NationStates Jolt Archive

Why do so many kids hate gym class? What is so bad about it? Everytime I have gym I'm happy, I would rather have gym than Home Ec or Music, ugh! But so many people I know, especially girls, hate gym. What is so awful about doing something besides sitting on your butt at desk all day long and getting to go outside to play a game?

Why do so many kids hate gym class? What is so bad about it? Everytime I have gym I'm happy, I would rather have gym than Home Ec or Music, ugh! But so many people I know, especially girls, hate gym. What is so awful about doing something besides sitting on your butt at desk all day long and getting to go outside to play a game?

I always liked gym, but then again I'm not your typical prissy girl.

I think it has to do more with hating the fact that it's required, or perhaps the teacher.

I know that a lot of people hate gym because of showering, but at least at my school it isn't a requirement. And my gym teachers are all relatively normal.

Physical expenditure just isn't my thing. PE should simply be an elective, because 42 minutes of nothing every other day isn't going to make America less obese.

I's rather get my credits from a writing class or computer course... you know, something that'll actually help me when I get out into the real world.

Because kids are lazy and prefer the gaming culture ( not physical activity)?

Girls hate gym because it ruins their hair and they are prone to brake nails.
I like gym, I like any competitive sport, but since our gym classes are Coed, the girls never try and the games we play end up being very frustrating.

I only actually like running the mile in gym, cuz I always OWN everyone. (I'm on Varsity X-Country and Track)

Maybe it's because the kids these days are just lazy and expect to get what they want by bellaching their parents.
The parents of these kids mollycoddle them to the point of making their kids obese. When i was at school had to do the games or physical lessons. Even the fat kids.
Kids can't cope with the demands of physical exercise because thatis the way they have been brought up by their parents, ask any of the ones that do not like those lessons if their parents take them out and run about or do physical activities with them outside school.
I think you will find the parents are as bad as the kids.

Physical expenditure just isn't my thing. PE should simply be an elective, because 42 minutes of nothing every other day isn't going to make America less obese.

I's rather get my credits from a writing class or computer course... you know, something that'll actually help me when I get out into the real world.

I think it should be required. It might not make fat kids less fat, but it will get them off their butts every so often. Some kids will never exercise on their own so the school has to make them. A little exercise isn't going to kill anyone.

I fucking hate gym because it's essentially pointless -- we could learning something more useful like algebra, language, elective. We can get our own damn exercise.

I fucking hate gym because it's essentially pointless -- we could learning something more useful like algebra, language, elective. We can get our own damn exercise.

You can, but that doesn't mean you will.

I don't know about anyone else, but I went to an all-girls highschool. They made us do some wierd ass stuff in gym...

I liked it, though, cause it got me out of a class room for a bit and let me wake up.

I would think that people would like it, especially in middle school and high school. You don't have any recess so you don't have any time to just run around and get all of your energy out before you have to sit back down again. Gym classes wakes me up, before gym I might be totally dead, but after it I'm more alert and can pay attention better in class. You can catch a breath of fresh air before you hit the books again.

I'd rather take another class (I could take Chem, AP bio and Law if it wasn't for PE) then have gym.

Wheres your school spirit where you do any sort of thing to get out of doing real work

School spirit? Where I go?

*rolls over laughing*

School spirit? Where I go?

*rolls over laughing*

You are the one that said that you wouldn't use skills that you learn in gym in real life. *rolls over laughing* Academics aren't everything, pal.

You are the one that said that you wouldn't use skills that you learn in gym in real life. *rolls over laughing* Academics aren't everything, pal.
Quite a bit.

As I like to say:
Muh-ney.

We play soccer and basketball in gym and took one lousy semester on health which was basically a propaganda campaign against pre-marital sex, drugs, and alcohol (not that I like the latter two, but still).

I hated gym for a number of reasons.

One, it's a really crappy thing to have your GPA (especially in HS, where it actually does count) brought down because you're 5'1" and can't shoot hoops.

Two, it's not exactly my idea of fun to spend fifty minutes every day getting basketballs thrown at my head; it's even better when you get hit in the face and end up with black eyes.

