It’s actually very funny - the first time I was able to run as far as my old high school with the Couch to 5K program, it was a hell of a high - I ran past the field where the gym teacher had to stay into lunch to wait for me to finish running my mile and just laughed and laughed.
Awesome! 
C25K is how I started running too, actually.
Thing is, most of my gym teachers were fine, they weren’t jerks. They just had no idea what to do with the kids who weren’t natural athletes, and who didn’t know how to play sports. They were mostly coaches who were used to dealing with kids who came to them with some knowledge/developed talent, and they didn’t know how to teach someone who was starting from scratch. So we ended up on the sidelines, or just struggled through what we could.
We did too. I also went to Catholic school, and sex ed (a better sex ed than a lot of people got) was covered in religion class. I don’t recall ever getting much education in the way of nutrition at all, though.
Oh god, PE class was the reason for most of my emotional problems throughout school. I was overweight and very self conscious about it. I refused to wear shorts and wore sweatpants all year no matter how hot it was. I was always left standing around alone when it was time to partner up or be picked for a team. Almost every day I stressed constantly about PE class. Especially when we were doing Track and Field. PE absolutely ruined my GPA. Can’t run the mile in under 13 minutes? F. Can’t do 20 situps in a minute? F. Can’t jump those hurdles that come up to your boobs? F. It was horrible and I thanked god when I finally hit Junior year in high school and didn’t have to do it anymore.
I hope that PE class isn’t anything like that anymore because it really did do more harm than good.
This has turned into more of an opinions and experiences thread. I’m going to move it from General Questions to In My Humble Opinion.
Gfactor
General Questions Moderator
My kids are in third and forth grade. No one gets excused from gym and they do all sorts of things - including a unit on jump rope. The most interesting thing they do for the purpose of this discussion is “long run.” All the kids participate unless they are physically unable - and obestity doesn’t count. And they run. Both my kids could run a mile by the end of kindergarten and the vast majority of kids in the school can do this - even some of the heavier ones. Of course, some of the kids walk and some simply refuse - but their gym teacher is somewhat of a drill sargent, so most of them learn to run.
I dreaded PE class when I was in school for several years, mostly because I was overweight and could not physically perform many of the ‘Presidential Award’ fitness requirements or whatever they were called. Climb a pole? Nope. Bar/chin hang? Yeah, right. Sit ups? Yes - but not as many as my fellow classmates. Mile run? Yes - but not as fast as the majority of the class.
I learned about volleyball, bowling, aerobics, track & field (hated the most), softball, dodgeball, basketball, archery, etc. Without an introduction, I probably would not have taken an interest in a couple of them. I was a decent volleyball player and softball player. I had fun and learned how to be a team player.
I went to school in the midwest and had Pe through sophomore year (well, actually junior year because I had suffered an accident during pe class that resulted in missing half a credit that I had to make up for) and suffered many taunts from the more athletically inclined kids and those coaches who favored them (and/or suffered the misguided opinion about fat kids). I was fortunate enough to have a coach during my last year of required PE class that encouraged me & gave me some pep talks. He taught me that it was important to give it my best and have confidence in myself even when others dont.
Now, my kids attended some PE in the midwest and some in the good ol’ South.
It seems, imo, that this day and age if you ddo not have your kids geared up for any kind of athletic sports by the age of 5, you can pretty much count on not having one involved in sports. It is highly competitive and they dont waste their time teaching the skills/basics of the sports anymore. If you are not involved in sports, you are assigned to a class that involves minimal input. My teenage daughter (who does not have a weight problem) is in a class that spends its time walking for the 40 min, or on the bench watching the other class practice.
My daughter loves basketball and wants to play - but doesnt really know much about it. And I’m not one who can coach her on it either (softball or volleyball , I could probably help). Unfortunately, since she is behind the curve, there is very little chance of her being accepted into a team and it seems that all the “classes” are now reserved for the team members.
