Comments about ‘P.E. class — Fitness gets personal’

So, now we need a system that adjusts academic expectations to a student's IQ. That way, the "slower" students could still get A's. Sounds like something a democrat would come up with.

This is a great idea; students will be a lot more inclined to become and stay fit through life. I wish they had done this when I was a kid.

Actually this is a great system. It helps those kids who are not athletically inclined succeed in P.E. They can become more aware of a healthy lifestyle. Guess what? Not all kids enjoy running around and getting sweaty. Staying in the heart rate target zone doesn't mean you have to be sweaty, and for overweight teenagers (or adults) staying in the heart rate target zone means burning fat not muscle or sugar. They can lose weight and become more physically fit.

And by the way "Level Playing Field" Leveling the playing field has already been done. It's called RESOURCE. This is where the "slower" kids get extra help and yes, most get A's.

I've been running for 35 years, including four marathons, and I've enjoyed it because I'm competing against myself instead of against others. If I run a race, I'm racing against myself to see if I can beat my previous "personal best". I think this new PE system is great because it grades the person against himself or herself rather than against the "jocks". This type of PE class is for individual improvement rather than for training students to be on varsity teams.

Level playing field, our academic systems are set up to train people to be on "varsity" teams, so to speak, and thus the students are graded against each other. Some people may want PE classes to be graded that way, but I think it is best that PE classes be geared to each individual. School athletic teams serve the purpose of having students compete against each other to make the teams.

What a bunch of garbage! Schools should never have been given the responsibility to keep kids fit. Personalized technology doesn't take away the embarassment for kids who aren't athleticly gifted. It's a silly excuse to spend more money. Grades in school should be wholly based on academics--reading, writing, math, etc.

I'm really on the fence with this. Fitness is DEFINITELY something that needs a higher priority in school ciricula, and I support anything that helps with that goal. On the other hand . . .

Gym class teaches kids, and particularly males, some tough lessons about heirarchy and social interactions. Lessons about life not being fair; about the arbitrary use of power. About how sometimes, for better or worse, "might makes right". Gym class provides instruction about social survival, in a way. That's not the class's stated purpose, but the psychological lessons I learned fighting my way through junior high gym have stuck with me, and helped me not take it personally when life isn't "fair".

Perhaps I'm too philosophical about this. Perhaps it's just about fitness and nothing more. But I worry that this is one more forum in which proving one's worth in competition against an opponent will no longer be required. Especially the kids who would normally shy away from such competition need the battle of Old School Gym.

"Squat thrusts--10 of them--ready--begin!!"

The heart rate monitors could have been a good idea if they actually worked! I am an "athletic student" and get very frustrated in gym because the heart rate monitor is inconsistent. When I am running, my heart rate all of a sudden will go from 170 to 55. When this happens, I start sprinting and it still doesn't go up. Sometimes, it even goes further down. We get graded for how long we are in zone, and if we are below 150, then we get points docked off our grade. So when I am running as hard as I can, my grade lowers, because my monitor isn't working. Then the only way I can make this up is to come in early before school and run again. A lot of my friends have also complained about this problem, so I know it is not just me. Also, they are very uncomfortable because, you have to wear them tight or else they don't work. I don't agreed that spending that much money on heart monitors was worth it. I would hate to see other schools waste money on them.

I think adding fitness technology to the P.E. class does level the playing for all students, athletic or not. Watches are worn during aerobic activities and most students are encouraged, because now they are the responsible party to keep their heart rates up, where as before the teacher was always pushing, demanding, and many times yelling at the students to go faster; including the over weight student who probably should have been going at a slower pace. Most students learn over a period of time to self manage their fitness. This is important for future health development: self management. Yes, there are technical problems that occur when using computers and most teachers and students work beyond the problems and continue to improve upon the classroom results; to be more fit, more educated towards personal fitness, and develop a life-long desire for health awareness.