl wrote:

I think PE should be optional in secondary school. I personally didn't see the educational value of standing on a freezing basket ball with a bunch of stick insect stuck up bitches screeching abuse at me and glowering at me for a week because their precious team lost a f*cking friendly game. God there's a bout 3 years of fake sick notes sittin in a file somewhere in my old school. Thankfully they made PE optional in my school after third year. PE in my mind is in the same boat as music and art. I think PE only encourages peer pressure, its hard enough being a teenager without having to don PE kit or swimsuit and make an ass of yourself physically.
And before ye start on about obesity and health and exercise that's all me b*llix tis no one business only our own and I don't see how an hour and a half of being put in goal and verbally belittled by classmates is gona help. If anything it encouraged me to eat more.

when your bypass is paid for with my taxes, then it is my business!

Nasty_Girl

well I have in insurance so get off your high horse.
the PE that I did does not help ANYONE. By your logic we should have to do PE into our old f*cking age then shouldn't we...?

omnicorp

And they're the same people complaining cbout the Health Service

Nasty_Girl

dudara wrote:

As to Nasty Girl, I have to disagree with you in the sense, that while PE itself need not be compulsory, some form of healthy eathing/living education should be.

How is that disagreeing with me? I've no problem with a healthy eating thing as such, all I'm sayin is that sports aren't for everyone and in fact a hazzard for some as I girl I knew purposely made her self throw up to get out of it, This thread is called "SHOULD SPORTS BE OPTIONAL IN SCHOOL" and I would say yes. SPORT should.

omnicorp

PE isn't sports, it's PHYSICAL EDUCATION.
It involves learning how to keep healthy physicaly.
To keep track of your physical health.
To learn how to do excersizes such as stretches and jogging on the spot.
It involves sport as part of it but it isn't SPORT itself.
If you don't like maths you can't get ou of that.
Why should Physical EDUCATION be any different?

simu

Oh, so there's a distinction? I considered jogging, walking, doing excercises to be sport too. That clears things up a bit.

Thinking about it, they should get rid of those uber-butch, US marine-type trainer PE teachers you get in most schools. I always found them very annoying.

omnicorp

I mean Team Sports and Excersizes.
And I would count those "warm-ups" as excersizes rather than sports.

But maybe jogging and walking are sport but I was talking about jogging-on-the-spot

rob1891

Nasty_Girl wrote:

How is that disagreeing with me? I've no problem with a healthy eating thing as such, all I'm sayin is that sports aren't for everyone and in fact a hazzard for some as I girl I knew purposely made her self throw up to get out of it, This thread is called "SHOULD SPORTS BE OPTIONAL IN SCHOOL" and I would say yes. SPORT should.

I think the girl you knew was a hazard to herself. If it mattered so much, a trip to a therapist and a little recounting of the idiocy she achieved in avoiding P.E. would have earned her a real exemption and perhaps a little treatment for a problem that sounds a lot bigger than P.E. You don't take a kid with dyslexia and excuse him from English because he's embaressed about his affliction? You show him how to deal with it and send him back to class.

As for insurance, you have some, well done. As you pay for it, I assume you know how it works ... it's a bit like how taxes contribute to healthcare, everybody pays the premium and the sick people cash them in. The less sick people around the less peoplel cashing in and the lower the premuims, got it? So, I'm on VHI too and it would be nice to think our schools are doing something to prevent children growing up and needlessly suffering health problems in later life, cashing my premium in to pay for their bypass.

daveirl

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