Gotta make sure the youth can be good little soldiers if needed
This is 100% fact. Eisenhower made PE a universal part of education to increase overall fitness in the case of war and conscription.
What does this mean?
In the US, there was a thing called the “Presidential Fitness Test” that kids had to do in P.E. (not sure if it’s still a thing).
What does this mean?
You had to be able to do so many crunches, pushups, etc, in a certain amount of time.
I was born in 1999 and I’m pretty sure that I never had to do this.
I graduated high school in 1999 and I definitely had to do this in elementary school.
The presidential fitness test is something us kids had to do every year. It was basically doing a bunch of different exercises, and if you did good enough you got a certificate.
Things like sit ups, push ups, chin ups, vertical jump, running a mile, etc. Based on your height and weight there was an expected level you were supposed to achieve.
I believe it. I guess I was hanging out with the metal heads, stoners, and hacky sack kids during gym. That’s why I got a D. And not the gym teacher’s D… That was reserved for the underage girls that used to play with his leg hair. Right there in the bleachers of a New Hampshire school.
(Actual true story… Girls used to play with his leg hair… This was middle school or 9th grade. Larry A. …I’m looking at you.)
Knowing my town, I’m surprised that guy stayed athletic director and not a paraplegic. He must have paid someone off. 70k to be a shit-town gym director? Riiiiight…
Where I grew up school was for chumps.
The village makes the villains.
I topped my school’s record score on those tests. I haven’t been able to afford to go to the dentist in more than 20 years. I wish they would have focused on making our society sustainable instead.
Speaking of crazy things in US PE classes, if you learned to Square Dance, it was because Henry Ford was a racist who was afraid of Jazz.
There’s usually a dance section included in PE instruction, mostly to break up hard physical activity snd allow kids to have fun. The type of dancing depends on the school and the state, we did salsa dancing in Florida.
That might be why it was added to the curriculum at first, but that’s certainly not why it stayed, nor why we did it at my school. It’s a pretty fun activity too, so a good use of that PE time.
Man. We hated square dancing time in PE.
I had horrible eyesight and was shockingly inept at all sportball games, even compared to other hopeless nerds, so I found it slightly less awful than the stuff we usually did.
I still have my presidential physical fitness award. I’m old, mine is signed by Nixon. It’s a very official looking certificate with a patch that I put under the glass in the frame. Back when I used to hang my work awards on my office wall, I used to have that one in with them. Most people didn’t ever notice, but every once in a while someone would be looking at them and I could always see the exact moment they realized what it was.
Is that the same flex as the “I ate a grilled-cheese in Woolworth’s” badge of honour?
I don’t think I know the reference, but it sounds equivalent.
They had to make sure middle schoolers would be ready to fight a war at a moments notice
This very far predates George w Bush.
This predates George HW Bush
Reagan kid here, can confirm
Yeah it was Eisenhower. He was concerned our youth would be less fit than Europeans
Did you know all of those sit and reach boxes were manufactured by Halliburton? Follow the money…
How much could a box cost? $10k?
Man, I had to go check it just in case.
Did you find the proof? I gave it a half-effort on mobile and didn’t succeed…
Before going to the comments section, I was like “wtf is this post?”
After reading a few comments, I’m fully bewildered. What the fuck is up with your crazy country?
It’s a fitness test for students so the government can track public health metrics. That Lemmy has a problem with it says a lot about Lemmy and nothing about America being “crazy.”
That’s unrelated.
Is this some sort of PE meme that I’m too Marching Band to understand?
Marching in the elements, while carrying an instrument, while playing, god forbid you have a wind instrument. That’s gotta be more physically gruelling than a PE class catering to the lowest common denominator.
Marching band was considered a varsity sport at my high school. Because if the golf team are considered athletes, so am I.
