We had gym every day, every semester, every year. It's just ... I don't even want to think about it. Let's see: take off your clothes in front of a bunch of strangers who hate you. Put on ugly crappy clothes. Now, follow orders as they're barked at you by some big muscular mean rude person: lie on the dirty floor, getting your hair and hands and clothes dirty. Do strenuous physical activity; do it correctly and don't stop or the instructor will pull you out and make you do it alone in front of everyone else, totally humiliate you in front of your peers. Just feel lucky that you're not a boy; at least no one's dragging you in front of everyone and calling you a fag because you can't keep up.
Okay, now that you've done that for a while, you can (depending on the semester; we never had choices)--stand somewhere and try not to get hit while large scary teenage boys throw balls at each other at top speed while simultaneously trying to make it appear that you're "participating" whenever the teacher glances over (aka "basketball" "volleyball" "baseball"). Or run in circles for an hour with teachers standing at random intervals screaming at you if you stop, or walk instead of run.
Oh, and don't cut, because if you miss four classes you'll fail and won't graduate high school. Um, and if you're sick, or have debilitating cramps, we don't care; get your ass out here or you fail. And what was that? It's 10 degrees outside? Yeah, so?, get out there and freeze. What, you have a nose ring/tongue ring/navel ring? Too bad, you have to have it out or you fail gym. No, we don't care that you're not supposed to remove it yet or that the hole will close if you take it out. (Unless you have earrings, which are socially acceptable--you only have to remove "freaky" piercings). And, oh gee, class ran long. Guess you don't have time to change back into your regular clothes/fix your hair/wash your hands--get to your next class on time or you'll be counted as absent.
[Of course, if you're a jock, you can horse around and do whatever you want; no one will care. If you're unpopular, though, or one of those "fags" who wears black--take one step out of line and you'll be humiliated as thoroughly as possible. I had a friend--one of the smartest people I ever met--who nearly didn't graduate high school because she failed gym one year. And she never did anything that the jocks didn't do regularly and get away with.]
"Normal," "acceptable," "necessary," institutionalized degradation and humiliation. Like I said, my kids will never attend public schools.
Re:
Congratulations on being done with gym. :)
We had gym every day, every semester, every year. It's just ... I don't even want to think about it. Let's see: take off your clothes in front of a bunch of strangers who hate you. Put on ugly crappy clothes. Now, follow orders as they're barked at you by some big muscular mean rude person: lie on the dirty floor, getting your hair and hands and clothes dirty. Do strenuous physical activity; do it correctly and don't stop or the instructor will pull you out and make you do it alone in front of everyone else, totally humiliate you in front of your peers. Just feel lucky that you're not a boy; at least no one's dragging you in front of everyone and calling you a fag because you can't keep up.
Okay, now that you've done that for a while, you can (depending on the semester; we never had choices)--stand somewhere and try not to get hit while large scary teenage boys throw balls at each other at top speed while simultaneously trying to make it appear that you're "participating" whenever the teacher glances over (aka "basketball" "volleyball" "baseball"). Or run in circles for an hour with teachers standing at random intervals screaming at you if you stop, or walk instead of run.
Oh, and don't cut, because if you miss four classes you'll fail and won't graduate high school. Um, and if you're sick, or have debilitating cramps, we don't care; get your ass out here or you fail. And what was that? It's 10 degrees outside? Yeah, so?, get out there and freeze. What, you have a nose ring/tongue ring/navel ring? Too bad, you have to have it out or you fail gym. No, we don't care that you're not supposed to remove it yet or that the hole will close if you take it out. (Unless you have earrings, which are socially acceptable--you only have to remove "freaky" piercings). And, oh gee, class ran long. Guess you don't have time to change back into your regular clothes/fix your hair/wash your hands--get to your next class on time or you'll be counted as absent.
[Of course, if you're a jock, you can horse around and do whatever you want; no one will care. If you're unpopular, though, or one of those "fags" who wears black--take one step out of line and you'll be humiliated as thoroughly as possible. I had a friend--one of the smartest people I ever met--who nearly didn't graduate high school because she failed gym one year. And she never did anything that the jocks didn't do regularly and get away with.]
"Normal," "acceptable," "necessary," institutionalized degradation and humiliation. Like I said, my kids will never attend public schools.