Today...

[Star.]

Oh, we've never played dodgeball in our p.e lessons. It was its less-fun-but-more-safe brother Benchball which we played.

[Randox]

I was actually specifically thinking of this.

For years now, schools across the country have been banning contact and chase games -- tag, touch football, anything like that, because someone could get hurt. A school in Toronto recently banned balls. Clearly they don't have balls to begin with, but they also banned basketballs, volleyballs, soccer balls and anything that's not made of Nerf, because a parent was hit in the head by a soccer ball and it was so hard it made everyone within 10 miles retarded.

 

For the schools that aren't banning tag because it promotes violence and might hurt someone, many schools across north america are getting rid of recess and any other recreation to make more time for classes, under the No Child Left Behind philosophy (that also dictates that students can't be given a failing grade apparently).

 

As I've said before. I'm pretty sure that when people look back at this time in history, it will be our education (at least in North America) that stands out as the craziest thing we were doing at the time, and hopefully people will be marveling at how we ever made it out of this hole we are digging.

[MuffinMaddy]

Oh, we've never played dodgeball in our p.e lessons. It was its less-fun-but-more-safe brother Benchball which we played.

Benchball :wub:

 

Really sad start to the day. One of the teachers I really admire had a breakdown. He teaches 22 lessons a week, while the head of his department only teaches 8. He's the only teacher in the science department that I see that truly loves his job and that he essentially carries that department. He's the biggest legend.

In addition, he's made thousands of teaching resources and cares a ridiculous amount about students he both teaches and the ones he doesn't teach.

He's been my biggest defence in my situation, and today he tried to bravely start the lesson with a smile and an experiment. But through the explanation, he just broke down and cried. It was the saddest thing... he swore quickly, walked out and had a few heavy sobs in the corridor, at which point we knew he was going to go home. We wrote him a note as a class, wishing for him to feel better soon with a quick Chemistry joke to lighten spirits, and then signed off. Head of science came in and dismissed us, because she didn't think he'd be coming back. He's been so professional about everything, but this really was waiting to happen; he's overworked and under appreciated. He muttered that if he went home, he might not come back, and said "Wouldnt it be funny if your teacher had a nervous breakdown" in an attempt to try and make a joke out of it, and keep trudging on. We were about to do his favourite practical, but it's just as well that he stopped and took time out to care for himself. He went home early, but we don't know if he'll get the note. I've emailed him just in case, though. Really sad stuff.

[Vezon Dash]

It sounds like you go to a shitty school.

[Star.]

Yeah, your school sounds like total crap from what you've been posting. But then again, in England there's always that one crap school in your area which you vehemently avoid.

[MuffinMaddy]

It sounds like you go to a shitty school.

And the worst part is, I agree with you. 2 years ago, I'd have defended it, but it actually has gone to crap.

The headteacher is leaving this year, it's my final year too thankfully, but everything has literally gone downhill as I've gotten older.

I should have moved when I had the chance, but my laziness stopped me applying anywhere else.

My friends and 2 teachers (one of which is this one who's had a breakdown) and the other who just came back from maternity leave are the only people I like left.

All the wonderful ones that taught me over the time have all left. I will miss nobody when I leave, apart from the new friends I made in the year below.

Yeah, your school sounds like total crap from what you've been posting. But then again, in England there's always that one crap school in your area which you vehemently avoid.

Yeah, and on the outside, it's all like this girls' school with cute little uniforms and performs very highly academically, with 93% good passes in exams and crazy statistics. In the ranks, sure, it's great but seriously on the common sense things, it has performed very poorly indeed.

 

Yesterday evening I heard him mutter "I work with a bunch of idiots" I don't know what had happened, but he then kicked the door, and he clearly doesn't get along with many of the people involved. He said he nearly beat up one of the teachers that was accusing me, but restrained himself. I dont want him to do anything that he would lose his job for, and especially not because of a situation involving me, but I honestly don't think he would care, he's been at breaking point for a while, and if he left, everybody would almost definitely fail Chemistry. He's got too big a heart to be working with such stupid people.

[Kaida23]

Dodgeball is awesome and I don't know a single person who had anything against it

Clearly you were never one of the unpopular people during gym class. :P

 

Seriously though, banning balls from school? What, exactly, are kids supposed to play with? How are they supposed to learn teamwork skills if there are no sports? (and no, running (distance dash, cross-country, etc..) is not a "team" sport) How are they supposed to learn to take risks in life if all chances of failure are taken away?

 

Like they said in Transmetropolitan: "It is not American to swaddle you in cotton from cradle to grave." Kids need to learn to take chances, to balance risk versus reward, to know the feeling of success when you win and how to deal with the disappointment of losing. Once they leave school and enter the workforce, no one is going to pat them on the head and give them hugs when they screw up.

[Bonez899]

I can't believe that such bans exist in schools. Basically all the sports I do/used to enjoy down the drain, and banning balls from school. It is insane to think that, basically nulifying gym class all together.

