We've discussed whether or not P.E. should be mandatory or an elective. Now, say, you had a child who was terrible at sports, was not competitive, and basically loathed gym class. If he came to you and begged to not have to go through with it, would you back him up?

Yes, and I actually did, and have a doctor's note in place so that my daughter is excused from gym for her entire high school career.

She's not the sports-oriented type, and won't even try, so I figure why force her to? Let her focus herself on something she enjoys better like dance classes and other classes at school. She still gets plenty of exercise.

Also I did it for health reasons for her--she has a blind eye and epilepsy. With one eye, you have no depth perception and she's never been able to judge when to catch or move when a ball is coming at her, and she's always the one to get hit with it. So to avoid having her get clocked in the head and possibly set off a seizure, we opted for getting out of gym.

If there were valid reasons (such as H's example above) I would. Otherwise, if it was just because he didn't like it, I would not allow him to skip it.

Touchy subject. Schools have already been in the hot seat for years for inadequate physical activity. And I agree with RedBedroom. Just because the child doesn't like it ~ tough! We all have to do things we don't like.

Now, if a child has physical restraints then there's probably no point.

Has to be a valid reason and just nor liking it isn't one. They're going.

Without some other valid (like medical) exuse, where do you draw the line at allowing your kid to opt out just because they don't like doing something?

They'd have to give me a compelling argument as to why they'd be better off sitting it out. If it's simply because they're too lazy or not in the mood, then tough. If it's 'I suck at sports and the kids are making my life hell because of it,' then I'd be willing to at least hear them out....

This thread reminds me of my Spanish teacher in high school in the hall screaming at the gym teacher for giving her son a B. It screwed up his GPA and she was SO pissed.

Probably. PE is a joke. They can get plenty of exercise outside of kicking around a ball.

Chris wrote:

We've discussed whether or not P.E. should be mandatory or an elective. Now, say, you had a child who was terrible at sports, was not competitive, and basically loathed gym class. If he came to you and begged to not have to go through with it, would you back him up?

NOPE. There are already too many fat asses walking around the country. My kid isn't going to be one of them. PE is probably the most neglected "subject" in school. Not only do I think it should be manditory, but I also think it should be taken more seriously and actually include real work-outs and physical conditioning. As far as sports goes, that would all depend on what the school offered in that area. If there were a lot of sport options, he'd have to pick one of them. But I understand that not everybody can be good at football or basketball so if it was one of those schools that didn't have many options I'd be much more relaxed on forcing my kid to participate. But PE is a definite must.

I think kids gotta learn to accept that they have to sometimes put up things they don't like and still make the best of it, so probably not.