Anybody who went to public school undoubtedly remembers gym class—more accurately, they remember how much it sucks. Ignoring the difficulties that awkward, hormonal teenage boys have with unwanted erections caused by seeing their nubile female classmates prance about in hot pants, a realization will quickly come upon all but the densest of students:
This class is completely worthless for its intended purpose.
At best, you’ll be playing basketball or soccer or some other team sport which will give you a decent cardio workout. At worst you’ll be doing nothing physical at all, instead sitting in a classroom listening to a bitter divorcee lecturing you about why men are the devil and why girls should stay away from them, all under the guise of being a sex education class.
Not my sex ed teacher, but a reasonable doppelganger of her.
How did this occur? A brief history lesson shall elucidate matters:
The History Of Physical Education
Physical fitness programs have largely existed in some form or another as long as there has been some method of paying trainers. While the idea of “physical education” being a field of study in schools (i.e., a body-and-mind hardening device meant to build character in the youngfolk) can arguably be traced back to the Spartan agoge, the deliberately cultivated brutality of this particular system—far beyond the useful, moderate amount of social shaming I advocate in my own writing-–would make any sensible person not want to cite this as a good starting point. Well, that and the deliberate taking of children from their homes, political repression, and constant pederasty that characterized the culture of that Peloponnesian city-state.
Physical fitness as we know it today started in the Renaissance and Baroque periods (fittingly, with their idealization of classical Greece and Rome). Early mass-produced books such as El Libro del Ejercicio Corporal y Sus Provechos by Cristobal Mendez, and De Arte Gymnastica by Mercurialis explained the benefits of a dedicated physical fitness regimen, methods of doing so, and analyzed these exercises to the highest standard of medicine of that time. It even suggested routines for women, children, and the elderly.
With the introduction of public schooling and mass education, physical education was adapted for that purpose. Much like how the modern Western school system is largely based on the 19th century Prussian model, so too was early physical education—German educators such as Friedrich Jahn felt that training the youth both physically and mentally was the best way to benefit his nation in the future (it’s worth pointing out that he was a veteran of the Napoleonic Wars), and such masculine nationalism quickly spread throughout Europe and to the United States.
In all countries, physical fitness was seen as next to mental fitness, and both were necessary to make a worthwhile citizen. Gymnastics and its accompanying apparatuses were literally invented during this time, and the typical grueling training of this sport was used deliberately to build strong men.
Remnants of this ancient, rediscovered, and again buried physical tradition remain in high school gyms across the United States: they still have gymnastic rings, Swedish Ladders, Pommel Horses, climbing ropes, and parallel bars buried deep within their storage closets. This is to be expected, as such apparatuses were in use well into the 20th century.
In my opinion, it is likely the combination of rising obesity rates and an increasing litigiousness in American society that led to schools essentially throwing up their hands and saying “To hell with it.” Realizing that none of their students would be capable of completing the tests, and not wanting to anger their sue-happy parents, they decided to make gym as easy as possible. As to why obesity rates and litigiousness increased so dramatically, that would require several articles to explain.
How To Improve Things?
It has been said by many writers that no American student of today would be capable of doing schoolwork that their countrymen of a century ago were capable of doing (having been educated in America, I cannot speak for other nations, but I imagine it’s similar). And indeed, having read excerpts from a reader textbook from a middle school in 1905, I honestly feel that most high school seniors would struggle with it.
Physical education is no exception. Look at the La Sierra PT program, introduced in California in the late 1940s and used across the country until the 1970s. It was a grueling bodyweight-only strength program combined with a difficult obstacle course that emphasized physical movement. Perhaps your gym had a peg board hanging on a wall high over your head, or a high ropes course, the purpose of which you never understood. These are remnants of this forgotten program.
Observe a boys only gym class from the early 1960s. It is astounding that an entire class could be so fit and trim.
As I begin enumerating the list of things that would help public phys ed, I’m not necessarily saying this program should be exactly copied for 2016, but…actually, to hell with it, I am.
1. Use the La Sierra Program, or a similar program with slight modifications
This program appears to be a pretty solid calisthenic program, with a few “tricks” thrown into it that are interesting as well—things like the peg climbing board or a ropes course. In my opinion, something similar to the Convict Conditioning curriculum would largely be acceptable, with some natural movement rigors to supplement it. It’s not like you’d need to buy much equipment for it, since the average high school probably has Swedish ladders, gymnastics rings, and climbing ropes in its closets.
2. Have teachers who know what they’re doing
Seems pretty obvious, but a teacher should lead by example—he should be reasonably capable of doing similar rigors to his or her students, as well as guiding his students through each progressive step and knowing how to diagnose injury if necessary. I assume I’m not the only person who had a fat, chain-smoking gym teacher, and I think we can all agree that a teacher should be able to do more than just watch and make sure nobody gets killed.
3. Allow the natural hierarchy of masculinity to run its course—within limits
As anybody who has ever interacted with a group of men knows, a hierarchy of masculinity will naturally form itself pretty quick. Despite what self-esteem pushers will tell you, this is normally a good thing. Boys tend to be inspired to achieve more if they see another man that is more masculine than them. The teacher does not need to encourage this happening, but as a sensible adult, I feel that the teacher should keep some basic regulation of this—mainly, so that actual physical hazing and bullying are avoided. In other words, there has to be a balance between the “Everybody gets a trophy” mentality and being “beaten in,” gangland style.
