created by ShockingHair63 on 04/02/2025 at 22:35 UTC
23 upvotes, 32 top-level comments (showing 25)
I taught gym, and noticed a decline in fitness, more excuses not to participate or wear correct kit, and no ambition from schools to resist this. In the 80s when I started teaching, everyone would have to have a go, and dress appropriately, even if it meant stepping out their comfort zones.
Comment by AutoModerator at 04/02/2025 at 22:35 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
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Comment by hushpuppy212 at 04/02/2025 at 22:47 UTC*
86 upvotes, 3 direct replies
I always got Cs in gym class, a real klutz.
Then, in 10th grade I had a gym teacher who sat us down on Day 1 and told us he was grading us on EFFORT, not ability, saying it was impossible to choose your parents. So, even if you were like me, and completely without any athletic ability, if you busted your butt every day, you’d get an A.
I decided to take him up on his promise and I gave 100% every day, fully convinced I’d be in his office in June, arguing my inevitable C.
On the last day of the term, sure enough I got my A (my dad even turned over the report card to make sure it was mine).
I wish I could say that class gave me a lifelong love of athletics (it didn’t) but it did teach me the importance of giving it your all in whatever you undertake.
I don’t remember what I had for dinner last night, but, 52 years later, I still remember Mr. Weiss.
Comment by thewoodsiswatching at 04/02/2025 at 22:37 UTC
49 upvotes, 3 direct replies
Having a big budget for the art classes in middle school and high school. I keep reading how many schools don't even have art class any longer. But they sure as hell have a budget for sports, every single year. Hmmm.
Comment by aethelberga at 04/02/2025 at 22:51 UTC
36 upvotes, 4 direct replies
Teaching kids to read using phonics. I'm not sure why this has fallen out of fashion. And mandatory reading in general.
Comment by QuesoDelDiablos at 04/02/2025 at 22:39 UTC
66 upvotes, 2 direct replies
Leave you back if you can’t pass your tests.
Comment by Unable_Technology935 at 04/02/2025 at 23:01 UTC
24 upvotes, 2 direct replies
I read the teachers sub on occasion. The lack of any discipline is appalling. I was far from a model student, however I knew their was a line never to be crossed.( Threatening a teacher, putting my hands on a teacher, swearing at a teacher). I shudder to think about what would have happened to me for getting thrown out of school.
Comment by mitch3498 at 04/02/2025 at 23:09 UTC
18 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I think the parent teacher student relationship needs fixing. Parents should meet with teachers to discuss feedback and concerns in a two way street. However, they shouldn't be terrorist Karen, Kevins...and no MAGA neonnazi sisterfuckers who think world is flat allowed to bully and neuter the direction of the school.
Testing, assignments are checkpoints and students should be measured. None of the show up and get pushed up the grades no matter how crappy they are.
Down time from iphones, ipads. They didn't even exist before. We had computers but those were for research, typing, programing. Not constant social media.
Comment by Loisgrand6 at 04/02/2025 at 23:47 UTC
15 upvotes, 2 direct replies
I agree with most of the comments and I’d add making sure students can use proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
Comment by Caspers_Shadow at 04/02/2025 at 22:54 UTC
12 upvotes, 2 direct replies
Physical education for sure. I would add shop classes, home economics, art and music. Shop and home economics is a great way for kids to learn real life skills. Art and music have been shown to exercise different parts of the brain.
Comment by meekonesfade at 04/02/2025 at 23:06 UTC
12 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Moving more misbaved kids to special settings. More trade schools. More after school programs.
Comment by PahzTakesPhotos at 05/02/2025 at 00:36 UTC
11 upvotes, 3 direct replies
Our high school required a semester class called "U.S. Government" to graduate. You didn't take it or pass it, you didn't graduate. It was all about the Constitution and the amendments. It explained what they meant, when they were added, the whole thing.
I wish they'd require that again. Or at least make kids watch the "How a bill becomes a law" thing we used to see on Saturday mornings between cartoons.
Comment by sretep66 at 05/02/2025 at 00:56 UTC
12 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Bring back civics in high school. Too many kids today don't understand the Constitution, how laws are made, the 3 branches of government, etc.
