About PE class

College Majors Music Major
21

<p>Stupid question, but is this in the US or is this in another country? The reason I ask is usually in the US with PE there are exceptions. In NJ you have to take PE all 4 years of high school, but they do make exceptions for kids who do ballet (for obvious reasons), have some sort of physical condition or yes, instrumentalists. Usually variances are allowed, but from what I heard outside the US it may not be so easy, the bureaucrats there are even worse then here…and it is unlikely IME in those cases to get anyone to help, they generally have the attitude rules are rules, if friends of my son’s experiences hold. If it is in the US, lay out the reasons why, and if the head of the school refuses to listen, take it to the school board/supervisor of schools. If that fails, talk to a local elected official in state government, or if you really want to try something, pay a lawyer to draft a letter, that generally scares them a bit (again, this is US)…</p>

<p>If all else fails, when I did PE they usually gave us choices. Soccer can be a lot less risky, though obviously you could fall down, get hit by a ball in the hands (though in soccer, unless you want a penalty, you don’t use your hands except if goalie), could fall and break an arm or wrist, etc. It might be possible to get them agree that your kid does less risky stuff, like maybe work out lightly, do running, things that are non impact. Sports like baseball, basketball, to a certain extent tennis, and the worse, football (though usually football is flag football, but there is still a risk), have risks of getting hurt, especially the hands. If there are less risky alternatives, go with that.</p>

<p>And yes, I have been through it, in middle school my S’s school required sports participation and he decided on football, and ended up with a near break of his upper arm (thankfully, not in the growth region), thanks to a moron coach who broke quite a few rules (he came close to experiencing a 34 oz baseball bat, having played football, I know what he did was stupid and thoughtless, and how he handled the injury was unforgivable, my wife threatened to have me sedated I was so furious)…it turned out okay, meant he couldn’t play for a couple of months, but anything you can do to avoid risk, do it.</p>

22

<p>I think it must be regional. I live in a state adjacent to NJ and public school kids are not exempted from PE if they do ballet (even if they do ballet intensively.) When I inquired about this, I had a daughter who was highly involved in an acrobatics company. I was told that unless her “instructor” were certified for high school PE in our state, she could not be exempt from PE class. </p>

<p>A medical note might do the trick, but playing violin (or whatever the OP’s daughter plays) is not generally considered to be a medical condition. Maybe it should be, but that’s another thread. ;)</p>

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<p>In NJ it is up to the school district and school, state law is 4 years of PE, but I know a couple of folks with kids who were serious ballet students (talking SAB level), who got a bye because of the level of intensity of their training. Nope, playing an instrument isn’t a medical condition, but some districts will accomodate requests in terms of what the kid does in PE, they will take it easy if asked, in terms of what the kid has to do. I have heard the same thing with kids who were seriously doing sports like hockey and gymnastics as well, but it is at a school by school level, and varies, and it could take some work to make them listen.</p>

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<p>During my son’s last year of high school in NY, the PE rules changed so that even kids who played varsity sports still had to take PE. The high school gym teachers did allow the kids to choose from a slate of activities including walking around the track for the gym period instead of participating in contact sports. It might be worth a call to the principal and PE department at school to see if they would authorize non contact activities.</p>

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<p>One thing frustrating about the US educational system is that there are so many variations, both by state and school district. I’m not even talking about the egregious differences between the quality of education at adjoining districts, but just the differences in rules and requirements.</p>

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<p>GH-
Yeah, I hear you. The US is probably one of the few countries in the world where education is considered a ‘local issue’, and where ‘local control of schools’ is one of these hot button topics. If you look at the country as a whole, you go from the stunning (school districts like Scarsdale, NJ,Mendham NJ, Chevy Chase, Maryland and the like) that produce these incredible results (not surprisingly, these are all well off areas, as well, with high tax bases and kids who have well educated parents and such) to districts that can barely afford to teach the 3Rs…Ironies abound, people talk about how bad the NYC schools are, and there is truth to that, but it also has some of the best public schools in the country dealing with high end learners; meanwhile, the area I live in, that is reputedly one of the wealthiest counties in the country, basically does zero for high end students, there is basically nothing for them (one district, that used to have a superb G and T program, dropped it because of cost constraints, and then spent some ridiculous amount on its sports fields and facilities, where the debt payments would be more than the cost of the G and T program; my own high school district tried to float a 20 million dollar bond to redo the athletic facilities in style, while likewise cutting back on academics)…</p>

<p>The same schools that will go out of their way to accommodate serious athletic students (kids doing tennis at a competitive level, hocket, you name it) will not make allowances for serious music kids doing competitions and such… </p>