4. Grade, but be fair
While I have repeatedly been saying that physical education should be graded, and should be demanding, I understand that some people are naturally athletic, and some are not. Therefore, I propose that PE should be graded heuristically: by improvement.
For example, let’s assume that, hypothetically, a student comes into the school already capable of doing all of the advanced calisthenic maneuvers. He should be graded based upon how many repetitions with proper form he can add to his routine, or his progression to even more advanced maneuvers such as iron crosses, tiger stands, fingertip or clapping variations, increased time for static holds, etc.
In contrast, a student who is so weak he has to start with the knee pushups should be greatly commended if he can make his way up to the “hand and a half” push-up. Although he has not completed the series, it is clear the effort has been put in and is respectable—and besides, there’s always next year to test again.
Such a grading schemata is demanding of the students, but is also fair as it judges each student by their own skill level.
5. Understand that sexes are different, and make a routine for girls
While we often speak of fitness as something masculine—and it certainly is—women should also be encouraged to be fit. In my hypothetical curriculum standards would be lesser than those for the men. As this is not the military or another job where people’s lives are on the line, somewhat lesser standards for girls are acceptable.
To cite one example, girls would not be using the gymnastic rings in their training, instead using parallel bars or another apparatus that emphasizes female athleticism (namely balance and dexterity rather than raw power).
A sample curriculum
Having said all of this, you might be wondering what my curriculum would be. Assuming that PE is done twice a week in a block class, you could alternate between endurance or movement and strength days.
Day 1: 20 minute lecture on any related topic-sexual education, nutrition, musculature, etc, followed by the exercises—timed mile run to warm up, followed by muscular endurance and natural movement: rope climbs, obstacle course, peg boards, etc. Followed by cool down, showers.
Day 2: Lecture on related topic, followed by the exercises: the calisthenic series with push-ups, squats, pull-ups, leg raises, bridging, handstand push-ups. When complete, advance to gymnastics maneuvers: parallel bar handstands, ring work, etc.
And on occasion, the students can play some sportsball or do something frivolous and fun. Say what you will about my idea, it can’t be worse than what they’re doing now.
Read More: How Not To Deal With High School Bullies
Why? no more “suicides”, thats why
It should also start at home. For starters, let the kids play already! It seems to me that Americans have all these beautiful well trimmed playing fields, yet they’re only used for league play and not for letting kids actually use them still their own leisure. Also, let older kids and younger kids play together.
A lot of kids dont want to play anymore- indoors playing video games and drinking HFCS and eating HFCS….
They don’t want to play because the adults don’t let them.
You underestimate the power of the PS4 and Xbox1
Yes… because parents won’t let kids play outside without supervision.
That’s what happened to me, got stuck on PS2 after we moved to a house on a busy street. Took years to undo all of the bad habits as a result.
…and iPhone.
I don’t know a single male (besides ones who are middle aged and up) who enjoy playing on phones, it’s something unique to females.
Try tearing those iPhones outta their hands….at my job I see toddlers grabbing mom’s phone in a death grip.
6- more coaches like Mr Woodcock
Lol that scene is awesome. What movie is this?
Mr. Woodcock.
1) The kid who has asma has asma, why is he getting punished for a disease he has? 2) Humans for thousands of years have played ball for fun, why do we suddenly need some asshole to teach ball? 3) The couch is acting like strength is something significant, and civics isn’t, but now he is stuck with a shitty job making 30k a year under the guy with an administration degree…
I’d say you need to expand your sense of humor. That scene is hilarious.
Enlightening article Larsen. Any idea as to why this program was abandoned? I think the obesity came in much later. I wonder if the Vietnam War played a role in eliminating anything that was even vaguely militaristic.
If you proposed this program today, you would be accused of being “literally Hitler.”
To be fair, I believe even the Boy Scouts had a militaristic background not unlike that of, say, the Hitler Jugend or the Konsomol. In their case, if you can’t beat them, join them and weaken them from the inside.
That “weakening” you speak of is complete; gay dudes can now be scout leaders…but nothing will happen, right? I mean, straight men cant be girl scout leaders, even if their own child is in the troop, because, better safe than sorry? Better safe than sorry doesnt apply to straight boys.
Yup…if you object to some gay men taking your teenage sons into the woods for a weekend, then that is YOUR problem you disgusting bigot! /s 🙁
Yeah, what the FUCK?!
I’m a bigot and no gay man will take any of my children anywhere ever if I have anything to do with it.
Boy Scouts used to teach basic marksmanship, but I would not compare them to Hitler Jungend (HJ). Saw a few documetaries and those boys were being brought up in spartan fashion—learning how to fight and getting toughened up for what was to come. A couple of books out there as well. My wife was in the Konsomol… they taught basic soviet doctrine (she fired a rifle once), but again I would not even compare soviet Konsomol members (usually children of party members learning the ideological doctrine) to what the HJs were being prepared (waging total war) to execute.
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From above : “…but again I would not even compare soviet Konsomol members (usually children of party members learning the ideological doctrine)” — Yeah I know I’m gonna kick over the hornets nest just saying this, but wasn’t the target of Anders Breivik and his shooting spree a similar such gathering of Norwegian youth?