Three, I have better stuff to do with my time -- like someone else mentioned. I had to drop the law magnet in order to take science labs as a senior, because it really is terribly important for my education that I get those basketballs thrown at my head.

Edit: While I seem to have focussed inordinately on basketball, we did do other things, occasionally. Baseball, track, and swimming (luckily, I swim like a fish) offered much less opportunity for physical violence, hockey of course offered the chance of hitting me with sticks, and they all were still an utter waste of my time.

I dislike PE because it's so tied up with the popularity-based social structure of high school. PE at my school is usually football, and not being a member of the in-crowd, I am always coerced into being goalkeeper. This allows those who are popular to do as they please, and gives them someone to blame their defensive shortcomings on.

In spite of this, I enjoy competition and am particularly fond of rugby, because it gives me a chance to beat the hell out of the popular crowd in the name of sport.

i'm an active type, so i loved gym. i wanted to take it junior and senior years, but the school was a bunch of fawkers. hell, i was the only one with enough guts to consistantly play goalie during most games ('cept the hockey and soccer players, who were field players anyways, not goalies). everyone was (for some reason) afraid of the damn ball.
but in any case
i don't see why people hate gym so much, but meh, that's me. sure, it'd be fine to have some other class, but why not get a credit for just running around and having fun? even if it's standing around, missing hoops because you don't like the scheduled games.

We play soccer and basketball in gym and took one lousy semester on health which was basically a propaganda campaign against pre-marital sex, drugs, and alcohol (not that I like the latter two, but still).

Now, Health Class is a class I could do without. *shudders* I would rather spend my time in gym than in Home Ec sewing a pillowcase, or in Art being forced to make a clay sculpture even though I have no intention of ever becoming an artist, or in music learning corny songs to sing in the Christmas program.

As to academics not being everything, well no, they aren't. But seeing as how the very term "academic" comes from "academy" one might think that perhaps a school is the place for academics.

As to other things you can learn in school, nobody forced you to take band, chorus, or art in high school. Gym should be elective, just like the rest of the enrichment classes.

My gym teachers are evil, that's why.

Academics aren't everything, pal.

Of course their not. But having AP classes helps the career search a little more than the amount of sit-ups you can do in 30 seconds. :cool:

Because exercise is evil.

Part of the reason I made the comment about academics is because in my gym class most of the people whoare in my class I can't imagine ever thinking, "Darn, I could be in an honors class to raise my GPA right now, or learning a foreign language like Spanish or French instead of learning how to play soccer." I think most of them are more like, "I am so going to ruin my hair, or I might break a nail being goalie." or "Crap, we have to RUN? You mean we actually have to move?"

Why do so many kids hate gym class? What is so bad about it? Everytime I have gym I'm happy, I would rather have gym than Home Ec or Music, ugh! But so many people I know, especially girls, hate gym. What is so awful about doing something besides sitting on your butt at desk all day long and getting to go outside to play a game?

I hate gym, because I hate being stuck outside and being graded on the physical ability I do not have. Gym, sports, etc. are one of those things you just either like or don't like, just like music and home ec. If I had the choice, I'd much rather be sitting in a desk, behind a music stand, preferably in a theatre..

Because it's evil, horrible, and it just plain sucked.

Some people are more blessed with athleticism than others. Some people hate being in a place that's not for them. Gym for some people is a place they get owned all day long. And who wants that when they can be doing things they were made for? I tried my hardest in gym, but because I was physically weak I never got good grades in it. I almost always was last or 6th or 7th in my class until 5th grade when I was homeschooled. PE became more relaxing when I went to club gym instead of a competetive school. No one dogged you for being weak. No coach screamed at you. If you weren't good you weren't hounded. I was grouped with people under and over my age and it didn't matter.

Then I got into paintball. Paintball IS my element. Because I am so lightweight and tall, my adrenaline gets into all my veins very fast. Paintball you can just sit in a bunker and build up all your adrenaline until it's just a big wall. Adrenaline is used in explosions instead of being warn out from running around with no objective in sight. It's an incredible high. Everyone moves in slow motion when you are overflowing with it. You do things you never would of ever done in life. Like superman dive head first over a bunker and slide 10 feet into another bunker. For some reason I don't get the will to do that in volleyball. I guess paintball allows me to demonstrate my fearlessness.

