The law of unintended consequences is not always negative

[xiphias]

I was just thinking back to my high school days.

In those days, in Massachusetts, in order to graduate high school, you needed to pass two years of some sort of science, four years of English, two years of history including one year of American history, three years of some sort of math, two years of a foreign language, and four years of Phys Ed.

Something like that, anyway. Might have been three years on science or foreign language.

You'll notice that there were only two requirements that required four years: English and gym.

This meant that, if you wanted to graduate in three years and go to college early, you had to double up on English (and there were some extra English classes -- you either took Journalism or Creative Writing for your doubling), and on gym.

So, in my high school, the smartest kids were pretty fit, actually, as they had an hour of gym every day instead of every other day.

Comments

[jerrymurray.livejournal.com]

It's been so long since I graduated High School I don't really remember what the quals for gradualting were. I do remember having an overall average of a "C" that for me was pretty good news! *G*

J

[gilmoure.livejournal.com]

I went to school in Florida, in the early '80's. I think we were only required 2 years of P.E. By my senior year, I was taking all music classes and one lit class a semester (BritLit/WorldLit). Helped to get my GPA up over 3.0. That came in real handy when I was expelled the next year from SPJC with a .52 GPA. Damn you Harp and Thistle! Damn you Guinness!

[cheshyre]

Yup, that's how I remembered it too.
2 yrs of PE, which I got out of the way by the end of my sophomore year.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't have hated gym so much if it had been about fitness. It wasn't -- it was about sports. Stupid, mindless, non-fitness-enhancing sports. We never had activities that might have actually improved our bodies and health. No aerobics, no strength training, no yoga. Just sports, and I think you can probably guess who was picked last for every team.

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

We literally just had to keep moving the whole time in gym class. On the flip side, this did improve fitness. The year they finally let us pick our own sports things really perked up -- we all seemed to like box-ball.

In my HS, even the smart kids weren't allowed to double-up gym, so everyone was in gym every year, and no one got out early. Because of the tracking, the "good" kids were usually all in the same gym class, but one year I got put in the "other" class with the stoners and thugs. Very different experience...we played "tackle basketball" and "dodge-tennis" (shudder).

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

What did you do when someone finished off all the classes that the school offered? We had some kids who would take a class or two at the community college, instead of graduating early.

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

We had a lot of courses. I took 7 AP-level classes (and 7 AP tests), and I was not terribly unusual; if you finished Regents stuff, there was more to come after that. If you managed to run through all of those, there was always independent study (e.g., "Do a Westinghouse Project", which some of us did). Or, failing that, study hall...

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

Yup. Same here. Those of lesser ability--who, it could be argued, could most have used the practice and movement--sat and warmed the bench for much of the "game".

And if you were male, your entire net social worth was tied to your level of prowess at said sports, thereby ensuring spazzes like myself a lifelong battle with low self-esteem.

All of this has earned me a lifelong hatred of exercise, and the self-appointed "experts" claim we need *more* of this? Oy.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

I would like to see today's kids have an alternative to competitive sports for their Phys-Ed. The focus should be on improving bodily health, not on winning or losing a game. There are plenty of things -- tai chi, stationary cycling, aerobics, jogging, strength training, etc. Though some kids might be better at it than others, each one's focus is on their own workout, not on worrying about letting down a team of people they can't stand anyway.

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

One minor problem with that: team sports are also intended to teach prosocial behaviors, such as teamwork, winning and losing with dignity, self-sacrfice for a greater good, and so on. You don't get that out of solo sports such as you describe. Unfortunately the "win at all costs" mentality has become so pervasive that it's filtered down ot the grade-school level, so I'm not sure that team sports are teaching prosocial lessons either.

It should be obvious why geeks tend to pursue solo sports. :-/

[tpau]

at my school, even thoug hthe gym teacher also taught Health, the exuse "sorry, can't participate, cramps" worked every single day of every single week of all the 3 eyars i was there.

our requirements were 3 years of math, science, english, language and history. 2 years of gym (one semester per eyar but you coudl get it out of the way early if you were super anal)

the issue wasthat we were on an 8 day cycle, with8 classes and 7 class periods (day one started with period 2, day 2 went 1,3,4 etc, and so on.) then there were sub-levels, so on sub-leve 1 days i had gym 7th period(except on day 7 when there wasn't a 7th period) and on sub-level 2 days i had lab for whatever science i was taking that year. music and studyhall and art were also sub-leveled liek that, makingthem every other day sort of activities. jsut liek you coudl take 2 sciences, you coudl take 2 gyms to match the 2 labs. you werento allowed to match the 2 labs to eachother.

it was all very complicated, and taught us all hwo to hate burocrasy a lot.

[alcinoe.livejournal.com]

My daughter has that kind of schedule at her school. It makes my eyes cross and I STILL don't understand it and she is a junior.

[quietann.livejournal.com]

Where I went to school (San Diego) no doubling up of classes was allowed, although some disparate classes would count towards the same requirement, so one could still get around that.

I actually had enough credits to graduate by mid-11th grade, because many of the advanced classes I'd taken in 8th and 9th grade counted as high school classes. I did lack the 4th year of English, though. My options were:

1. stick around for another year
2. drop out and get a GED (if one was applying to college a year early, this was the recommended course.)
3. take the required English course in 12th grade and take a couple other classes at a junior college -- would have required a car, though.

We only had two years required PE, which I considered a blessing given that I suck at team sports. I was riding a lot, though.

[quietann.livejournal.com]

Oh, and at my parents' insistence, I did Option 1.

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

In my case, Option 1 was at the insistence of the school. By the time my junior year rolled around, I had become very bored with high school. I did some preliminary investigation on my own--without telling my parents--of the possibility of going to college a year early. The school didn't want anything to do with it. In retrospect I should have tried harder and perhaps tried to get one or both parents on my side.