[Tim]

I just woke up. It's 1.20PM.

 

normally my body clock never lets me sleep past 10am.

[decebal]

If I can't throw a baseball around, I'll just start throwing the baseball bat. No rules against that.

[TTanT]

Dodgeball is awesome and I don't know a single person who had anything against it

Clearly you were never one of the unpopular people during gym class. :P

 

 

I was and I still loved it. I was that [wagon] who would go into the no-man's land in the center and pretend to be on the other team, and then hit their best throwers from behind.

 

...Maybe those tactics were part of why I was so unpopular, now that I think about it.

[Randox]

I rode the tail of crazy awesome gym classes, especially in Elementry. The gym teacher I had from preschool through grade 4 was amazing. In grade 1 (the only thing I can remember about preschool gym was that he was the teacher) the highlight were these little square platforms with coaster wheels, and we'd run around the gym and ride them, or push each other on them. There was also of course the legendary parachute, which is a lot more fun when your little. That school also had a fantastic playground with a few slides and an epic swing set. I had him again for at least the next couple years at a different school, which had a really nice gym that had gymnastic equipment bolted to the walls that could fold out, and 4 giant rope swings which were particularly awesome. It was just great having a teacher who was great with kids, and loved his job.

 

Then in grade 4 or 5 we got the non stop talker who routinely spent half our 30 minute gym classes talking to us (one of the very few times I have gotten in trouble was for timing how long he talked). My teacher made the comment to my mother once that it was the first time she had ever had a class that didn't want to go to gym class. His incessant talking totally sucked the joy out of it. After that, until highschool I had your more run of the mill gym teachers. Not terrible, but not amazing either. Gym was fun, though probably mostly due to not being work. While I never again got that feeling of walking into the gym and seeing the actualy gym gear out and realizing that it was going to be an awesome day, junior high was really good with the track and field stuff. High school also had it's high points. I do like badminton, and I also like pillow polo (big foam sticks to whack a ball around). We also played tag more than once because my class was awesome like that.

 

Meanwhile, new schools were no longer allowed to put in swings, I'm sure my elementary has lost, or at least been forbade to use, most of the gymnasium equipment. No word on them banning cheerleading yet, which hits me as odd because much like any other form of gymnastics, getting seriously hurt is inevitable.

 

Also is your school not determined by location in Europe?

 

 

On a much lighter note, I was looking through the book How to do Everything by Red Green, and I got to the back and found something I had totally forgotten about. I hope at least most of you know the Man's Prayer. Red Green (Steve Smith) also wrote The Handyman's Prayer: (just in case anyone though Scott Adams was my only hero)

 

O Heavenly Father, be with me this day,

For I am sore afraid that I will hurt myself again.

Let Thy hand guide the hammer towards the nail and

away from my thumb.

 

Grant me the wisdom to wear safety glasses.

Give me the patience to measure twice and cut once - or

measure at all.

 

Let the saw blade always be somewhere in the vicinity

of the line.

 

Bless my drill bit with sharpness so that it will bite into

the surface rather than dance across the countertop

and fall into the sawdust bin with me close behind.

 

Let me show restraint when using my nail gun.

Give me the maturity to put screws in with a screwdriver,

not a hammer.

 

Grant me the courage to change the things I can, accept

the things I can't and the good fortune of my wife

not realizing I can't tell the difference.

 

Thank you, Lord, for helping my rec room look better

by creating dimmers.

 

Thank you, Lord, for safety chains and fire extinguishers.

Thank you, Lord, for all that stuff and hear us when we

pray...

 

 

Our Father, who art a craftsman,

Perfectionist be thy name.

Thy power tools hum,

They walls are plumb,

Upstairs

As they are in the basement.

Give us this day

A utility shed,

And forgive us our borrowed tools

As we forgive those who borrow tools from us.

And lead us not into renovation,

But deliver us from moving.

For thine is the hammer

And the Skilsaw

And the duct tape,

Forever.

[jasignhagj]

I hate(d) highschool gym. I'd much rather have room for an extra real class in my schedule.

[Riku3220]

Elementary school gym was alright. We had a rock wall that only rose 7 feet off of the floor but we had to climb sideways which was decently long.

 

Middle school and Jr. high gym was a blast. We mostly played Flicker Football which is a no contact American football where the team in possession would try to get the ball to the other end of the gym. The person holding the ball can't move and if the ball touches the ground the other team gets possession. My job was to knock the ball out of the air so our team could get possession since I had longer arms than most anybody else. The only bad times were when one of the teachers was out for some reason and the boys and girls had to come together and the only game we'd play was volleyball. The girls completely stomped us in volleyball because that's all they ever played and we never played it unless we were stuck having gym with the girls.

 

I didn't have to take gym in high school because marching band gave gym credit.