I guess what I hated about gym was it was a bunch of boring repetitive movements that tired you out with no objective in sight. Hey, if you can do more than everyone else in gym, you will like it because you feel like you belong. But some people don't fit in, in certain enviroments. Despite not liking gym class I still canoe, hike, surf, and paintball.

Then I got into paintball. Paintball IS my element. Because I am so lightweight and tall, my adrenaline gets into all my veins very fast. Paintball you can just sit in a bunker and build up all your adrenaline until it's just a big wall. Adrenaline is used in explosions instead of being warn out from running around with no objective in sight. It's an incredible high. Everyone moves in slow motion when you are overflowing with it. You do things you never would of ever done in life. Like superman dive head first over a bunker and slide 10 feet into another bunker. For some reason I don't get the will to do that in volleyball.
The only thing I don't like about paintball is that too many people just use a spray and pray method of playing, and that just gets annoying. I have pretty good with accuracy with a paintball gun, and I like to use weapons that have broken hoppers so I have to hand feed the gun (for some reason), but it just isn't fair when the other guy is firing 100's of paintballs where you are sitting while you are firing off shots one at a time.

Why do so many kids hate gym class? What is so bad about it? Everytime I have gym I'm happy, I would rather have gym than Home Ec or Music, ugh! But so many people I know, especially girls, hate gym. What is so awful about doing something besides sitting on your butt at desk all day long and getting to go outside to play a game?
Because it's boring. I always hated gym. All we did 2 hours in a row was dumb sports like basketball, volleyball or soccer. I hate to do all 3. Now if we would have had sports like boxing or Muy-Thay I would never had missed a single gym class.

Gym is about taking orders and doing menial tasks. It's about keeping kids in line, in the vain hope that if kids partake in mandatory physical exercise and team competitive sports they'll have less physical energy/desire/emotional angst to engage in random acts of violence.

Of course we know how that works so well in America, since US public schools are so remarkably violence-free.

It has a lot in common with the form and function of boot camp. The drill sergeant, I mean teacher, I mean highly qualified athletic educator, gives the children orders, I mean guidelines, I mean suggestions for physical maintenance and daily activities. This reinforces the already extant social bond of children, politicians and canine hunting groups, by drawing a clear line between the physically inclined and the lazy, and making sure everyone knows the latter are absolutely worthless. Each day's drills help keep children fit and active, since we all know the point of education is to make up for bad parenting, fast food diets and the ridiculous rise of obesity in the country. Each game and competition helps to give kids self esteem, by making everybody either a winner or a loser, and then beating the losers in the lockerroom. Lastly, the fact remains that running around on a field, chasing balls, and being a sweaty man groping other sweaty men wearing spandex and purdy uniforms is the highest paying job in the world, and it's important to emphasize this since America is a heterosexual country, and we have to make sure everyone knows that running around sweatily groping other men, for the approval of the sweaty men who lose, and the sweaty men who give the team orders, is a completely heterosexual thing.

Me, I didn't like gym class cuz it was too regimentized. The elementary school concept of "recess," where you give the kids an area and leave to do whatever the hell they want, is to me more efficient, practical and good than the junior high/high school structured "activities."

Why do so many kids hate gym class? What is so bad about it? Everytime I have gym I'm happy, I would rather have gym than Home Ec or Music, ugh! But so many people I know, especially girls, hate gym. What is so awful about doing something besides sitting on your butt at desk all day long and getting to go outside to play a game?

Music class is the spawn of satan. Gym is pretty fun though.
That is all.

