What do you think of a pass/fail concept for gym vs. a grade issued?

I had not heard of it until last night at my son's high school orientation. I found out kids can opt for a pass/fail so that their grade point ave. is not affected should they be "a type of student not focused on athletics."

I'm very curious about the whole thing because I don't know what would be better for my son in regard to what colleges will look at. While he does very well in all aspects of gym class, he had issues in grade school with gym teachers who were very negative toward him because his sport of choice was racing motocross and not a team sport. He received a couple B's in gym back in grade school.

If I was some Poindexter who was worried that gym was going to drag my GPA down maybe I would do the pass/fail. Maybe gym has changed since my day but to at least pass, all you had to do was show up in your gym clothes and at least try.

Yep what he said

I believe my daughters P.E. class is set up similarly. Like 'S' (satisfactory) and 'U' (unsatisfactory.)

When it comes to gym, I would be more in favor of that than a letter grade. Really, PE should be graded more on willingness to participate than how good you are at whatever the activity is.

I suppose Pass/Fail seems more appropriate than a letter grade.

I got graded in P.E.....but I think pass/fail is a better option.

I remember my Spanish teacher having a loud argument in the hall with the gym teacher regarding her son's grade. It was going to f with is GPA and she was pissed. And her kid was athletic, but our guy teacher in h.s. was a total dick. I don't know if this is the norm or not, but we had a lot of written tests on rules of sports and scoring.