[Tesset]

To be fair, my schools had dodgeball banned. We played matball instead, which equated to one of two games depending on who your teacher was: kickball or dodgeball, but both played with foam balls instead. So it's not like the "ban" is unworkable.

 

But, yeah, highschool PE was terrible. Middle school was pretty awful too. We literally got banned one year in middle school from using the locker rooms for like 2 weeks, so we had to do PE in our street clothes. It sucked.

[Riku3220]

To be fair, my schools had dodgeball banned. We played matball instead, which equated to one of two games depending on who your teacher was: kickball or dodgeball, but both played with foam balls instead. So it's not like the "ban" is unworkable.

 

But, yeah, highschool PE was terrible. Middle school was pretty awful too. We literally got banned one year in middle school from using the locker rooms for like 2 weeks, so we had to do PE in our street clothes. It sucked.

 

We played dodgeball with foam balls, but how do you play kickball with foam balls? You can't really kick them that far...

[Tesset]

To be fair, my schools had dodgeball banned. We played matball instead, which equated to one of two games depending on who your teacher was: kickball or dodgeball, but both played with foam balls instead. So it's not like the "ban" is unworkable.

 

But, yeah, highschool PE was terrible. Middle school was pretty awful too. We literally got banned one year in middle school from using the locker rooms for like 2 weeks, so we had to do PE in our street clothes. It sucked.

 

We played dodgeball with foam balls, but how do you play kickball with foam balls? You can't really kick them that far...

They seemed to work alright for us. You didn't really kick them far, you just kicked them wherever no one was, since if you kicked them far they got caught and you got out. I guess it might have been with a regular kickball - there were some other rules to matball that differentiated it from kickball.

 

Needless to say, I've blocked most of that time out of my memory.

[Randox]

We had rubber inflatable balls. Heavy enough to be useful, but light and soft enough to be harmless. The best were the pink volleyballs.

[jasignhagj]

Dodgeball was one of the better parts of gym. The worst was the fitness center (workout gym). I feel like if I had gym at the end of the day I might have liked it better, but having it first thing was awful.

[Star.]

Fitness was a [bleep] for us too. We had like 30 girls and a few pieces of equipment in a dinky little room though.

 

Our P.E schedule worked on a rota. Usually played sports like hockey, football, netball etc for 4 weeks each and when it rained we went indoors to do benchball/play in that little dinky room.

 

Primary school P.E was epic though. Everyone remember that parachute?

[Randox]

Fitness was a [bleep] for us too. We had like 30 girls and a few pieces of equipment in a dinky little room though.

 

Our P.E schedule worked on a rota. Usually played sports like hockey, football, netball etc for 4 weeks each and when it rained we went indoors to do benchball/play in that little dinky room.

 

Primary school P.E was epic though. Everyone remember that parachute?

Long live the parachute. I think I'd still enjoy playing with it, given an opportunity :lol: One holdover from childhood that should never die.

[Kirschen]

The first thing that came to mind in P.E. in my school days was the fact how ridiculously easy it was to get your fingers injured by those damn scooters. I do remember that parachute though, which was the only team-based activity I truly liked.

 

I also recalled I wasn't allowed to use the bat in any baseball games for one year because of how klutzy I get with the bat. Despite how I only injured someone (minor) only once with a bat hitting their (gym teacher's) knees on accident.

[nine naked men]

Fat kids were actually the biggest (ha ha) reason my school cancelled their P.E. classes. Once you got them moving they just wouldn't stop. It was like that Indiana Jones movie but with a lot more wheezing. Untold amounts of property damage.

[Kirschen]

Fat kids were actually the biggest (ha ha) reason my school cancelled their P.E. classes. Once you got them moving they just wouldn't stop. It was like that Indiana Jones movie but with a lot more wheezing. Untold amounts of property damage.

 

Now I am really curious on the details. Care to indulge in a few specific examples you may recall?

[RpgGamer]

I know many people who've had minor injuries from playing dodgeball...not that it's a good reason to ban it, but it's not completely illogical.

 

One of my good friends shattered his kneecap into three distinct places in high school dodge-ball. We used to go HAM. I don't recall many fat kids in my graduating class of ~280. I'd say maybe 10% of the highschool's entirety my senior year could be classified as fat. Most of us are skinny white folk round these parts of para-Philly. Kids these days simply aren't as active as kids used to be. We all used to eat like animals as kids, but I'll bet a lot of us played in parks, played in community league sports, and rang the doorbell on the neighbor's house to see who could come out and play. Hell riding a bike around town all day wasn't just exorcise it was a friendly adventure! These kids are missing out, and they don't even know it. The result is fatness.

 

Last night I had a work party, set up a pong tournament, yelled at some kids raiding the bar, and then the cops came after some dude started wailing on his wife. Most of it's just a blur, if any more interesting stories pop up on my newsfeed I'll be sure to relay it haha.

 

Going to visit a friend in college today with a couple of my coworkers. Shall be fun.