I don’t know if you have anything similar to cadets in the US, but Army cadets, Sea Cadets, and Air Cadets is widely encouraged in the UK. Even this bastion of positive examples in being eroded by some of the staff.
Unfortunately for the Spartans, they weren’t actually very effective warriors…
In the Scouts we used 22’s and Bowie knives. We also were trained as survivalists. That what it was for. I don’t know what they’re teaching these days, but the fact that they openly allow gays freaks me out.
This assertion is historically incorrect applied to the UK and then US Boy Scouts. As is well known to any Scout, it was founded by Baden Powell in the UK around 1908, following up the success of his book on how boys could enjoy the outdoors. It had nothing to do with politics of any kind. Indeed, one of the first things the NDSAP did was to ban the Boy Scouts. They created the HJ to teach a creed very much the opposite of what BP proposed. The Komsomol was, by contrast, the youth wing of the USSR Communist Party.
http://www.faqs.org/childhood/Bo-Ch/Boy-Scouts.html
The backlash towards the war probably had something to do with it, reading information about the La Sierra program shows that kids would show up refusing to do it in protest of the war.
I admit, I don’t know why exactly, I’m looking forward to that movie about the program, myself
Grade on the same scale. That’s fair. A mama’s boy content to be a limp-wristed pussy should be failed—and needs to be obliged to repeat the course till he pulls himself together.
Oh yes. The pain and humiliation of being beaten to a pulp by stronger boys will teach him a lesson in life his mommy never could. Stick up for yourself. Nobody else will.
The Spartan physical education was designed to breed Spartan citizens able to fight in wars, and win them. Nobody should graduate from high school unable to kill a savage with his bare hands if he ever needs to do so.
As it is, there’s a reason Uncle Sugar is regularly humiliated by gangs of Middle Eastern savages.
you can train nerds gradually without traumatizing them.
A good calithenic and weight lifting regimen, coupled with boxing and wrestling. The boxing will help him get over his fear of being hit, and the wrestling will stimulate his mind. Once he gets the bug he’ll start obsessing over angles and holds, etc.
Yes, and for the record the Spartans also got their asses handed to them on a fair to middling basis. They were also reputed to be no great shakes one-on-one; the minute they left the safety of state enforced courage they tended to fall apart.
I realize there is a backlash against pussification but beating the hell out of kids is kind of a fools wisdom.
By he way have a look at the physics of fighting; it’s fight nerd heaven!
In fact, one of the many fallacies that the movie 300 has involved Leonidas breaking rank and just slaughtering any Persian in his path.
Not only that, their were 1,300 hellens towards the end of the battle, not 300. The vast majority of them weren’t even from Sparta. And had Leonidas either retreated the whole army or kept the whole army in it’s place, they probably could have won. Tactics are something the Spartans forgot to teach…
“there’s a reason Uncle Sugar is regularly humiliated by gangs of Middle Eastern savages.”
Examples? From my experience, the followers of mo are the pussies. Hand to hand, they tend to lose that fight as well unless planting bombs in crowds is something you consider manly.
“The Spartan physical education was designed to breed Spartan citizens able to fight in wars, and win them. Nobody should graduate from high school unable to kill a savage with his bare hands if he ever needs to do so.” Sorry, but the Spartans got their asses handed to them in almost every conflict they were involved in. When they didn’t it was because A) They had allies doing all the work or B) It was a pyrrhic victory.
PE sucks because there is no purpose, like was written above. In a real class, you learn something, get better at it, and pass tests. In modern PE, you learn the basic rules of a game, but you only have the ability you already have, because there is no training, and no improvement. It then becomes a participation grade, and a way to burn off energy.
I had to take two years of PE at my first high school. We did a different sport every few weeks. I’m not a good ball player, and was slow, and was no good at any of it, simply because I didn’t play the sports outside of school. Since I was on a swim team, the last two weeks of the year that we spent in the pool was my vindication.
My second high school had mandatory sports. You were on a team, and one of the teams was the dumping ground for those with no ability. For men, that was football in the fall, wrestling in the winter, and track and field in the spring. The talented played in the games, the inept rode the bench, but everyone turned out and sweated for practice.
Great article Larsen. Especially enjoyed the brief history of physical culture…
In fact I wonder if that topic wouldn’t merit an article of its own.
You touched on the Spartans, and rightly so! The development of something resembling a modern gym by the Romans (hot room and sauna included!) would be fine, and so much more in modern times, including the great Eugene Sandow triggering the very health craze that lead to the 20th century P.E. Culture in schools (and everywhere else!) you lead with here… Metamorphosis into modern bodybuilding and all sorts… Would be a great article!
I remember in high school whenever we had P.E., the boys would do the activity of the day while most of the girls would sit around in the gym talking between themselves. It was even worse when we were doing weight lifting because the girls would sit on a machine or a bench with a 3lbs dumbell on the floor beside them and they would talk endlessly while boys were waiting to actually train. And somehow, girls who did nothing all semester and weren’t able to throw a basketball through the hoop would get a passing grade.
And then feminists are outraged that most men think that women are weaker and don’t like physical activities…
Catholic school kid here. . .The woman teaching girls gym ran off with a nun who dropped out of the order. That was back in the 1970’s. Ever since then I’ve been observant that most female gym/health teachers in high schools and colleges are lesbians taking advantage of their position of trust to molest under-age girls.
