Gender separated phys. education school classes

[shootingstar]

When we were younger, we were separated for some sports but together for others. Girls didn't wrestle with the boys, but we did play soccer or dodge ball together. I was just thinking about our 'square dancing' PE sessions - that was co-ed and actually a lot of fun (7th grade, if I am remembering correctly).

Once we got to HS, we were separated for most things and I always assumed it was because there was a clear difference in athletic abilities by then and if we didn't, the girls wouldn't get to play a lot of the time. Plus, I lived in New England and the boys didn't play either field hockey or lacrosse which was part of the program. .

Boys did get to play lacrosse for a few classes. Girls at our school did not learn lacrosse. It was field hockey which I loved to play.

Ice hockey was confined during classes to just the boys. I don't recall any girls, even the most consistently and naturally athletic girls being interested in playing ice hockey at the time. But most of the girls, like myself, did often watch the TV enthusiastically and consistently the National Hockey League games and 'Hockey night in Canada'. Unless these girls played hockey at home in their neighbourhoods which I wouldn't know. Girls' ice hockey teams did not exist at all in the city. Nor did any soccer exist for girls in the city as a tournament sport, during the time I was growing up. Soccer was still gender-separated at our school, even in high school.

Frankly, I felt better being in separate girls' phys ed. classes. I was a nerd and uncoordinated but did love certain sports. Of course, we never had any cycling class groups nor anything on bike safety.

[Zen]

We had to wear those gym suits too. Gawd.
like Jack Lalanne's jumpsuit, but shorts instead of long pants.

[Crankin]

I had coed PE until middle school, then we were separated. We had to wear those bloomers in a bilious green color. And we had to shower and tell the teacher when we had our period to be excused from that. Same in HS. When I moved to Florida, their gym suits were white and I stood out like a sore thumb.
I loved field hockey!

[shootingstar]

I And we had to shower and tell the teacher when we had our period to be excused from that. Same in HS.

Wow. Don't recall that exception rule at all. Most likely if a girl felt ill for a variety reasons (not necessarily menstrual), she was allowed not to participate in certain activities during class or sit out. But that was extremely rare based on my memory of those classes.

Showering after gymn, was expected but at our own discretion. So if a girl had a period, she just didn't do it if she didn't want to.

Based on seeing some of the jogging teens today from school who are allowed to wear all sorts of attire to jog, there should be some base requirements for looser clothing. Saw teens jogging in tight jeans, etc. Uncomfortable.

[Pyannyplayer]

No coed classes for me either. I had the icky uniforms - made of POLYESTER! HELLO?! No wicking technology on those things - just nice and hot whether you were moving or not. I purposely put PE as last thing in the day in both junior high and high school, so I could go home and shower.

I had two women PE teachers who never did anything with us, just watched. They were, uhm, rather overweight (I can say that because, well, I used to be!). While I was growing up, girls were supposed to take Home Ec and be looking to get that MRS degree. The only sports offered for girls were track and basketball....period. My mother even thinks it's weird that I actually ENJOY getting out and either cycling, running, hiking, whatever. In her eyes, I should be home, cooking and cleaning. Bleh.

Yup, glad things change!

Lorie

[sarahspins]

We had coed classes.. never separated... just separate locker rooms.

We were also not required to shower.. however there were 4 private showers (with locks) that were ONLY available to use if you had your period.. you had to ask for the keys and yes the teachers did keep track... and if you didn't fall right on that perfect 28 day schedule they would tell you that you couldn't use a private shower because obviously it "wasn't your time of the month" - it was stupid, since I'm sure many of you know 28 days isn't how it works for everyone

I rarely showered after gym anyways though - there was usually not enough time.. the 5 minutes they gave us was barely enough time to get back to the locker rooms, change, and go use the toilet if you had to, nevermind shower.

[OakLeaf]

Our gym suits were navy blue with pin stripes. Snazzy.

[Tuckervill]

I had coed PE until middle school, then we were separated. We had to wear those bloomers in a bilious green color. And we had to shower and tell the teacher when we had our period to be excused from that. Same in HS. When I moved to Florida, their gym suits were white and I stood out like a sore thumb.
I loved field hockey!

Same thing with my jr. high and the showers. Our gym suits were blue, too, but made of stretchy fabric, with blue bottoms and a horizontally striped top. Zipped up the front. Hated them. Plus, it was a culture shock because I moved from Chicago to an Arkansas town with 300 people when I was 11, and then in jr. high we moved to a town with 15,000 people--and gym suits. ?? I don't think anyone had gym suits in the schools my brothers went to in Chicagoland.

And we thought Mrs. Brewer was into girls because she insisted on watching us shower. :P And had no sympathy if you started your period and did not come prepared. I was so glad I didn't start my period until I was in 10th grade and at the high school.

Karen

[divingbiker]

Gawd, those blue gym suits bring back awful memories! That one piece suit didn't work very well on us long-torso'ed girls--ouch! I remember Mr. Cox standing at the back of the gym laughing as we (well, I) tried to be coordinated enough to do jumping jacks. Don't remember PE before junior high, but we were separated for junior high and high school.

I think the humiliation of junior high gym class is why I didn't do anything athletic until I was in my late 40's.

