# Why did (do) some students refuse to participate in gym class? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 31, 2010, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-do-some-students-refuse-to-participate-in-gym-class/565926 "2010-12-31T07:23:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 68
**Author:** ![InterestedObserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@InterestedObserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InterestedObserver)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-do-some-students-refuse-to-participate-in-gym-class/565926/68 "2010-12-31T23:33:12Z")
I was one who virtually never dressed out for or participated in gym during Jr. High. Why? It was a stupid waste of time…running around in circles and doing idiotic drills…and I had zero interest in it. Had we been maybe going outside and playing soccer or even allowed to just play a game of basketball instead of doing insipid DRILLS, I would SOOO have been up for it. FTR, I felt the same about ALL my classes and pretty much “sat them out” as well (failing the 7th grade altogether). I went on to spend a yr in a religious school (as parental punishment) where I “worked at my own pace” (meaning I did nothing) and to drop out at age 16. At 18, I went and took the test and got my GED. A few yrs later, I went to college and graduated with a 4.0 gpa. I’m currently back in school working on my second degree and carrying a 3.85 last I checked. In between, had 2 successful careers, owned 2 small businesses, had 2 kids, and generally did OK in life. So why did I protest gym by refusing to dress out? Because it was stupid, boring, an insult to my intelligence AND the uniform was this polyester, navy blue striped monstrosity I couldn’t STAND! 😛 The rest of school was everything BUT the bad uniform (oh, except the religious school, which also had one of those). --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-do-some-students-refuse-to-participate-in-gym-class/565926)._