In all honesty guys, gym class is a waste of tax payer money. You don’t need some bumbling idiot to instruct kids how to play games. Bring back recess and have the kids organize their own games rather than have an adult do it.
It’s about as much a waste of taxpayers money as any other class. If anything, perhaps less wasteful, as it’s tougher to reach quite 100% of time spent on pure indoctrination in Gym, than in some other classes.
Anyway, in Russia (at least as of 20-30 years ago), they actually spent time on such basics as teaching kids how to lift properly. Not necessarily barbells, as those were a bit of a luxury, but how to lift a normal object. With their legs, not their spine. As well as other very practical physical things-to-know. Like running (they do that in the West as well. Or at least did.) But also jumping. Up on things, but also down from things. Progressively taller. Wouldn’t be surprised if that is where the “plyometric revolution” Soviet coaches brought with them to the West originated.
Point being, they taught, and trained, kids to be better at the things that were often observed to cause injury later in life, when their bodies were no longer young enough to recover from virtually anything. It’s funny, but even now, many Russian women, after having lived for a decade or more in the US, are still aghast at watching how even fitness obsessed American “hardbodies”, perform something as basic as picking up their kids. Stiff legged, bent backed and hunched over……
That’s how many of us grew up.
Yeah…the problem is the first bloody nose or chipped tooth & here come the lawsuits.
Did you watch the video above? If we started whipping the average kids into that kind of shape, it would be worth every cent that we spend on gym class. And remember, we are already spending that money. We already have gym class and a gym teacher. They just need to get the kids into actual physical fitness routines instead of doing square dancing or dodgeball or nothing. I honestly had never considered this before I read this article, ever, but this is probably the greatest idea to be suggested for our public school system in my lifetime.
I’m waffling back and forth on #3.
While we should aspire to improve ourselves and suck it up and accept that there are people better than us, I can see a lot of advantages in segregating classes by skill. I remember gym being a horrible mix of students ranging from Chad from the football team to the 90 lb cancer survivor. You end up with this huge rift between the jocks and non-jocks. The jocks get frustrated with their less-skilled team mates, who develop a “why bother” attitude.
I remember thinking I hated sports until some friends at summer camp got a nice game of ultimate frisbee going.
Honestly this is why I like G. Gordon Liddy’s description of the boxing program at his old fashioned parochial school in New York. Kids got split up by weight and ability so that everyone had a chance at being better and bullies would fight until someone beat them.
Honestly his whole description sounds ideal, Latin and mathematics, boxing, and weekly socials with the girls school to learn the social graces.
Don’t forget: World War II was won on the playing fields of Eton.
Men get acculturated through team sports.
Bullshit. At Eton boys learned faggotry and how to lie effectively. Eton graduates were the ones who bankrolled Hitler.
The war was won by the peasants of the Red Army, not the rich ponces of Eton. A generation of Russian men died for Eton’s sins.
What is this Eton?
…and the decline continues at ROK. Saving the incel from getting bullied at dodge ball?
What is your solution? Do you have any, or do you just talk shit on the internet?
These are teenagers. Proper instruction in schools in physical and mental strength could allow a future incel to alter their fate somewhat. The heuristic grading curve is a glaring compromise I’ll give you that, but its an unfortunate pragmatic one due to the physical and mental state of our youth in the current year. If an incel became physically fit, learnt enough mental toughness to attain some success in a field they have any aptitude in, well unplug the fuckers and boom, they’ll get laid, perhaps not all that often or with anything above a 5/6, but better than jerking off in a dark room to furry porn.
High school PE definitely needs a major overhaul. While they were pretty nice guys, my high school PE teachers were among the laziest instructors I have ever had. Their class, on a daily basis, consisted of 5 minutes of warm-up stretches, and 45 minutes of “free time” on the blacktop, in which half the students dribbled basketballs around aimlessly and the other half (teachers included) sat in the bleachers and talked. These classes were an easy A, but sadly served very little benefit to my health or fitness.
Back in junior high we had a sadistic gym teacher who once organized a dodge ball game and ended up knocking some kid’s front teeth out when he threw the ball at him. He would also do “shirts and skins” and invariably make all the fat guys be shirts. This was decades before the obesity epidemic but some of the guys were just genetically obese. A girl remarked to me about one of them “He puts all the girls to shame”. For entertainment he would make the fat guys wrestle each other which would look like a log-rolling contest. Overall the objective of gym class seemed to be utter humiliation of anyone who was not a jock.
Good. He did them a service. Flabby mama’s boys are a disgrace, who should be mocked and humiliated at every opportunity.
I try not to kiss ass on fat people, but it’s not an obese child’s fault, it’s their parents. Making them wrestle each other doesn’t fix anything. Now go back to your football team and give some more “bro jobs” out to the other jocks you faggot.
That JFK clip was amazing. This was just a few decades ago, yet it seems like a foreign land. I can’t remember the last time a politician tried to just do something common sense and “good” like get everyone in shape. Of course, today the political system is so broken, if a Democrat tried this, it would be more “big gummint mandates” and if a Republican tried it, it would be “harmful to minorities” or something equally absurd.
I went out Saturday to a big music festival here, and saw one smoking hot girl, and 2 passable ones, out of hundreds. Of course these girls were swarmed with attention, because everyone else there was obese or heading that way. It’s amazing how we’ve let ourselves become such an ugly, gross people.
mens sana en corpore sano
Democrats would scream about “body shaming”, republicans would demand it be defunded because our tax dollars shouldn’t be required to stop kids from being fatasses.