[Crankin]

Well, I had to take remedial PE, aka flab lab, in 10th grade, because I flunked the physical fitness test, which consisted of such necessary skills as a basketball shoot.
However, remedial PE is where I found out I was good at endurance activities. One of the things we had to do was jog for 15 minutes. Since it was winter, we ran around the gym and locker room. Can you picture me, a 95 pound, 5 foot tall hippie with hair down to my back, leading a pack of of hugely overweight girls on a run?
Funny thing is, that once I passed the test to get out of this class (which was truly a fitness class), I promptly flunked the skills test again which got me in there in the first place. I mostly hated PE because it consisted of team sports that required eye hand coordination: baseball, basketball, kickball, or things like gymnastics, that terrified me. Soccer wasn't even heard of back then. I did love field hockey, but once I moved to Florida, they never heard of it. It wasn't until 1978, when I went to a fitness class at ASU when I was finishing my master's that I did anything physical at all.

[irrealised]

We started splitting up by gender in middle school for gym (NYC public school less than 10 years ago). There were no showers, but separate locker rooms, and we had to change into school shorts and a t-shirt. I think in middle school every unit was separate, but there might have been one or two sports we played with the guys.

I went to such a large high school that you had a choice of gym classes, and most were separate, but a few were co-ed. I always tried to pick things like volleyball and handball, which could go either way depending on the semester. Basketball, track, and the like were always separated by gender. Then there were classes like dance that weren't officially separated, but if one or two guys signed up for it that would be a lot (my school was pretty progressive, so it wouldn't necessarily be *weird*, just not done often).

[shootingstar]

Well, I had to take remedial PE, aka flab lab, in 10th grade, because I flunked the physical fitness test, which consisted of such necessary skills as a basketball shoot.
However, remedial PE is where I found out I was good at endurance activities. One of the things we had to do was jog for 15 minutes. Since it was winter, we ran around the gym and locker room. Can you picture me, a 95 pound, 5 foot tall hippie with hair down to my back, leading a pack of of hugely overweight girls on a run?
Funny thing is, that once I passed the test to get out of this class (which was truly a fitness class), I promptly flunked the skills test again which got me in there in the first place. I mostly hated PE because it consisted of team sports that required eye hand coordination: baseball, basketball, kickball, or things like gymnastics, that terrified me. Soccer wasn't even heard of back then. I did love field hockey, but once I moved to Florida, they never heard of it. It wasn't until 1978, when I went to a fitness class at ASU when I was finishing my master's that I did anything physical at all.

Don't agree with remedial PE classes. There would be even more kids struggling with self-inferiority complexes. I had pretty good PE teachers but each woman had distinctly different style.

A. Jackson- she was a even-tempered, straight-shooter who did keep herself in good shape. Most girls respected her but found her distant as a person.

P.Miller-- a warm woman that smiled alot who made it her teaching philosophy to praise effort of her students, regardless of how lousy/good they were. Fashionable, chic and popular.

A. Greinbnow- after 1 year, I dropped out from PE. She was more of a motherly/matronly figure. Also popular but because of the latter style.

Now I realize for particularily the girls who were coached on school teams by any of these women, these women probably did serve as de facto role models (in addition to other adult female mentors in the lives of any girl.) Organized sports teams for girls outside of school did not really exist much in the small city where I grew up. So what the school provided for girls who wanted to pursue abit further, the school was the place.

[nancielle]

Same thing with my jr. high and the showers. Our gym suits were blue, too, but made of stretchy fabric, with blue bottoms and a horizontally striped top. Zipped up the front. Hated them...

Augh! All those memories I had repressed came flooding back with this gym suit description. Ours were powder blue colored. Ick. As if the humiliation of wearing them in the school gym weren't bad enough, when the weather was nice we had to trudge to a nearby park for class (soft ball or soccer) and endure public humiliation. The guys just wore dark blue or black shorts with a blue t-shirt. By junior year a certain someone ( ahem, who shall remain nameless to protect the guilty ) rallied a few like minded females and showed up to class wearing the same thing the boys did. Created quite the stir (this was a parochial school...how dare we challenge authority!) but eventually led to the switch to "normal" gym shorts and t-shirts.

In elementary school we didn't have formal PE but the girls and boys had separate playgrounds. Later on PE classes were segregated.

[sundial]

I was in a co-ed jr high PE class and I remember having to play dodgeball and dodging those big red balls that the guys threw as hard and fast as possible.

Then we had to play tether ball. I can't think of any applicable skills I garnered from tether ball.

In high school we wore gray t-shirts and polyester double knit Rocky shorts, tube socks, and boys hand-me-down Converse high top tennis shoes that curled up after the coach washed it in the autoclave.

[colby]

I grew up in Seattle, graduated about 10 years ago. Co-ed PE all the way, end-to-end. Separate locker rooms in middle/high school (in primary school it was just a matter of going to play, which is no different than any other day, right ). My brother is 16 now and having the same experiences here (eastern WA).

We had uniforms in middle school that they introduced my second year there, just cotton shirts and loose fitting shorts (that held true through my brother and sister who went through a few years after me). In high school, there was a dress code of basically the same thing, but no uniform. My brother went through the same thing recently, also a super-basic uniform of cotton tshirt/loose gym shorts in middle school and when he got to high school he just used a tshirt and the shorts he used in middle school.

Team sports are separated, of course, but neither of us are really team sports kind of people