Gym class was the best class to have. It gives you a nice mental break. Well not really, you still have to think to play sports well. And I was very competitive. I was always diving for things and bulling my way through crowds of people to catch something. It was really fun. That is until they banned dodge ball.
:mad:
I almost went Columbine on that one.
:mp5:
:sniper:
:gundge:

Gym class was the best class to have. It gives you a nice mental break. Well not really, you still have to think to play sports well. And I was very competitive. I was always diving for things and bulling my way through crowds of people to catch something. It was really fun. That is until they banned dodge ball.
:mad:
I almost went Columbine on that one.
:mp5:
:sniper:
:gundge:
In my opinion, gym class sucks. It's the only class I've never looked forward to. It crushed my self-esteem so much I stopped bothering to participate beyond attending the class. I wish it were gone.

Well, gym wasn't exactly terrible, but I didn't necessarily like it either, and would never have taken it had my best friend not been taking them either.

Simply put, gym as an ideal would be a place/time for you to set aside your learning about math and science, and instead take time and effort for self-improvement, and developing your skill in a wide variety of different physical disciplines. Given that such things as increased cardio-respiratory health, strength, flexibility, and motor coordination can only have beneficial effects on the brain, and that it gives you valuable downtime to recharge your mental batteries, gym as an ideal is a pretty darn good thing to have in your schedule.

Gym as it's practiced, however, is just a means of confirming the existing high school social order. Anyone who's not looking like Brad Pitt is only going to have their flabbiness confirmed in the swim section (which does wonders for your dating life, let me tell you), not to mention puts you at risk for extreme humiliation (I once had my underpants stolen and had to freeball it the rest of the day, while all the kids laughed at me), in basketball no one ever passed it to me, in baseball everyone spent their time not cheering me on but swearing at me because I wouldn't choke up on the batt (I can hit only rarely, but I knock the piss out of it when I connect. Unfortunately, everyone else just wants the bloomin' single), in football I couldn't get anyone to throw to me. As such, yeah, I can really see why people would love it.

My problem was that it was MANDATORY... at least until I got to grade 10, at which point... *phew* no more icky gym class. Also, the drills were just so pointless, especially since my school had a weight room, which would have been so much better, especially if we could have rotated and used all the stations.

I think it's because some students can't skillfully play the sports they make you play and hence get discpuraged by it.

I hated it because I've always been short, which made games that required height harder, and until grade 6, I had slightly bad eyesight, so I couldn't see shit.

But, I did martial arts outside of school.

Why do so many kids hate gym class? What is so bad about it? Everytime I have gym I'm happy, I would rather have gym than Home Ec or Music, ugh! But so many people I know, especially girls, hate gym. What is so awful about doing something besides sitting on your butt at desk all day long and getting to go outside to play a game?

The attitude in just about all the gym classes that I experienced (in multiple states) was TERRIBLE. I'm not very capable as an athlete, and was a good student--this combination adds up to torture in gym. People saw it, I think, as a way to get "even" with me. Teachers either condoned the verbal abuse through silence or sometimes even covertly.

If gym class were run with a level of attitude discipline akin to the martial arts, all the way from the early grades so that it was known from early on that you do not step out of line and lash out at others, I would not have objected to it so much. I'm not talking about discipline for poor performance--for THAT to improve you must encourage. And there's quite a lack of THAT, too. The point is to condition your body--not berate those with you, and proper attitudes must be trained just as much as the body, in order to raise the chances of success at this. Tight discipline is a MUST for this to happen, and is absolutely not happening in most schools. Gym teachers are often (though not always, of course) the absolute dregs among education majors, and seem completely incompetent when it comes to administering the tough AND even-handed discipline that's necessary.

I've never had a problem with gym, and in fact enjoy it from time to time, but the apathy of other students make any attempted activities ultimately frustrating. I think it should be easier to get gym credit for outside athletic activities, so students who don't lack for exercise can take another academic course.

I went to gym class when you had gym shorts and a t-shirt that you had to wear. When you had to wear a jockstrap. When not taking a shower was more embarrassing than taking one. But not by much.

It was also a time of bullying and pervert coaches etc. I think that somewhere between then and now, a happy medium must exist. Because I think a lot of kids miss out on important life lessons nowadays. Like how to tell when your jock has been tampered with.