Are you secretly Paul Wade? Every article you write removes more and more doubt
No, but I will admit I have learned a lot from him.
He IS the shit after all
This would be 100x better than the pussified program they have these days. They try to have the kids play basketball, for example, but 70% of the boys couldn’t do a layup if their lives depended on it and the rest are so pathetic they’re scared of the ball. Then, they throw in the girls too (“we have to be inclusive!”) and most of the boys are either getting crushed by the one or two alpha males or orbiting the girls. The girls don’t give a damn and the boys aren’t even allowed to steal the ball from them anyways. It’s a total, total disaster and needs to be fixed NOW!
I attended a Catholic Boys College with an emphasis on sporting prowess. While the students may not have been trained in calisthenics or weights, the vast majority of them were reasonably strong and cardiovascularly fit. The average score on the beep test (google it) was around the 10.5 mark. Growing up I was certainly in the bottom half of the strength and fitness level of my class, but in a year level of 200, there were only 5 or so overweight kids and 2 obese, one of whom shed all the weight by 8th grade and went on to be surprisingly athletic. Even me the skinny, short nerd was unbeatable at rope climbing and fencing. While there are some downsides, separate sex highschool education has its benefits. Although the girls I knew from all girls schools were some of the most prolific sluts. Perhaps that aspect hadnt really changed there were just more girls to spread the word about eachother.
At the last grade of elementary i actually climbed the ropes. I did it voluntary, and i think that i was the only one to do that.
My son is 5 and can climb ropes floor to ceiling all day long. Get them in gymnastics.
Sounds like a ringing endorsement for specifically sport related schools. When the time comes for me to have kids I’ll certainly have to visit the local ones. Thanks for this comment.
Bear in mind this in Australia – I have no idea what its like in other countries.
Ahhhh yes, my brother, who’s very into his sports and fitness, is a fan of the Australian system; which if I remember correctly profiles young athletes into sports they’ll naturally do well at/are built for.
Great topic. The ideas are pretty good too. Fix PE and maybe the rest of the school will start to follow suit
ROK is dead now. Roosh doesn’t care anymore or he wouldn’t have let go this far. Its now joke material for the manosphere.
RIP on Easter 2016.
Shut up fatty
You know, the pentecost is coming in may. As Jesus Christ has sacrificied himself for us and has risen from the dead – Hristos A-nviat ! So will true virtue rise once more -from the ashes. Pastele ma-tii de prost.
PE class in the 70’s was somewhat boring. We got our exercise after school. Kids weren’t as safety pecked by the nanny state and you actually saw decent kids independently roaming the neighborhoods and going about ‘kid business’ like carrying wood and hammers to build forts. Girls seemed to be kept inside more, chaste. During the boring PE class, some of us would cut off into the woods and climb trees until the bell sounded. Bike helmets and skateboards hadn’t been invented but ‘air sports’ have been around forever and have always been a favorite of boys.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/9d/0d/95/9d0d954784a2e772a0dee4f2ca82eae5.jpg
It really disgusts me to hear stories of nanny state goons being called out to harass families with their kids playing in their own front yard ‘unsupervised’. I just can’t help but want to take a shovel over the head of any nanny state snitch that would even think of turning in the parents of the lil’ Evel Knievel jumper on the bike above. We weren’t so much a snitch society back then. We did bike jumping shit all the time out front in the 70’s. Sometimes we’d lay down our bikes in a row and see how many we could jump.
Then there was another favorite pastime, a true air sport we called ROOF JUMPING. We didn’t know at the time that the sport actually had a name, ‘LANDING’. How you landed was important and we all knew that. There was always some mamas boy who wouldn’t jump. He’d sit there and we’d have to coach him that you ”have to roll” when you land. We all earned our wings.
http://gymnasticscoaching.com/new/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/boys-jumping-off-the-roof.jpg
I didn’t do much ramping. Rather, we picked the hill with the biggest drop and just let go. And the second pic? Back when I lived in Mexico, our little vecindad had a hallway so narrow even my tiny scrawny ass could jump from roof to roof.
” I just can’t help but want to take a shovel over the head of any nanny state snitch that would even think of turning in the parents of the lil’ Evil Kineval jumper on the bike above.” — oh yeah, these days those parents (even if indoors looking out the front window) would be dragged away in shackles & junior there would be sent to re-educational (foster) care.
Looking at that picture of the kid on the bike, I don’t think he has enough velocity to not crash (especially with his feet of the pedals).
If you get out of the city/suburbia, you get kids doing this sort of stuff more -if they’re not glued to their xbox-station 54.
Some of the best times I’ve had were romping around in the woods, building lean tos and such.
Then there was that dwarven cavern my brother and I tried to make. Would’ve been great if my eldest brother didn’t rat us out.
There is an animated series (for adults) on Netflix called ‘F is For Family’. It takes place in the early ’70s. One of the themes (though not explicitly stated) is how childhood was much more free back then. One scene had the local kids playing at a construction site, much like the kids jumping of the roof photo above.
There’s a chance I would leave the gym altogether, take the kids to a playground, and just teach a Parkour class.
