What was Phys Ed/Gym like in your school?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’m assuming we all had to suffer thru this class in high school. For reference, please include when and where you attended. And I’ll start.

Baltimore county public schools - high school was '69-'72. PE was mandatory every year. Boys and girls were segregated - no cross contamination allowed!

We had uniforms. I don’t remember what the boys wore, since I never saw them - duh! Girls had to wear hideous mustard-yellow dress-like things, snap up the front, short sleeves, mid-thigh length. Under them, oversized granny-panties in the same mustard yellow, elastic in the waist and around both legs. Finished off with white sneakers and socks. I can’t remember if we were allowed sweatshirts when it was cold.

Classes met twice a week. Every year we had multiple units - 6-8 weeks long, depending on the sport. For girls, there was field hockey, lacrosse, tennis, basketball, floor exercise, gymnastics, then an extra that was specific to the year. For example, 10th grade was archery, 12th grade was golf, I don’t remember the others - maybe flag football?

Showers were mandatory unless it was your time of the month, or if the class ran long and there wasn’t enough time to run thru the water, then dry off and dress. No privacy, no modesty allowed After the first week, you got used to it - at least I did.

I was surprised when my daughter was in school - boys and girls were in class together, and if you didn’t want to do the particular sport, you just walked laps for the whole class. No uniforms, no showers - I pity the teachers who got sweaty kids in their after-PE classes.

2

Ottawa, Ontario. Up through grade 8, it was just one of the classes in the schedule. I barely remember it, but I imagine it was a lot of dodgeball and kickball (or “soccer-baseball” as it was called) with a couple of weeks devoted to the “Participaction” agenda mid-winter.

In high school at the time you only had to take one credit of phys ed to graduate. Some people did it every year, as there was no prohibition on that. I was skinny and totally unathletic and a year younger than my classmates to boot, and put it off as long as I could, and finally took it in my senior (OAC) year. It was a mixed bag. Basketball (I was hopeless), volleyball, scuba diving (for real, my high school had a pool that I hadn’t known existed until then), square dancing because of course we did, and in the depths of a Canadian winter, we were outside playing…I don’t remember the name. Some kind of stickball/hockey hybrid played with solid plastic brushes? Does anyone know what this was?

3

I was in band so we were exempt from taking an actual physical education activity class. I did have to take half a semester of classroom PE which covered topics like the difference between aerobic and anaerobic exercise, what is BMI, that kind of stuff along with a health class which was basically don’t smoke, drugs are bad and so is booze along with sex ed.

4

We had PE starting in grade school (Upstate NY, late 1960s). Starting in 5th grade we had mandatory showers. I still recall being very anxious about that as we led up to the first class. Once we actually started, it quickly became no big deal.

By 7th grade I was in a suburban Maryland district. (mid to late 1970s). We had Gym class where we rotated between different sports every few weeks. I don’t think we got much physical education, per se, but we did learn the rules of baseball, soccer, and basketball. We had to climb a rope to the ceiling in the gymnasium. I think we had some exposure to gymnastics.

Uniforms were red shorts (I think we had to buy) and a white t-shirt.

I joined the wrestling team and was therefore allowed to opt out of traditional PE.

same here

I’m not sure I understand the rationale behind this exemption. Surely girls shower during menstruation.

I have no recollection of my kids taking PE. They must have, but whatever it was, it left no impression on me. I’ll ask them.

5

Southern California 70 - 73. Uniform was blue gym shorts and white t-shirt. Showering was mandatory. I switched to Athletics almost immediately and rode the bench in Water Polo/Swimming for the rest of my schooling.

6

My 7th grade PE instructor once gave a lecture about not using steroids. It still burns a hole in my memory. I could quote the whole lecture since it was so vivid. Later I found out I was distantly related to his family by blood - so outstanding!

7

Chicago Catholic boys high school 66-70. Gym class consisted of instruction/participation of various sports. I seem to remember some classroom work with a book of rules, but most of the class was either in the gym or outside. The school did not have a football field, just a track area.