I never had that much of a problem with gym, but I've always sucked at sports, and taken a lot of shit for that. It's way better in high school, when you can take a free weights class (I like lifting), and actually one of my favorite PE classes was a widely despised one, health and fitness. All we did for half the class was run. I wouldn't say I like running, but there's something sort of... calming about it. The other half was the normal "don't do drugs and have gratuitous sex" spiel, and that sucked.

Now, Health Class is a class I could do without. *shudders* I would rather spend my time in gym than in Home Ec sewing a pillowcase, or in Art being forced to make a clay sculpture even though I have no intention of ever becoming an artist, or in music learning corny songs to sing in the Christmas program.
pillowcases, sculpture, songs??
what kind of school do you go to??

pillowcases, sculpture, songs??
what kind of school do you go to??

*puts on low vice-principal's voice*
I go to a "National School of Character" (I'm serious, that is actually an award) because somehow our teachers bribed us into being good while the "character scouts" were at our school. And ruined our fairly intimidating wildcat mascot by painting the paws purple and painting a red heart in the middle of each of them, because of course our school had to adopt the dreaded "Purple Hands Program". Bullying isn't a problem in gym at my school because bullying simply isn't ALLOWED. If you laugh at an inappropriate joke (even if you didn't tell it) you get put in in-school detention.

And my music teacher is EVIL!

*puts on low vice-principal's voice*
I go to a "National School of Character" (I'm serious, that is actually an award) because somehow our teachers bribed us into being good while the "character scouts" were at our school. And ruined our fairly intimidating wildcat mascot by painting the paws purple and painting a red heart in the middle of each of them, because of course our school had to adopt the dreaded "Purple Hands Program". Bullying isn't a problem in gym at my school because bullying simply isn't ALLOWED. If you laugh at an inappropriate joke (even if you didn't tell it) you get put in in-school detention.

And my music teacher is EVIL!

My school had the dumbest zero tolerance policy on fighting ever. If you were involved in violence in any fashion, you were guilty. To give an example - if I am eating lunch in the cafeteria and someone walks up to me and punches me in the back of the head, we both get a warning.

If that same person walks up to me while I am getting my books from my locker, and punches me again, we both get suspended. If when I return, the person is waiting for me in the entrance and punches me a third time, we are both expelled. I don't ever have to partake in any violent action. I just have to be involved in the incident.

Anyhow.

As someone said before, if I wanted exercise, I'd get it myself. No, not everyone will. But not every adult will exercise either. Are we going to start having the government employ mandatory exercise laws? As I see it the school is there to teach me; nothing more, nothing less.

:eek: Are wedgies considered 'violent'?

:eek: Are wedgies considered 'violent'?
According to the definition of violence, yes.

Then pole racking is WAAAY out. Hehehe.

I never "hated" gym class in the traditional sense I was lazy and didn't want to participate, it's just that I played sports and that was my "gym." I had more important things to do than take a "class" for gym and then go play sports... I could've used that "gym" period for a study hall to do my homework.

I hate gym because at my high school, we have to run between a mile and 2 and a half miles every day.

And if we dont do that, then we do running and aerobic exersizes for at least 20 minutes at a sprinting pace.

My school had the dumbest zero tolerance policy on fighting ever. If you were involved in violence in any fashion, you were guilty. To give an example - if I am eating lunch in the cafeteria and someone walks up to me and punches me in the back of the head, we both get a warning.

If that same person walks up to me while I am getting my books from my locker, and punches me again, we both get suspended. If when I return, the person is waiting for me in the entrance and punches me a third time, we are both expelled. I don't ever have to partake in any violent action. I just have to be involved in the incident.

My school has that same system. I blame incompetence on the school administrative people's part. We even had video cameras in virtually every hallway..

And gym is bad because it's a waste of time. I could be sitting on my ass learning how to program something fun instead of running around for no reason.

I forgot to add that we have survellience (sp?) cameras all over our school. If we are such a school of character why do we need those?

I forgot to add that we have survellience (sp?) cameras all over our school. If we are such a school of character why do we need those?

To moon. :D

I forgot to add that we have survellience (sp?) cameras all over our school. If we are such a school of character why do we need those?

Because they're perverts. :D