You would have been the coolest teacher ever. And seeing I live in a neighborhood where my trashy neighbors let their damn pitbulls roam free, Parkour skills can come quite handy.
You have any GoPro footage of you doing Parkour? Parkour is pretty badass
Sorry, don’t have a Go Pro 🙁 I know lots of traceurs (Parkour practitioners) who record themselves constantly, but I just never really got into that.
Here’s an Instagram video tho; it’s kinda silly, but I was just messing around the other night, and my brother recorded me:
It’s been more than 40 years since the draft effectively ended in the US. With the emphasis on the “All-Volunteer Military”, and the lack of expectation that young men ought to be fit for service, are we surprised that public schools have let this slip as well? I’m not saying bring back the draft, but…
The emergence of ultra-competitive team sports in middle and high school has also contributed to this. How many of us had PE teachers who were really there to be sport coaches, and they had to keep the class only because it was required by law or something? A PE class these days is basically study hall in a gym; the instructor just needs to keep the kids occupied for an hour while he works on the playbook for the upcoming football/basketball/etc season.
Not to mention, the ultra competitiveness either keeps or discourages people from joining sports.
It was clear that PE teachers had their specific favourites, when I was at school. The rest of the class would be abandoned to focus on the county players. Funnily enough, most of the county players I know have hit the male version of the wall, within 5 years of leaving education. Fortunately I was half decent at rugby and when I started martial arts I had a huge jump in sporting improvement/ability. Definitely agree with the grading being based on improvement by the individual.
Fortunately, some colleges in the US, like the one I attended, required one or more PE courses as graduation requirements for all students. I recall reading in MIT’s literature that students had to pass a swimming test.
Why? How is physical education relevant to intellectual education in any way?
There’s a false premise in your question.
I just don’t see why people wont let kids peruse their own interests? Give them more recess and they will go out and play on their own.
What is the false premise?
Public schooling was never about learning
We aren’t even talking about public schooling, we are talking about tertiary education.
Difference
Public school is free government funded Primary and Secondary Education. Tertiary education is basically University or a trade school. Uncle Maffoo said “Fortunately, some colleges in the US, like the one I attended, required one or more PE courses as graduation requirements for all students. I recall reading in MIT’s literature that students had to pass a swimming test.” And I responded by saying that swimming is irrelevant to the ability of someone’s intellect, plenty of people can’t swim but are smart and maybe just don’t like intense physical activity. At some point you brought up public education, and that has pretty much nothing with what we are talking about.
Public education is an industrial revolutions institution, it’s outdated and a leech to the tax system
Yeah, we aren’t talking about that, why do you keep bringing it up?
We are talking about tertiary schooling correct?
Yes.
Which was created by philanthropists from which industry?
What? Well Vanderbilt University was created by Cornelius Vanderbilt. Peter Cooper created Cooper’s union. John Hopkins found John Hopkins University. Andrew Carnegie helped create Carnegie Mellon University. I could probably find a few more. Tertiary education is not public, it isn’t free. I don’t see how your ranting about Public Education is relevant to the discussion in any way.
There were ll industrial revulotion Era when they were created
No they weren’t. Plenty of Universities were made before the Industrial Revolution. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_universities_in_continuous_operation#Founded_before_1500
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_universities_in_continuous_operation#Canada_and_the_United_States
Most were these are the ivory tower ones
No those weren’t. Those Universities were specifically for highly highly intelligent people and were used mainly as research centers and never as the job training so many university’s have become.
hmm looks like I was wrong
I went to Steven Tech. Same rules. The swimming test was pretty easy (one lap). My friend (who by his own admission has a fear of drowning) barely made it across.. but still passed.
It was interesting watching the Asian kids who largely come from cultures that don’t practice ‘our kids must learn to swim’. The flailing about in the water… the panic… I expected for at least one kid to drown that day.
As for the required PE courses: I have flat feet and lack depth perception (childhood major eye injury) so running is painful and I can’t do ball sports. I was relieved to find that activities like archery and fencing were offered, which my disabilities did not hinder. Fencing in particular was kind of fun.
How did the Blacks do (assuming there were any)?
**fires up brain cells not used in 25+ years**
I can only recall 6 or so blacks in my class year and that is if you include the one girl I knew who had a white mom (she identified as ‘black’ for financial aid purposes). None were in my PE classes. So unfortunately, I can’t answer your question. If I could, the sample size would be so small as to be almost irrelevant.
Promote lifting over cardio.
You shouldn’t lift if you’re still growing.
That’s not true. Myth. Boys under 12 will put on minimal muscle mass, but they will improve neural control and synchronization of motor units and be able to lift heavier and be stronger, this will all be augmented when they hit puberty and release tremendous amounts of testosterone.
I think I’ll keep my own judgment on this, plus you didn’t mention the actual reason you don’t lift while you’re still growing.
This isn’t your own judgement, this is the consensus of the entire medical community.
Glad they agree. 🙂
There’s no reason to not start weight training in high school.
I think martial arts should be taught to children in school [by a qualified instructor] first thing every morning. More so than PE, it is the best check on the ”bullying” epidemic and teaches children discipline, respect, and physical fitness.
Bullying is the result of when you ban fighting in public space
Totally unrelated to the article but i just watched the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary on the duke lacrosse case and that case had a lot of similarities with what roosh and return of kings faced. Not only were they both portrayed by the media as rapists without any real evidence but they were both executed in the court of public opinion and were immediately seen as guilty by people that had no knowledge. Just shows how sad media is these days, always jumping the gun.