It turned out that socially, senior year was my best year of high school, but that academically, I felt it was a complete waste of time.

[quietann.livejournal.com]

I think having a parent on one's side helps, from what other people who left school early to go to college tell me...

My senior year was similar to yours; although I did get a lot out of some of my classes, the social aspects were really much more worthwhile.

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

In my case, in order to sell my parents on the idea, I would have had to have lined up all my ducks first and presented them with a fully-fleshed-out Plan of just how all this was going to work. Especially my father, who was (1) holding the purse strings and (2) was in general an extremely skeptical individual and (3) was an extreme conformist--the proverb that "the nail that sticks up gets hammered down" comes to mind.

I can guarantee you the phrase "dropping out of high school" would not have gone over well.

[cafemusique.livejournal.com]

When I was in high school, we needed a single semester of phys ed. We had a lot of flexibility. The only bit of doubling up that some required was English (where five credits were required), but at that time they still had the equivalent of Grade 13 here (at least for those intending to go on to university).

I think it was three each of math and science, one required course each of history and geography, plus a senior (in this case Grade 11 or higher) social science, one business course, I think, one arts course, one or two French courses...I seem to recall that we needed 30 credits for our diploma and something like 16 of those were to fit specific requirements...the other 14 were up to our interests and plans. Of course, I had it made, because you could normally earn 4 credits a semester, so 8 a year...most people going on to university took five years to graduate. There was a lot of flexibility and extra courses taken. (And that doesn't count the fact that I think the senior concert band was actually a night course we were enrolled in, and I got an equivalency credit or two for my results on piano and music theory exams.)

[alcinoe.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I had a different experience with the requirements and I graduated in 86. Are you that much younger than me? We had: 2 sciences, ONE math (if you passed a test), 4 english, 4 gym and no languages. (I took 1/2 a term in seventh grade)

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

I graduated '92. It may have been town requirements as well as state ones, I don't know.

[alcinoe.livejournal.com]

Ya, I believe things started changing after I graduated. I just thought that you were closer to my age for some reason.

[ruth-lawrence.livejournal.com]

I could never have graduated with a phys ed requirement, let alone double.

[redbird]

My phys ed included (I kid you not) bowling when I was in seventh grade (when your school is temporarily housed in a midtown office building, there's a lot of making do), and in tenth or eleventh some friends and I arranged to take a yoga class at, I think, the Y to count as our phys ed.

We also played basketball and soccer, which I kind of liked: in 1978 or whenever it was, we weren't assumed to already know how to play soccer, so they actually taught us the basics. And American football, about which all I clearly remember is being required to run laps around the field.

[redbird]

But what I actually meant to say is that as far as I could tell, our phys ed grades were based mostly on attendance: you didn't have to be either good or enthusiastic, as long as you were there. I think my high school didn't think very highly of requiring phys ed either, but the state government required it, so they did so, at an absolute minimum level (one two-period class per week).

[noveldevice.livejournal.com]

We had "tracks", and the requirements differed based on your track. You could graduate with something like 2 years each of math, and science, two and a half of history, three of English, and one year of something with a completely stupid name (typing and driver ed counted). And 2 years of PE.

I never managed to take all the courses I wanted. Stupid parents not letting me take zero hour and seventh hour. *grumble*

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Hey, I regret not being able to take all those "stupid sounding" courses. My mother taught me typing at home, and, well, I type a lot. . . and I do it with the proper fingers on the proper keys, at least so long as I don't think about it too much.

I did take cooking and home ec in junior high, and would have liked to keep taking them in high school, but couldn't fit them in. I wanted to take auto shop, but couldn't fit it in. I did take a semester of mechanical drawing/drafting, and one of music theory, but wasn't able to take any of the childcare classes. Or television production.

(The childcare classes were dual-purpose. One was that you could learn how to care for children, which was useful if you wanted to be a parent, or to work in daycare. The other was that it meant that students who had children could drop their kids off at daycare and go to school, and still be nearby if they were needed, and visit their kids at lunch or between classes.)

I actually had a pretty damn good high school, now that I think about it.

[(Anonymous)]

... I guess the set-up wasn't too horrible. The general population though... It did have Mr. Derek and Mr. Morgan to make our lives miserable.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Well, there was nothing wrong with Arlington High School that a sniper rifle and about six rounds couldn't have fixed.

Or even a well-handled baseball bat.

(Who is this, by the way?)

[(Anonymous)]

Hey hey! It's the main brain Vince Fontane! Spinnning the stacks of wax here at the house of wax "WAXX" That was clarence and the doobie moing up to number seven on the Big Fifteen. I'm about to play the latest by the bel-do-reys so listen in while I give it a spin!!!

(It's amazing what stuff your brain can hold on to instead of storing useful info isn't it?)

Is your contact info up to date? I'll drop you an e-mail

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

I've been doing occasional Google searches for you for YEARS! Yep, go ahead and email me.

(Ben and I have been telling folks your Alaska stories.)

[rebmommy.livejournal.com]

I went to school during the Kennedy Fitness Plan days. Lots of running around the field, sit-ups, and chin-ups. We needed to pass certain test requirements - run around the football field so many times in under so many minutes, xx number of sit-ups and chin-ups in so many minutes, climbing a rope to a certain height - stuff like that. I don't know why I passed PE because I couldn't do any of it. I loved basketball, though - I was the shortest on the team, I was a guard, and I was pretty good! Maybe I was good because the other team didn't pay much attention to me because I was so short. Or maybe I was out of their vision line. In any case, I enjoyed playing basketball. My favorite PE activity, though, was square-dancing. I was really good at that!