I was not particular athletic, so I wasn’t fond of gym class. Oddly enough, I did like gymnastics; I remember liking to spin on the high bar. I also remember one of thr coaches always yelling at me for not being able to do things like pull-ups (I had absolutely no arm strength). At some point during the four years, however, he came to realize that I was doing the best I could. I think it was when we were supposed to run for a full mile, which took me over ten minutes but I refused to give up and kept moving even after everyone else had finished.

8

England, 1990s, and it’s a tale of two halves. For the first 3 years of secondary school we had to do PE once or twice a week, and we rotated through hockey, touch rugby, rounders, basketball and netball, plus table tennis and trampolining (the only one I enjoyed). Boys and girls had to play together, which sucked for the team sports because the boys wouldn’t pass the ball to the vast majority of the girls (understandable, but it was a waste of our time).

Uniform for girls was a navy blue pleated gym skirt with white polo shirt and gym knickers; I think we were allowed sweatshirts when it was very cold, and I remember sneaking my gloves out with me one particularly frosty day in winter. We were supposed to shower afterwards, but since there was no privacy, no one did.

For the last 2 years of secondary school when we were doing GCSEs (I think this would correspond to the first 2 years of high school in America), we could either choose to do GCSE PE, which you would be graded on, or ‘leisure PE’, which was there to fulfil the government requirement that kids do some physical exercise. Since I’m hopeless at sports I chose the latter, and it was actually pretty good. For each block of 6 weeks or so, we got to choose between 2 or 3 activities, so you could usually find something you enjoyed or at least didn’t hate, and these included at some point bowling and roller skating at the nearby alley/rink, which were decidedly fun things to do during a school day.

9

I can only guess it was because of embarrassment or something. Back in those days, few girls that I know of used tampons - I guess it was to spare everyone seeing a used pad - I don’t know.

10

Dad was in the army, so I moved frequently. I attended schools run by the Department of Defense in Germany as well as school in Texas and Colorado. My last year of PE in Texas was 7th grade, as I was always enrolled in Athletics (for football or wrestling) until I graduated.

For elementary school, I remember we had track & field sports, various games like basketball, t-ball, and touch football, including dodge ball, in 4th grade we climbed a rope in the gymnasium and touched the ceiling, there was that odd game where we ran under the parachute, and I remember square dancing at some point.

After 7th grade, I was in Athletics instead of PE, and that’s when I started showering. It never bothered me in the least to do so. In my junior and senior year, wrestling practice started before school, so I had little choice but to shower unless I wanted to show up a sweaty mess to my next class.

11

In elementary and middle school PE was kind of fun even though I was unatheletic. The teacher actually taught us basic sports skills, like how to shoot and pass and dribble a basketball, how to bump and set a volleyball, etc.

In high school PE classes were basically “Pick teams and go play basketball for the rest of the period,” which was not as fun since I was not particularly good at sports. But as long as you made at least a minimal effort to participate it was an easy A.

In middle and high school we had to change clothes, but there was no uniform. You were just supposed to bring a t-shirt and gym shorts from home. We weren’t required to shower.

12

I went to a Catholic elementary school in SoCal through eighth grade (1964). There was no PE, but after we finished eating lunch we could play either basketball or volleyball (we had to play one or the other). We had no gym uniforms – just our school uniforms – so we didn’t exert ourselves too much. No showers at all. I liked volleyball and developed a killer serve.

I only went to one year of junior high, because I switched to public school which was grades 7-9. We had everyday PE and had to wear a one piece coverall-like outfit that had shorts instead of full length pants. Royal blue. We had showers, but I don’t remember jr high. In high school, we also had PE everyday, but we now had blue shorts and white blouses. But the best thing was that our school year was divided into two semesters which were, in turn, divided into four quarters, and every new quarter we changed sports, and we GOT TO PICK WHICH SPORTS WE WANTED TO PLAY. I hated softball, but loved volleyball, tennis, and badminton. We also had golf, but I stunk at it. After I graduated, the school negotiated a deal with the ice rink a block or so away to do ice skating lessons. I wish I could have taken that class.