If it bleeds it leads. I just watched the same thing and saw that the prosecutor was about to get fucked in ass. I am thankful that at least one instance of campus police/ university kangaroo court got reported as being un-American. There are hundreds more that do not have the resources these young men had.
I grew up in a state that mandated 12 years of PE. I also caught the tail end of many older programs and saw the beginnings of modern PE classes. PE needs to be a longer class that is segregated (gender) by ambition and skill. I recall segregating for gymnastics and wrestling classes and those were intense competitions.
I remember that busted peg board you couldn’t climb because the first 4 rows were beaten to death. Or the high rope course with 2 inch mats for a 40 ft drop. I loved playing sports and games. Full contact football and waterpolo, maybe not hardball but even mush ball softball was awesome in gym class. Kill the man with the ball football at recess…
My brother who is 5 years younger than me missed it all. I remember this 60+ year old WW2 marine inviting us to take our best go at him the first day of wrestling class. Even the bullies and criminals got their moves reversed and were put the fuck down. By the end we could all reverse a jab or spear lunge. Good times
“I remember that busted peg board you couldn’t climb because the first 4 rows were beaten to death. Or the high rope course with 2 inch mats for a 40 ft drop. I loved playing sports and games. Full contact football and waterpolo, maybe not hardball but even mush ball softball was awesome in gym class. Kill the man with the ball football at recess…” Don’t worry, all these things still happen…
To those who think this is a joke article: it might seem like it is at first, but let’s examine it a little bit closer.
Thanks to the liberal agenda, today’s high school students have a form of “politically correct” gym class that in some form or another involves sex eduction, physical health (a curriculum taught from an actual BOOK), etc.
The left will do anything to feminize men, and since most teachers are suckling at the government tit, they too are liberals. And since most teachers are liberals, they, like their puppet masters, will do what they can to follow the plan and create an “army” of effeminate men.
Let’s look at the past. Respect to those who laid their lives on the line during the Revolutionary War for our freedom. However, if you think about it, the good soldiers (and by that, I mean farmers and teenagers) who fought for our freedoms and rights in the Revolutionary War did not get tough from watching short Youtube clips about safe sex.
Part of me wonders if the reason why the new P.E. curriculum is now so soft on students is because when shit really hits the fan, and it’s up to the public to rise and fight (as it has in history), we’re all going to be jelly.
Fruit for thought. Happy Easter.
Revolutionary War… One shot
“physical health ” IS that a bad thing?
Depends whether it is a complement to, or a replacement for, physical activity.
What happens when you do away with order and discipline associated with PE? Moronic entitled adults who claim to lead based on feelings and positivism and an “anti bullying” stance but turn out to be the biggest hypocritical jerks out there. Don’t believe me? Check out this article from the Daily Mail (btw, I’ve been relying too much on non American sources on my comments…I wonder why) where a PEZ sponsored Easter Egg hunt in Connecticut apparently turned into a family friendly mosh pit, with kids as young as 4 getting trampled. Seems ironic. These kidults are letting out their pent up energy that they couldn’t release in PE class when they were kids themselves.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3511343/Marauding-parents-Easter-Egg-hunt-rampage-control-adults-push-children-ground-steal-buckets-leave-one-four-year-old-bloody-chaotic-free-event.html
Update. There was a similar event in Sacramento where they were trying to break a Guinness World Record as the biggest egg hunt. They didn’t break it, but they could have broken the one for the biggest pre school stampede. Seriously, check out the video. Kids and adults do look like they were going to do a grindcore style Wall of Death.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/news/video-1173012/Ugly-scenes-chaos-erupts-Sacramento-Easter-egg-hunt.html
What kind of Easter Egg Hunt is that? I remember getting three rooms and the yard to hunt in. Parents would give jeopardy style clues on a piece of paper. Not sure if I ever found 100% of the items hidden. I do recall finding an Easter egg with a $20 bill in it when I helped them downsize 15 years later.
I’m guessing this is one of those “inclusive” egg hunts where EVERYBODY gets to find an egg, regardless of skill. Makes me wonder if those eggs actually had anything in them. Probably not, unless you count disappointment as an item.
I never even did Easter egg hunts…just grab the basket in the morning and munch away on the candy. Mind you in retrospect that’s laying down some bad habits….
” where a PEZ sponsored Easter Egg hunt in Connecticut ” — You know what I thought as I read that? “How goddamn difficult is it to hide eggs in your backyard (or hell, your living room if you don’t have a house) and let the kids have at it? They are toddlers, they don’t give a shit.”
I guess if you live in a building without a lawn…
As it turns out, there was ANOTHER egg hunt fiasco, this one in Big Spring, Texas, not far from where I live. Yet again, more moron adults, most of them moms, shoving and trampling kids to get eggs. What’s telling of how American society is breaking down morally is, this is not a liberal stronghold like Austin, San Francisco, or Brooklyn. Rather, this is what the author if Friday Night Lights has referred to as the “belt buckle of the Southern Bible Belt.” It’s bad when even Southerners can’t control their women.
http://www.yourbasin.com/news/easter-egg-hunt-gets-a-little-rowdy-in-big-spring
I wish they would teach martial arts like boxing and wrestling for PE class. Yes I know Mothers of America would loose their minds and the trial lawyers would have a field day. However it would whip kids into real shape and give them real confidence and a practical physical skill set.
