overweight kids

i haven't read all the posts but here's my two cents:

Phys Ed should be mandatory. Why? because it's healthy for the mind, not just the body. yes, people hate it but people hate math, as well. I would argue that physical education is more important in the long run than most of the classes I took in school.

Some of you may hate me for this, but 100% of the blame for obese kids belongs on the parents. Yes, there are some kids that have chemical problems with their bodies, but it is controllable ... and this is also a minute percent. Kids are getting bigger because parents are taking the easy way out with food and exercise and putting the blame on others.

My brother has 3 kids and has a basic ban on television. It comes on sometimes on the weekends when they put in a show like Blues Clues and that's it. The kids have a longer attention span then most kids because they are required to find their own form of entertainment ... and most of the time, that requires moving around. Even small amounts of activity is better than 0.
 
the biggest problem with phys ed in school (at least from what i remember when I was back in school) is that not all kids are at the same level - and probably never will be..

I was bored in regular math classes in high school so I took AP math classes - for kids who ran faster and jumped higher -there was no such thing as AP Gym... and they were generally the kids who picked on the kids who didn't run so fast...

I know life doesn't give us a level playing field but people - especially in school, should be encouraged to work to the best of their abilities.

And parents absolutely play a role in it... when I was a kid - we were out the door at first light and didn't come back til after dark (catching lightening bugs was fun) granted there were only 4 stations on television and no vcr or remote control - but we never wanted to be in the house - kids today don't seem to want to go out and play..
 
I used to love PE, in junior school (I dont know what the American word is) ie until I was about 11. I would really look forward to friday afternoons, we did PE all afternoon then I had tag rugby club after school.

Then I got into secondry school, and suddenly it became competative, I am not naturally a competative person and my loathing for it grew and grew and surprise surprise the minute I didnt have to do PE anymore I didnt. And I didnt return to doing physical activity until much later.

I have to say that I think PE done well can be very very good. There should be options for the competative kids to beat each other at everything, and the non competitive kids should be able to do skills training and such.

thats what I think anyway
 
Cartoons on Saturday morning up till 10:00am and then I had to do my chores.
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they just don't make saturday morning cartoons like they used to :) that was how my saturday went... once chores were done - we were far away from the house lest the idle child be given more chores to do :)
 
TomO said:
The schools are reflections of society -- nothing more and nothing less.
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Precisely why it has to start with the change in attitude and awareness from the society. If there's that, maybe the schools will get more support in terms of giving healthier alternatives to the students. Financial support from the government? Better pay for the teachers? Or those programs may even be made compulsory --> no junk food, no deep-fried, oily, sugary stuff in school. Only serve fresh foods, fruits, and healthy drinks. Nobody can claim they've never seen real fruits/meats then. :)

As to the real application, I can imagine the difficulty and barriers that prevent those idealistic notions from coming true, especially in such a huge country like the USA. I come from a big country too, big and very messy, with all the corruptions and stuff, and so I can imagine a whole lot of other things on top of what've been mentioned, which prevent such improvements.

But in tiny Singapore, it's so easy to implement. But then again.. it goes to show that it is achievable. If one city/country can do it, others can too.. maybe in a very long run... ;)
 
In the elementary schools here there are 4 P.E. teachers for 12 schools so P.E. is every two weeks and each grade gets about half an hour. If the weather is bad the kids don't get to go outside for recess and they instead have to sit in the classrooms reading.

In the junior high P.E. is required but everything they do in class is resticted to things they can do in the gym.

Now P.E. gets cool in high school around here. There are all sorts of P.E. classes to choose from. Dance, weights, Body-conditioning, and Life-time sports to name a few. Life-time sports is really cool because in that class you do it all. Dancing, swimming, golf, hiking, tennis, skiing, running, weights, all of it.

They have other options added since I was in school that I wish they would have had back then. The only problem I can see with it all is that P.E. is an elective class around here and not required like I think it should be.
 
Dodgeball?! Now come on we can't have the kids playing anything competetive that could get them hurt!!:eek: I mean really giving kids a challenge, breaking them into teams which would cause them to work together for a greater good, actually letting kids have FUN in school?!! :rolleyes: Schools can't do that! Some parent might sue if their kid got hurt. I am sorry had to vent a bit of frustration about how everything has to be so politically correct and how we have to treat all kids equally. I don't believe in that outlook on it. If your kid doesn't make the basketball team boo hoo you don't sue the school or the government to take the sport out of schools because your kid isn't good at the sport you let other kids enjoy it. Dodgeball used to be a recess sport for us and the teachers always monitored it. If we got hurt they would basically say oh well if you don't want to be hurt don't play. My kids had know idea what dodgeball was until I explained it to them. That is sad as far as I am concerned. Okay I will get off the soap box now!:eek:
 
sued for injuries??

Ouch you can't play dodgeball because the school might get sued for injuries???? That's absurd. :eek:

We played dodgeball, captain's ball, netball, basketball, volleyball, frisbee, soccer, hockey, badminton, tennis, softball, baseball, rugby, squash.. we also have swimming... :p

As to the number of instructors.. well each school has about 4-5 PE instructors on its own.. But the junior college (high school) has more.. maybe 10? or more? :rolleyes: cos we have mass PE even though each class is doing their own thing. The school compound is large enough for everyone. And we have all the activities out in the field.. which is a standard-size sports stadium with soccer field, track, gym, squash courts, tennis court, badminton court, etc etc.. sometimes swimming pool depending on the school..

In primary school I had all those games and also running, twice a week.

Secondary school has twice a week PE class as well and we run rounds twice a week and do other training like sit-ups, push-ups, pull-ups for the annual test. Once that's done, it's back to all those games again. Sometimes we also had dance classes.. and aerobics.. and swimming classes..

Junior college (high school) it's basically the same too.. but of course the distance we run when we're preparing for the test gets further and further... But we got to run around the neighbourhood block, went up the hill, past the nice houses.. it was nice scenery.. ;)

And injuries come with playing sports! Come onnnn... I had my head bleeding twice, knee knocked countless times, scratches here and there.. and no lawsuit yet.. haha.. :cool:
 
Some people are always looking for a way to make some fast cash and they think if they sue the school system for an injury then the school will pay up big bucks. So now all sorts of fun things I got to play as a kid are no longer allowed in the schools. Playground equipment has also been attacked nation wide and some schools have even removed their swingsets for fear of a kid getting hurt. I remember kids having broken bones from falling off the slides or jumping out of the swings when I was a kid and nobody ever sued the parents ussually just told the kids to be more careful. I had my share of bumps, bruises, and stitches from the playground growing up. Dodgeball was always played at recess and I can remember some killer bruises from getting hit with the ball! I wouldn't trade a single one of those bruises though for the enjoyment of playing the game and the memories I now have of it!
 
shaq's show

Shaq has a show that comes on abc at 9:00 about overweight kids....He is training them to lose weight....the show is great..
 
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