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An issue that occurred to me as obvious at the time: all my secondary school classes were streamed by ability, except PE. I hated PE, because it invariably mean
by jdietrich 8y ago
An issue that occurred to me as obvious at the time: all my secondary school classes were streamed by ability, except PE. I hated PE, because it invariably meant getting tackled to the ground or attacked with hockey sticks by boys twice my size. Nobody is in physical danger if they're bad at arithmetic, but I saw several boys get carted off the games field by ambulance after getting knocked out by a high tackle or a bouncer.
One particularly kind-hearted PE teacher had the (rather obvious) idea of sending the wheezies, fatties and wimps to the sports hall to play badminton and table tennis, while the rest of the class went off to the games field to play rugby. It was a revelation. I wasn't cold, I wasn't wet, nobody was trying to knock my teeth out, everyone else was equally bad - I was loath to admit it, but it was almost fun.
- colordrops 8y agoWait, your school required you to play contact sports? Even in the late 80s when I went to school, contact sports were varsity and you had to try out to even get a chance to play.
- paulhart 8y agoGiven the mentions of rugby and "a bouncer" (i.e. Cricket), it sounds like GP had a British (or adjacent) education, and I can also attest that these sports were initially mandatory at my school (equivalent of grades 6-8).
- 0db532a0 8y agoGrowing up in England, I played rugby and cricket from primary (elementary) school onwards.
- fyfy18 8y agoRugby was the worse. The season is during the cold months of the year, so you were basically guaranteed to end up cold, wet and muddy. I would have preferred to play hockey, but at my school that was for girls only. This was at secondary school (11 - 16). At my primary school (until age 11) we didn't have showers so the sports were more tame.
- NeedMoreTea 8y agoBe careful what you wish for. :) From age 11 on, also in the UK, we played rugby league, football (soccer), cricket, and hockey. Hockey was the only one that played some games boys vs girls. Mixed hockey seemed by far the most dangerous of the sports - for the boys! Junior was cricket, footie and the inevitable rounders.