Published on 12, July, 2020
I'm just watching this Yo Samdy Sam video and already noticing (in spite of her posh, private school education - privilege alert!) that many of the teachers' observations are almost exaclty the same as on my own. Almost eerily, in fact, although I went to a very rough comprehensive in the North East of England. My reports were, on the face of it, rather good, but there are some little asides which indicate constant high levels of anxiety combined with my supposed "giftedness" (I was actually terrified into appearing "gifted", I now think). When I look back, I'm getting more of a feeling of, "My goodness - what did they do to me?" Very interesting, I think, And I'll probably reflect some more on this as I watch the rest. My "giftedness" didn't exactly carry over into most of the workplaces I got myself trapped in and I then experienced decades of anxiety and fairly poor mental health. So... and if you care to share, how was it for you? www.youtube.com/watch
One more rant about something that probably applied to most of us, and may apply to our kids.Physical education, at least in Australia, doesn't seem very modern, and it sounds like the UK may not have advanced much in this area either. I would have thought that PE teachers would be trained to meet the needs of a range of children and that their skills would encompass a bit of physiotherapy, proprioception etc (I may not know all the technical terms) and they would have ideas for fun activities for kids who are either reluctant or physically challenged in some way or both. Well surely they are trained, but perhaps when it comes to the real life situation they don't do it. It's just such a missed opportunity - because physical fitness can help a lot with self-esteem, anxiety and autism as well obviously it would help with many conditions. I would have been quite happy to be in a separate stream for PE - like a fun fitness kind of thing as opposed to competitive sport. Though it's not compulsory beyond year 9 now over here, something my eldest is happy about.PS: I just realised I should have watched the video! Will watch later
Absolutely! Ours seemed trained to blame and shame, thus installing a lifelong hatred and resentment of PE and PE teachers! And yes, I know that there were at least some good ones there but meeting children's needs seemed to be last on the agenda and even the good teachers were trapped in a very unhealthy, damaging system. And yes, a bit of knowledge about proprioception/interoception, physio and occupational therapy would have gone a long way, particularly if those teachers could signpost and refer on as needed. I'd have loved to have some choice about what we did in PE too. It was all cross country runs, netball, hockey etc when I wanted to do dance, gymnastics and yoga. My sons would have liked to do yoga and tai chi but got lots of football forced onto them. So basically it was all team based, competitive stuff which resulted in a bad atmosphere and lots of shouting and swearing at those who either didn't conform or were perceived to let the team down. Whereas in fact they let us down!
Sounds like comment on my reports about PE. I was also the last to be chosen for teams
Blimey! I wonder what he told the parents!
I had a PE teacher, who was also a semi-professional rugby player, who broke a lad's arm, a schoolkid, in a rugby game at school.
Ah, the Grimleys! Funny but this bit is too real and actually not too over the top for a 70s PE teacher.
Dyspraxia wouldn’t have been an excuse. I just had no coordination, still haven’t. The saying was that if you can’t teach, teach PE. Some PE teachers should have been put into asylums.
That was funny but also quite tragically true to life. That whistle was an instrument of torture
I hated every second of PE. The best any of my PE teachers could say about me on my reports was "tries hard". I did try but I don't think I ever managed to catch or hit the ball during my entire school years.
I was always last to be picked when the other kids were choosing teams. They'd rather be one person down than have me on their team. The only time I was ever briefly popular in PE lessons was one time on the hockey pitch, when I ran into the PE teacher and knocked her over
watch this, it’s actually too similar to PE at my secondary school. I can honestly say that I hated every single moment of it. Spot the autistic boy in the clip!
https://youtu.be/l4FZ4Yz2nA8
Yes. Not exactly the best idea to let loads of teenagers loose with weapons and and rules that were barely understood.
Exactly! Those sticks were dangerous! This is why I kept vigilantly well away from the action!
I was hit in the ear by a hockey stick once - because I walked right behind someone as she swung - i.e. technically my fault but I think that sort of incident was related to my undiagnosed Aspergers. No one detected anything - I have glasses and was just a quiet nerdy kid. Anyway it makes one think hey? I am certainly struck by the many common experiences in this thread Jenny Butterfly. Good topic.