Wrestling – one thing I liked about PE was there was no homework. That’s what backyards are for:
http://www.geocities.ws/Colosseum/6905/POWERBOMB.GIF
Gents.
An absolute fine example of the wall in action. The comments are gold, but be sure to have your ad blockers on so that leftist filth cannot profit.
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/mar/28/i-have-as-much-sex-as-i-like-and-its-great-but-i-want-something-more#comment-71389150
Imagine those little porkers doing that type of exercise? Here’ a picture of children today vs. children in the 1960’s. Yeah, I know, it’s the wheat dontchaknow.
That isn’t from from lack of exercise, that is from eating processed food.
Lack of exercise, processed food, sitting in front of the television, overweight parents………..
Exercise burns maybe a couple hundred calories, and that is if you are doing a couple hours a day. I assure you those kids are getting 3000, maybe 4000 calories a day from McShits, I know plenty of overweight who exercise and plenty of skinny people who don’t. HOWEVER, Exercise is important for pretty much every other body function.
A child’s metabolism is off the chart. I agree with you but it s not just one factor
Exactly. You are not going to torch off calories like an olympic athlete. I agree with that, but children need to run, play, skip and jump. Food is not the only menace. Socio-economics play a HUGH part combined with brain dead parents.
It’s definitely both to get as big as they are as young as they are. But I agree, tons of ice cream, soda, juice, juicy fruit, fruit by the foot, cheetos, pringles and tostidos are getting shoved down the throat’s of those kids faster than Bree Olsen’s videos on fast foward. I also have to assume they don’t do much other than watch TV or play video games. And at that age, it’s 100% the parents fault.
Yeah, I personally know families like this, it’s pretty disgusting.
That’s GMO’s
I went to a private high school in the 80’s and sports was MANDATORY — either PE as a class in the schedule or you took a sport/activity after school. And not just “Football/Basketball”, there was a swimteam, lacrosse, fencing, rugby, etc. You can be sure that while our “Public” schools are turning the children attending into the fatasses from “WALL-E”, that the Globalists are making sure their kids are getting plenty of exercise & fresh air. The Morloks & the Eloi.
Man, is this clip depressing…
“As anybody who has ever interacted with a group of men knows, a hierarchy of masculinity will naturally form itself pretty quick.” My observation of this is that a hierarchy is a feminine system, men when given the chance generally just don’t interact with people they don’t like, while females do (usually to cause more problems).
I agree, but I was speaking more in the sense of “males who are forced into a group”. Like a class.
Ah, I see what you mean. This is why I find PE to be a waste of time, it counter productively pisses people off until they don’t ever do sports again. Humans don’t need to be taught how to play. Plus all of this is irrelevant if society is just going to be making people sit down their whole lives at office desks.
Most kids nowadays try to take that one semester of PE over the summer (where the school days are shorter), because PE class tends to interfere with one’s appearance for the day.
…plus even if they enjoy Basketball (or Dodgeball, or climbing walls) we can’t have that interfere with a busy schedule of studying for the next “Fill in the bubble completely with your No. 2 pencil” test.
What are you talking about? I can’t think of a single state that doesn’t have PE, maybe they don’t have it in Detroit? Generally, they just have it towards the end of the day. I dare you to go find me a state without PE.
What the hell went wrong?
they don’t want gym anymore because, like math class it is dominated by boys. they have to change the rules on literally everything to keep the equality narrative going.
My high school gym teacher had a punchable face. He wasn’t much older than the students. As a result I didn’t really put in my best effort. When I did I either performed equal to or above the athletic kids.
I remember it took me racing 6 different kids before I started running slower. Or the surprise of the school idol when I dared to effectively block her in basketball. Too bad she died a year later.
1.bring back the climbing rope so fatties and slugs can be shamed
2. bring back dodge ball
3. bring back smear the queer
4. rifle/pistol shooting , gun safety..
5. teach self defense, boxing or martial arts..
This is sound advice. When I was 15 years old I was trapped in a 12 year old’s body. I likely had a hormone issue, but my parents who grew up poor, pretty much avoided the idea of taking the kid for expensive tests, etc.
My physical state made gym and sports in general hell as I was just so much smaller and less developed than most of the other boys.
Our class was simple. It was split, boys and girls, no mixed gender. Various physical activities that culminated in high school with learning to use weight machines and free weights.
Of course our teachers weren’t idiots, and believe me when I say that even the girls sweated in their class. Sex Ed was a different class taught by nervous teacher pulling double duty who drew the short straw. In high school (freshmen) we did end up with a real health teacher that split the class with a coach. Again, boys in one class and girls in another.
The split gender classes kept the horseplay to a minimum, and I think is the only way to teach such a subject.
I am told that in the Philippines, school children are taught Escrima. The idea of teaching basic self defense, separately, for boys and girls is some thing I would strongly support.
If an effeminate young man doesn’t want to be physical in gym class and is uncomfortable with being expected to try hard, the school will cater to him. But if a masculine boy finds it uncomfortable to stand up in front of his English class and gush about his personal emotions in the form of a poem he will receive a poor grade and be shamed by his teacher.