Kids need to be happy and feel safe at school. To make sure that happens, let’s institute these gym rules.
Picture a child in elementary school, middle school, or high school. He or she makes good grades and stays out of trouble. After lunch, the bell rings for class. That’s when a nightmare begins. It’s called GYM.
Sure, gym is a good class, but only for some. For other students, it’s not–the ones who are bullied. That shouldn’t happen. To stop that, we need new rules for gym class. Here are three.
Courtesy: Save The Children, photo by Susan Warner
RULE #1: NO DODGEBALL! Although invented as a game by Professor Phillip Ferguson in 1884, dodgeball isn’t a game in the athletic sense. It’s a way for students to hurt other students–not just physically, but emotionally, too. While there are dodgeball-like alternatives available (e.g., medic ball), I think the only good dodgeball is no dodgeball at all.
RULE #2: GET RID OF ALL GAMES THAT GLORIFY VIOLENCE. Games like Mafia, Assassin, and Battleship teach kids that violence is fun. It isn’t. Alternatives, like basketball, need to replace any game that’s based on violence.
RULE #3: STOP ALL ATHLETIC BRAGGING. Kids shouldn’t brag when they make the winning basket, capture the flag in flag football, or do anything else to win a game or event.
If rules like those can’t be implemented, then I vote for ending gym class altogether. Otherwise, we’re teaching kids the wrong things and doing it the wrong way–and doing it at school, no less.
