The school cormorant is out of bounds (© Monty Python, The Meaning of Life)
Our daughter is doing a group project on girls' participation in sport and last night interviewed me and my wife about our experience of "PE in the olden days" 🙄 🤦♀
My wife started talking about the annual house crosscountry competition we had at school. This was a moveable sporting festival which nonetheless always seemed to coincide with the coldest, wettest week in January or February. Every girl was assumed to be participating, unless you could produce a medical note. We had to wear shorts and polo shirts, irrespective of the temperature. The course was always the same, taking in fields and woodland. The track was fairly muddy at the start of the week. By the end when 400 pairs of feet had stomped through it had turned into a quagmire that some of the smaller girls had to be fished out of. I can remember my hands being so cold that I couldn't untie the laces of my trainers in the changing room. We had ten minutes to shower and change before the next lesson and the water was never more than lukewarm 🥶
All this was done for the honour of winning points for your school house (a sort of team affiliation). Being quite a strict school, no one ever questioned the validity or sense of this school tradition. It was simply the way things had always been and always would be . .
My wife and I were very sporty children and did not mind a bit of cold and pain. But it must have been fairly horrible for the majority of girls.
"Well that's just f***ing stupid", concluded our daughter.
Disregarding the fact that half of her weekly allowance has now been placed in the family Swear Box, that is a pretty accurate summary. Our girl is used to activities which include as many students as possible and kind, empathetic teachers who can adapt interesting lessons to different abilities and interests. The girls are allowed to wear fleeces and tracksuit bottoms when they go outside, but will mostly be working in a nice warm gym during the winter months 😁 PE is no longer a semi-military punishment, but a practical preparation for a healthy and happy life 😌
It's good to have old assumptions challenged occasionally 😊
My wife started talking about the annual house crosscountry competition we had at school. This was a moveable sporting festival which nonetheless always seemed to coincide with the coldest, wettest week in January or February. Every girl was assumed to be participating, unless you could produce a medical note. We had to wear shorts and polo shirts, irrespective of the temperature. The course was always the same, taking in fields and woodland. The track was fairly muddy at the start of the week. By the end when 400 pairs of feet had stomped through it had turned into a quagmire that some of the smaller girls had to be fished out of. I can remember my hands being so cold that I couldn't untie the laces of my trainers in the changing room. We had ten minutes to shower and change before the next lesson and the water was never more than lukewarm 🥶
All this was done for the honour of winning points for your school house (a sort of team affiliation). Being quite a strict school, no one ever questioned the validity or sense of this school tradition. It was simply the way things had always been and always would be . .
My wife and I were very sporty children and did not mind a bit of cold and pain. But it must have been fairly horrible for the majority of girls.
"Well that's just f***ing stupid", concluded our daughter.
Disregarding the fact that half of her weekly allowance has now been placed in the family Swear Box, that is a pretty accurate summary. Our girl is used to activities which include as many students as possible and kind, empathetic teachers who can adapt interesting lessons to different abilities and interests. The girls are allowed to wear fleeces and tracksuit bottoms when they go outside, but will mostly be working in a nice warm gym during the winter months 😁 PE is no longer a semi-military punishment, but a practical preparation for a healthy and happy life 😌
It's good to have old assumptions challenged occasionally 😊
36-40, F