13

Useless. A month of this and a month of that. (We even had a month of square dancing. Hated by boys and girls alike.) I was short and not athletic, so these were a drag for me. I was pretty good at gymnastics, though, because they were individual. The PE teachers were utter dolts.

I’ve always thought that PE should actually be educational. Actual exercise. Calisthenics. How to stay fit. Proper nutrition. Not dodge ball.

14

There was no gym, no phys ed classes and no sports at my high school.

15

Secondary school in Pakistan, private, Catholic, relatively affluent. Boys only.

Once a week from grade 6-10 we would have a class called Physical Training (PT). Class of 35-50 students was divided into groups based on fitness level and put through paces of running, climbing ropes, jumping jacks, etc.

I was two years younger than most kids in my grade, so even though I was reasonably fit and athletic I was in the third (of four groups) until grade 9. The fourth group was boys who had medical issues of one kind or another.

Early on the PT teacher was an a-hole, liked to use the cane to motivate those he considered to be slacking off. Cane was banned when I was in 8th grade.

Grade 11 & 12 was “Higher Secondary” and no PT. Studying hard for school leaving exams was all that mattered unless you were on the cricket or hockey team. Some boys organized runs around the cricket field.

Grades pre-K to 5 it was just unstructured play. Soccer, field hockey, basketball, tag, all organized by the kids themselves. Some kids (girls mostly) didn’t participate at all, just sat on the steps and talked.

16

Public schools in Anchorage, graduating in 1965. In 7th grade I was bullied mercilessly. Dodgeball was a game of “let’s make the weak kid cry”. Sadistic PE teachers throughout. Gang showers throughout and body shaming. If you were the last one out of the shower, you got a bucket of cold water dumped on you. The 9th grade PE teacher was allowed to hit you with a paddle. The only thing I learned was to loathe bullies and the teachers who allowed it. It led to being so self-conscious that I never dated in high school. What fun.

17

Late 90s early 2000s high school in suburban Chicago. There were multiple options for PE, all of which were coed. There was a generic class where you could play sports in the gym or a strength training class that was recommended for athletes. I did the latter for a couple years and we ran laps for 10 minutes and then did whatever we wanted in the weight room while the teacher played solitaire in his office. The “final exam” for boys was benching your weight for a single rep as proof you did something that year.

I think you could also get credit for PE if you were on a sports team.

Showers were optional. I think it was extremely infrequent that people used them though.

18

Pennsylvania, Catholic high school, mid-1970s.

IIRC, we only had to take PE for 3 years (9th through 11th). We had these stupid 1-piece gym outfits that zipped up the front - shorts/short-sleeves. We had to change into/out of them, but fortunately were never forced to shower. I remember the teacher saying we could but given that the bathrooms were pretty gross, she wasn’t gonna enforce it.

We basically did a variety of activities. Luckily nothing involving lots of running, as I had poorly-controlled asthma and could NOT have done it. I vaguely recall one class where we did square dancing. I was lousy at it, but it was fun.

Grade school, no PE whatsoever. In the mornings we went outside for 15 minutes for recess. At lunchtime we had a half hour. Recess was in the parking lot - no playground or other equipment. We ran around, or maybe played dodgeball or the like. For a few weeks at the end of the year, we were allowed to go down a hill to a park that was right next to the school, which was fun - baseball diamond (for kickball), some playground equipment, etc.

19

There’s been some big changes to how PE is taught in some places that address those very concerns. In 7th grade, I remember going over the rules for common sports like basketball and learning how to dribble, shoot baskets, and pass the ball. We even had a written test.

20

Grade school there was volleyball, the rope, etc.
Middle school, the horse, uneven bars, the balance beam.
High school, swimming, archery, instead of volleyball it was a green rubber donut thing.
I remember going in the shower and wetting my arms and legs.
I couldn’t swim, so had an unusual number of “periods” to get out of it.
All I recall is white button tops and navy blue shorts.