<p>It gets even more insane when it comes to funding school, NJ, like many places, funds them from local property taxes, and it is the most expensive part of the bill (somewhere around 65-70% is schools), then people get upset when their property tax bills climb. People who live in counties where they fund at a county level, and there are poor school districts in it (like towns in Essex county in Newark) get slammed with huge tax bills in the towns with ratable properties, because Newark is pretty poor, and so forth…yet when people suggest paying for it by replacing property taxes and do it via income taxes, that is much more broad based, where people don’t get slammed with property taxes, you suddenly have the same people complaining about property taxes crying ‘it will get rid of local control’… <em>end of rant, sorry to derail this</em>.</p>

<p>All I can tell people is that when you run into things like this, the only way to get anything done is to make it clear you won’t go away, and use the resources you have. Among other things, school districts are afraid of lawsuits, and sometimes paying a lawyer the fee to write a letter can do magic.</p>

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<p>Sorry to derail this new direction of the conversation…but I have been following this discussion and have 2 comments:</p>

<p>1) It is really sad that PE is now “bad”. How many times during my long work days do I wish someone would just say “Stop what you are doing, it’s time for your walk!” I would say we need PE more than ever, but definitely agree we should pick our own sports.</p>

<p>2) Life is ironic. Just because you don’t have PE, is no guarantee you won’t get hurt. I am reminded of the time I helped to chaperone a group of youngsters on an overnight trip. I was in charge of first aid, and imagining all the ways they could get themselves into trouble, I prepared a comprehensive kit. Fortunately, only three Band-Aids were used, all of them by me.</p>

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<p>Music print, I just wanted to add a hallelujah to your comment…as a transplant from another country, the unevenness of curriculum and funding is mind-blowing to me but most folks think I’m a heretic when I say such things…so it was nice to hear someone else say it :)</p>

<p>Claren8, I for one never thought PE was bad…and I doubt the original poster did either. I know in our case, it was more a matter of finding out at the 11th hour that the prior three years of counseling and attention to curricular requirements could suddenly “change” due to politics. Or that students would be forced to choose between taking music and PE due to scheduling. Or that PE might involve questionable activity (bowling, really?) instead of an actual focus on individual fitness.</p>

<p>As a brass student, for example, it would have been particularly useful to have had access to a gym with routines to expand VO2max capacity :)</p>

<p>But a lot of PE classes just seem to turn the kids loose to play dodgeball and not really operate like an instructional environment. Team building can be valuable but most music students in band and orchestra have already learned that. In the greater scheme if things, its just riddiculous for a senior to have to put in a new requirement that’s both unrelated to their educational plan and which carries risk for their avocation. It would make a lot more sense to allow the student to pursue an individual fitness plan to meet the requirement in those circumstances.</p>

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<p>I am not against PE, I think kids need time away from the desks and such,and there are plenty of ways to get exercise where the risk of getting hurt is lessened (for example, gymnastics tends to be something that can cause injury to the wrong areas, pulled muscles, and so forth. Yeah, a lot of things cause injury in life, but if risk can be toned down, then it may be worth it. If it is a concern to the parent, then the PE department should work with them to achieve the goals and keep down the risk IMO. As a parent of a serious music student, I also would be concerned about skiing or playing tackle football, less so about soccer or running, but it is up to each parent to decide that.</p>

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<p>^LOL re soccer…European style soccer, as it turns out, can be fraught with injury :)</p>

<p>Mcson was in Germany several years ago with a touring wind ensemble and had the brilliant notion to play soccer with the locals.</p>

<p>His knee and shin were so badly injured in a collision that it was black and swollen to twice its size still when he got off the plane home. He got through the last concert okay, although in pain, and marveled at his luck that it wasn’t his hand or his ribs (trumpet player) :)</p>

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<p>We used to play something called floor hockey, the gym teachers I swear used to lock us in the gym and let us kill each other <em>lol</em>… then again, being the klutz I can be, even walking around the track may be difficult.</p>

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<p>Yes, my son and I are very genetically related when it comes to the klutz gene ;)</p>

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<p>One of my kids went to a performing arts magnet school for a few years. There, gym consisted of cup-stacking and writing papers.</p>

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<p>I think this is number 84 on my 1000 reasons I homeschool…;D</p>

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<p>Our HS provided many ways to fulfill the PE requirement: team sports, marching band, dance classes, summer school, “fitness” (working out at the gym), credit for out of school sports (minimum 10 hours a week). I’m surprised that other districts don’t do the same. If my kids had had to take 4 years of PE - they never would have graduated. As it was, my D had to take summer school PE, and Texas only required 3 semesters of PE.</p>