Gender separated phys. education school classes

[shootingstar]

Did you have physical education classes at any time when you went to school where the boys and girls were separated into their own clases with their own teachers?

Of course if you went to an all-girl's school, pretty obvious.

I went to co-ed schools. Separation of boys and girls for physical education/sports for me, started when I transferred to a primary school that had a girls' playground and boys' playground, each at different ends of the school. However for some classes for certain team sports..ie. baseball, broom hockey, ice skating we were co-ed. (We had an outdoor ice rink. Yes, the janitor was involved in making that rink).

Starting in Grades 7 onward, there were separate girls' and boys' classes with their individual teachers. Of course the big deal, was dancing...which was more like simple ballroom dancing and..square dancing. I'm not kiddin'. That's when the hormones start raging...

Are physical education classes more co-ed these days now? I don't have children but I do see packs of children/teens jogging together during the day when I'm cycling.

[PscyclePath]

Yep... It probably shows a little of my age, but we had separate classes and instructors for PE back when I was in junior high and high school both.

Me, I dropped out and joined the band, which was co-ed and carried the same credits ;-)

Tom

[five one]

For me, PE was co-ed in grammar school (late 50's-early 60's). In junior high, we were segregated from the boys. Good thing, too, because we had to wear these horrible blue gym suits . We had to wear these through high school as well. I was in both Colorado and Alabama in high school. Two states, same gym suit. No wonder girls didn't want to play sports back then! Not that we could. This was way before Title IX.

Those were the days...

[GLC1968]

I had partially separated PE for most of my grade school and HS days.

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. Now that I think about it though, we were together for most of the winter indoor sports (like in the field house or for swimming) but separated for most of the fall/spring outdoor things (like field hockey and football). Maybe it was more a facilities issue than it was a gender thing?

I should mention that pretty much all of my PE experince was post Title IX.

[shootingstar]

For me, PE was co-ed in grammar school (late 50's-early 60's). In junior high, we were segregated from the boys. Good thing, too, because we had to wear these horrible blue gym suits . We had to wear these through high school as well. I was in both Colorado and Alabama in high school. Two states, same gym suit. No wonder girls didn't want to play sports back then! Not that we could. This was way before Title IX.

Those were the days...

Girls wore those gymsuits too, except they had a front zipper and did not have a cinched in waistline. Kinda like a blue zippered tube sack that was sleevless also. (Another requirement...shaving starts then for girls, right?) I felt so self-conscious because my mother sewed mine and hence, it was a different shade of blue. The gymsuit uniform was abandoned after Gr. 9 at our high school. But during Gr. 7-8, girls also had to make sure our white running shoes were clean looking..if not, white shoe polish. Can you imagine, on running shoes???? What was the rationale for that? Must be a throwback from military thinking or whatever.

[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.

[GLC1968]

We had gym uniforms in junior high/middle school. They were double thick cotton T's with light blue on one side and dark red on the other. And twill elastic waist shorts in light blue. They were issued to us and we were required to keep them clean. I remember that double sided t's were so fricken HOT because they were so thick! We'd have to go back into the locker room and flip them inside out depending on which team you were on.

Oh, and you could tell when someone's parents weren't paying attention to the laundry because if you washed them in anything but cold, the red would bleed through to the blue and you'd have a mottled purplely colored jersey that didn't match either team!

[sfa]

This is bad, but I have absolutely no recollection if our gym classes were separated by gender or not. I went to an all-girls high school so that wasn't an issue, and I know in grade school we were all in one class together but I don't remember junior high. Probably blocking it. I can remember having to change for gym, a million girls in a tiny restroom (and I never had the cool bag to carry my clothes in--the plastic bags with drawstrings were the cool ones and mine never had drawstrings), and I remember playing kickball and soccer and flag football and softball and capture the flag. And I remember interacting with Carrie and Kirsten and Laurie and Diana but I don't remember any boys out there with us at all, but if they weren't there, where were they? It was a tiny school with limited facilities and limited money so I doubt they could afford two gym teachers and I know we were all scheduled for gym class at the same time, so I think the classes must have been together and I just completely ignored the boys.

Sarah

[7rider]

Starting in 6th grade (I think) to 8th, we had seperate gym classes. I attended a VERY small Catholic school, with no p.e. facilities. So, once a week, we were all (the 3 classes) bussed to the local YMCA. For 6 weeks, the girls were in the pool, taking swimming lessons, and the boys were in the gym, doing gymnastics, playing basketball, and what-have-you. Then, after the time, we's swap - girls in the gym, boys in the pool. Gawd...I hated every moment of it. I don't recall ANY p.e. in high school. I was on the girl's basketball team, but I was awful. I hated to move my body.