Down for the count...

I’m not sure if this is a blog or a rant, but it’s my space so bear with me. I was just reminded of why I abhor the way the phys. ed. program in schools is administered by a post and an exchange on Facebook. I’m thinking mostly of phys. ed. at the high school level because I’m not familiar with what goes on in the earlier grades first hand. I do know that getting through phys. ed., even the minimal credits it takes to graduate, for some kids is like being made to walk on hot coals every day for five months. The “losers”, the ones who do not excel, are bullied in the locker rooms, taunted in the gym and treated like second class citizens, even if they’re smarter, more artistic, more musically talented or just plain nice kids.

Team sports, competition, winning and losing – all important lessons to learn and for the kids who are equipped mentally and physically for the challenge of team sports and who have been blessed with a strong competitive spirit, phys ed is good exercise, good learning and good fun. But what about the kids who don’t excel? I don’t mean that kids who don’t want to take part in physical activity should be excused but I worry about the way the programs are run. By nature, some kids are more coordinated than others and in case no one notices, the kids who come in last, who hold the “team” back, who never hit the basket, or who don’t look hot in shorts – well they just are not having fun. Not having fun is supposed to encourage life long physical activity? I don’t think so.

There are many leisure activities that encourage fitness and good health and encourage the kids to use their own accomplishments as yardsticks, their own successes as challenges to beat – why is it important for the weak to compete with the natural athletes when the outcome is predestined. As adults, most people don’t play basketball, football, volleyball, or participate in track and field, but many do run marathons, swim, ride bicycles or horses, climb, golf, hike – there are endless possibilities. And many more don’t participate at all because participation, to them, is synonymous with the physical education classes they took in school. They were not fun.

I know anyone who is involved in team sports and enjoys the experience will disagree and say that losing is a lesson too, that the kids will shape up eventually and being part of a team is great preparation for real life. For most kids, that may be true. However, the spirit is a tender thing and can only be beaten down so many times before it forgets how to get up again. For some kids, the consequences last a lifetime.