When living up North, there were many sport-camps available at low prices that helped youngsters develop their physical/spporting abilities. I NEVER see these programs here… of course, these were aimed mostly at elementary students, but even when my baby was in elementary I never ran across any volleyball camps or the like.
Such a shame.
It seems my P.E. experience is similar to a lot of Dopers’. I was always the kid who got picked last and never knew how to play any sports. I attended Catholic school in El Salvador for 3rd and 4th grade, which was the first time I had P.E., twice a week. We were supposed to bring shorts to change into, but I forgot mine half the time and spent a lot of time sitting out, so I didn’t learn anything and just sort of sat and daydreamed while the P.E. teacher nun made the other kids run around the field. When I came to the U.S. and started 5th grade here, I found myself quite ignorant of sports, while my classmates already had some idea of the rules and terminology. This only added to my reputation as a bully magnet. I distinctly remember getting hit on the head by a ball at least once every year of middle school, sometimes accidentally, sometimes not. To this day, I cannot even consider participating in a game of volleyball, I despise it so. I couldn’t, and still can’t, run a mile without massive amounts of wheezing and pain. I walked a 5k for a cancer charity a few years back, and could do it again if I started training, so I’m not a complete failure, I hope.
In 7th and 8th grade, I had 2 female P.E. teachers who taught as a team, and they included tumbling and square dance in addition to the usual sports. I will always remember the song “Elvira” by the Oak Ridge Boys because it was the song they used to teach us line dancing.
Oh, yeah, about the fat kids: One of my classmates was obese and suffered from asthma, and she had a doctor’s note for many activities, but she still had to suit up for P.E. with the rest of us. I remember her whole family had similar problems.
My niece is currently a 6th grader. I will ask her later today about her P.E. class and will post again if she is willing to share her experiences.
From what I remember, a few of the “fat kids” had asthma and could sit out, which they almost always did. (I assume because the school did not want to be held liable for their asthma attacks.) At least that’s what happened when expending energy in gym became hopelessly uncool, unless you were really athletic, which is the earliest I can remember. I remember another guy panting along behind everyone else, but he was also good at certain sports.
I was just garden-variety unathletic. Humiliation was been worthless, because no amount of training could help me, and I just found sports boring anyway. (I always preferred the “boring” warm-up laps more fun, but the teachers assumed what we were all waiting for was a rousing game of volleyball.)
But the worst was co-ed gym classes in grades 7 and 8 and the inevitable discussion among the girls of body types. I remember sitting on the bench with girls comparing how much room their backsides occupied. I wasn’t a chubby kid at all, but neither was I 80 pounds and stick-thin, and I got a little gasp of shock and pity.
Yeah, I’m still bitter. I try to remember that some kids must feel the same way about being forced to read aloud in class, or do math problems at the board.
Can I be like, the 9001st person to second this? I hated gym sooo much. I kinda liked dodgeball, and I liked step aerobics when we did that in high school. But everything else about gym sucked. I remember reading about schools where gym was not mandatory (why can I not use my apostrophe without getting a Quick Find bar?) and being jealous. All throughout school we had gym 5 days a friggin week, every year. I cannot play any sports, and I still do not know how to swim. 
It was a truly wonderful epiphany for me when I realized at the age of 15 during a high school gym class that I would be graduating in less than two years and at that time no one would ever be able to make me, the short slow uncoordinated kid, play basketball again.
Another one for whom this revived a bad memory. I didn’t - and don’t - like team sports, although I’ve always been pretty athletic. When my fourth grade teacher shouted at me as if I were a cretin because I didn’t know the rules to bleeping softball (I ran after hitting a fly ball; didn’t know what a fly ball even was), I was hurt. I cried. Later, I went to her and asked her if, as a teacher she might be able to provide some reference material that would allow me to learn the rules of bleeping softball. I think I got my point across.
I still HATE baseball in all its forms, and refuse any invitations to play or watch it. Good job, PE.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26207599/ At a time when many schools are eliminating or cutting back gym classes ,our kids are getting more obese. Physically and mentally lazier.