Comment by Frequent_Skill5723 at 05/02/2025 at 00:08 UTC
8 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I was lucky, I went to a Dewey school in the 60's and 70's, grades 1 through 9. It was a rich kid's private school. It was the best school experience I could have wished for as a child. They let us kids get together and develop our own study plans, basically. If you liked reading, they'd just turn you loose, they had a huge, fantastic library. Math and Science kids got their own classrooms and labs. It was a blast, every day.
Comment by wtwtcgw at 05/02/2025 at 01:30 UTC
7 upvotes, 1 direct replies
I was never very good at sports and remember that gym classes seemed to be designed for jocks. We'd spend a week or two at each sport and then move on to something different. The jocks did well at nearly everything. The rest of us just tried to be invisible. There was never an opportunity to practice and improve.
And then there was dodge ball week which seemed to bring out the prison guard sadists.
I wish that gym classes had offered a year long program to encourage lifetime fitness for average people like me instead.
Comment by JackarooDeva at 05/02/2025 at 04:16 UTC
8 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Some people are saying gym/physical education. But I never got the slightest actual physical education in PE class. I'm talking about basic form, how exactly to move the limbs in stuff like kicking and throwing. Instead they just had us play different sports as well or as badly as we already knew how to play. It was like if math class just had a test every day without ever teaching math.
Comment by JellyPatient2038 at 05/02/2025 at 01:17 UTC
6 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Some children should get left behind.
Comment by RonSwansonsOldMan at 05/02/2025 at 03:16 UTC
6 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I would NOT bring back that damned rope in gym class.
Comment by devilscabinet at 05/02/2025 at 03:43 UTC
5 upvotes, 0 direct replies
No offense, but I really hated gym. A big part of that is due to the types of people that often teach it. I had one or two decent ones, but the bulk of them looked down on the less athletic kids, and tended to use the shouting method to try to get people to try harder. I really dislike yelling, even if it is intended to be "motivating," and I really hated having to take a public shower in the middle of the day. It was just unpleasant all around.
I am also not a fan of sports in schools. I know they have been around a long time, but the focus on them reached ridiculous levels long ago. They should be after-school activities that don't pull kids out of academic classes and don't suck out money that could be used for academics.
There are reading (phonics) and older math teaching methods that worked much better than what we have seen in the last couple of decades. I would go back to those. Quit trying out the "flavor of the year" method and stick to what has been proven to work.
The biggest overall problem, though, is parents. There are the ones who are overly aggressive with teachers, but there are more that simply don't encourage their kids to do well in school. When the parents don't value education, the kids won't, either.
Comment by SadPrometheus at 04/02/2025 at 23:07 UTC
9 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Memorize basic arithmetic operations like multiplication.
It is so handy to just be able to multiply or divide numbers in your head when doing some basic calculations. Also it's much, much faster than having to use a calculator / phone to type in every operation.
When multiplication becomes trivial you can concentrate on the actual problem solving.
Comment by msmicro at 04/02/2025 at 22:50 UTC
4 upvotes, 0 direct replies
In high school I learned how to do taxes, at least enough to do mom and dads. Home economics was an important class too as well as shop. at least now the girls could take shop.
Comment by Sufficient-Union-456 at 04/02/2025 at 23:36 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Mandatory phys education K-12, mandatory art k-8, mandatory music k-8.
Comment by Rlyoldman at 04/02/2025 at 23:00 UTC
6 upvotes, 1 direct replies
I was into academics. Not sports. I’m probably the only kid to ever fail PE. The coach used us for the defensive line for his offensive football team. I was 5’8”/130. Not for me. I just refused to not dress out and sat in the bleachers reading.
Comment by MikkijiTM1 at 05/02/2025 at 00:38 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
When I started teaching in 1976, there was no such a thing as a "Comfort Zone"!
Comment by [deleted] at 05/02/2025 at 05:56 UTC
2 upvotes, 1 direct replies
[deleted]
Comment by murphydcat at 05/02/2025 at 14:31 UTC
2 upvotes, 1 direct replies
My university required a swim test for graduation. If you couldn't swim, you were automatically enrolled in swim lessons.
The requirement was eliminated in 2015.