What I learned from PE.
By Melissa Newsome
From Kindergarten until I graduated high school, I had PE
every year and I think it rounded my education experience. As I have often told (preached to) my
children, your education experience extends beyond the classroom. I learned very valuable life lessons on the
playground, lunchroom, bus and PE class.
If the goal of today’s education is to graduate students that have rote
memory of facts, statistics and reading skills then, bravo, perhaps you are doing
a good job. However, I may be old
fashion in my thinking that I expect graduate students to be well informed, in
the process of maturing, be good citizens in their communities, resourceful,
independent and learn how to cope with difficulties and triumph over
victories. My education system did not
fail me. I learned those lessons and
most often, in PE class.
Early on, I learned how to be a team member. We would break up into groups and compete and
even at something as simple as Dodge Ball, I learned the camaraderie of a team. When our team won, I tasted the sweetness of
victory. When we lost, I learned how to
accept it graciously and to try harder next time. In addition, on a similar but different note,
back in my day the WINNING teams got the trophies –not every kid that
played.
I learned games and often times, those games made their way
into my own playtime. Learning new
things in PE class encouraged me to get outside and play at home. Sometimes we played the games exact to the T
and other times, our variation of it was so watered down it barely resembled
the original game but the point is, learning new things in PE class inspired me
to want to try new things on my own. I
remember my first year in high school, much to my dismay, I was put into a badminton
class because that’s all that fit into my schedule. I hated it and yet I not only survived it but
at picnics or outings, I would often find myself in a badminton game, to which
I could hold my own. It may not have
been my first choice of things to do but I was up and active and not sitting at a picnic table stuffing my face with
potato chips.
I was always the pipsqueak; short, skinny and not very athletic
at all. Yes, I was the girl that would
scream, wince and hide her face when the ball came her way. For that reason, when we had to divide into
teams and the team “captain” picks their members, I was that little girl that
was last or next to last to be chosen. My
only redeeming quality was I did have many friends so sometimes; I was chosen first,
just out of friendship. Yes, sometimes
it was humiliating being the last one standing but I learned how to deal with disappointment
and humiliation –just like in my adult life when I interviewed for a job I was
certain I was going to get and I did not.
It was humiliating and disappointing --especially since I knew everyone
on the search committee. It is part of
life. Parents and Educators, stop
trying to shield children from pain and difficult situations –allow them to
learn from them and to deal with them. I
learned that in PE class.
It’s not always going to go your way. In PE class, I learned the art of
compromise. My favorite year of PE in
grade school was every Friday we were allowed to pick whatever activity we
wanted by voting. Sometimes it would be corporate play and sometimes we would
break off into several groups, depending on what the consensus was. I did not always get to play the game I voted
for –and watch this –just like in my adult life the candidate I vote for does
not always win. Whoa –a life lesson
learned right the in the stinky gym/make-shift lunchroom. I hated basketball the most because well, I
never could make a basket and I also hated having to climb that stupid
rope. I would not get very far and I
would usually get rope burns on the way down.
I still did it. I wasn’t very
good at it but I participated. Just as
some kids were not very good at the spelling bees or the math quizzes –I could
rock those out. Perhaps somewhere
someone is writing a blog about how stupid spelling bees made him or her
feel. Its okay, basketball and rope
climbing made me feel pretty stupid, weak and inept. I am not.
I am not stupid, weak, or inept –I just learned to find my strengths and
focus on those and I learned to try harder at my weaknesses. I learned that in PE class.
Today’s education systems are budget driven and often times,
that is much to the demise of education and children. I am a huge advocate of music, art and
PE. I am a huge advocate of them because
–they teach our children valuable
lessons. I recently read the Hunger
Games trilogy and I was tickled at the thought of actually knowing what it
feels like to use a bow and arrow, and in the storyline, I could appreciate the
skill of the protagonist, Katniss. Right
there on the grounds of good ol’ Wheeling
High School
The irony is that though sometimes in PE class I felt
stupid, weak or inept, those feelings empowered me to the contrary. My fear is with the cuts made to these
essential programs; music, art and PE, we literally are going to turn out into
society graduates that are stupid, weak and inept.
I tip my hat to you, District 214. My education has served me well.
And to District 214’s PE educators that always encouraged
this little pipsqueak to try harder and continue on, thank you. My PE classes served me well, also.
