Is School Even Needed?

[LunaValentine]

I'm asking why gym teaches us pointless things like playing games most of the time. They'd be way better off teaching things like how to swim in rougher water, or other more survival helping skills. And kicking a ball accurately doesn't do that all that well.

You're learning to be a team player, working on coordination, control of strength, following rules, sportsmanship (not everyone LIKES to play sports), and games are easier for those who are not as physically active. Survival situations don't come up often and you can join Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts for some of those. Swimming in rougher water will only alienate those who can't swim or are not strong swimmers. The important thing is getting active. Find a person something fun to do and they'll exercise, just put them in a weight room and they'll hate it. Please don't think I'm twisting your words or attacking you. I'm only listing what could be potential benefits.

 

[Kagayours]

I'm not saying eliminate gym. Seriously guys, stop twisting what I'm saying and take things at face value. Don't put words in my mouth, it's annoying.

Maybe you should just phrase your words more carefully?

It's pretty easy to see that post, the way you worded it, as saying you thought PE was worth tossing. I don't think anyone was trying to "twist your words around" -- there's a difference between doing that and just misunderstanding you.

 

[unanun]

Are any of those actually useful? How likely is an average person going to need those survival skills? Furthermore, how expensive would it be, and dangerous (waivers, legal issues, etc) to put them into life threatening situations like that? You can't really teach those skills without a simulation ...

And the onus is on you to communicate effectively, I'm afraid. You should think carefully about your wording, because communication via text is anything but obvious.

 

[Temet Nosce]

Athletics changed my life for the better. Gym instills a sense of teamwork and also teaches games you'd look pretty stupid not knowing lmao. Like if you ever go to a beach, it's helpful to know how to play volleyball so you won't be the only one out of your friends sitting it out.

Now I know there is a vast, vast difference between gym and athletics but both cater to a person's physical needs. Human's are not built to sit in a desk 8+ hours a day. We're built to run, to jump, to swim, etc. Gym gives a healthy outlet for that. With childhood obesity as such a huge problem, getting rid of gym would most certainly make the issue even worse.

Games provide an easy way to learn basic skills. Basketball gives you hand eye coordination. Football teaches you how to memorize and execute plays under pressure (and depending on how good the other team's defense is, that could be a LOT of pressure). Soccer is a whole lot of running, and also teaches you how to pass the ball. Point is, every game helps with something and if you're athletic chances are you're able to swim. I wouldn't get rid of it or even try to reform it (except maybe improve football helmets and make other stuff cheaper) because I think it's a healthy outlet for kids.

Also, every school has drugs and pregnancy. High School is a bit of a party. But I noticed that the most well adjusted kids aren't the ones who parents keep a death grip over and prevent them from ever going to a party. Those are the type of kids who end up in college and typically binge drink because the only beer they've ever had was the ones they snuck out of the fridge (if even that). Same with sex. Most people get pregnant because they have no idea what they're doing.

Now I'm not saying you should do all the drugs and have all the sex, but I'm saying being exposed to those elements helps mature you a bit. Because nearly everyone is going to drink in one point of their life, and nearly everyone is going to have sex. But you don't want your very first drinking experience/adventure to be at a frat party where noone knows you or your first sexcapade to be relying off your knowledge you gained during freshman sex ed.

(Always remember fellas, wrap it before you tap it).

 

[ElBell]

I'm done. I can't fucking handle this and obviously this is not a topic anyone can understand me on. Bye.

 

[Kagayours]

I'm done. I can't fucking handle this and obviously this is not a topic anyone can understand me on. Bye.

You started a debate. You even put a debate tag on it. Sorry we disagree with you?

Starting a debate doesn't mean you'll be able to convince anyone that you're right. It also means you have to accept that people will probably disagree with you, and will therefore argue against you.

I don't see why that's such an issue.

 

[ElBell]

I'm more fed up with how I suddenly can't seem to communicate shit to anyone. I'm not mad anyone disagrees, I expected that and that's awesome, but I didn't expect to have such a damn hard time talking to people without them assuming a fuckton more than was actually said. That's where I'm 100% done with this thread.

 

[Kagayours]

I'm more fed up with how I suddenly can't seem to communicate shit to anyone. I'm not mad anyone disagrees, I expected that and that's awesome, but I didn't expect to have such a damn hard time talking to people without them assuming a fuckton more than was actually said. That's where I'm 100% done with this thread.

It only makes sense that people will misread you if you don't word things carefully -- especially over the internet, where we don't hear anyone's tone of voice or see their facial expressions/body language to help make sense of their words.

When you said that no one benefits from learning to play kickball, I interpreted that as you saying that gym class is pointless because there's no benefit to teaching kids such things. It just came off as really dismissive about PE in general, hence why I (and many others) interpreted it as you saying that it wasn't needed. You didn't specify that you wanted gym classes to change, instead just scoffing at gym in general, making it sound like you just thought it would be better dropped. How were we supposed to know you had such an athletic background and therefore wouldn't try to say such a thing? We don't know all these things; sometimes you just have to be careful with your wording or people are bound to misinterpret it.

And, if people do misinterpret your words, you can always just clarify what you meant. These things happen pretty often online; no big deal if you have to restate an argument.

 

[ElBell]

I get that, but I tried to say twice already that what I say is at face value and I do not mean deeper things, but people read way into it anyways. That was doing nothing, so I'm just going to walk away from it before I get anymore stressed out and frustrated.

 

[Kagayours]

I get that, but I tried to say twice already that what I say is at face value and I do not mean deeper things, but people read way into it anyways. That was doing nothing, so I'm just going to walk away from it before I get anymore stressed out and frustrated.

I'm not sure what you mean by looking "too deeply" into your words -- all I saw were people just misinterpreting what you were trying to say (which, if anything, would mean not looking deeply enough into it, I suppose).

But, if it's really getting you so worked up, then yeah, it's probably for the best to just sit back and relax for a while.

 

[Peter Feels]

Locking thread.