Originally posted by warmsunshine@Sep 8 2005, 02:49 AM
My ninth grade PE coach always reminded us that if we weren't working up a sweat during his class, he wasn't doing his job.
So if class activities weren't strenuous enough, he'd have us do calisthenics until our uniforms were soaking.
The shower was required but it was welcome.
Well, PE isn't like that anymore. And just because you're sweating doesn't mean that someone is or isn't doing their job to either burn calories or improve cardiovascular fitness in others.
[post=341395]Quoted post[/post]
Warmsunshine,
How I wish what you said was true... But if you want to exercise you need to be willing to sweat.... Just like if you want to diet, you can't feast at Dunkin Donuts every day.
I personally think even if a particular student (or his/her parents) are uncomfortable with being nude in front of peers of the same gender in a school shower setting, this does not make that activity socially unacceptable, and schools cannot change every policy according to each student's personal comfort level.
I agree to some extent with your point on school's having required showers limits people's freedom of choice. And I respect your oppostion to this. Ultimately, it's a question of what's the right balance of school authority vs. student choice...and I think fair minded people can disagree.
- John
PS Some students see wisdom in schools having mandatory showers. One article in a school newspaper on this topic is:
http://www.snn-rdr.ca/snn/old/sept99/sept99/showers.html
PPS My own daughter's school (
http://www.southmont.k12.in.us/WalnutEleme...PE/walnutpe.htm ) starts showers after PE in elementary school. I've personally never heard of any problems or complaints with the school showers (and I lived here for 20 years). I also agree with other posters, that this is usually less controversial for most everyone when introduced in elementary school.
PPPS While not entirely on point, I can think of no better illustration of attitudes toward the issue of nudity 60 years ago than an article that appeared in the January 13, 1941 issue of Life magazine, entitled "Democracy in U. S. Schools," which examined life at 3 American high schools: one in Des Moines, IA, another in Holtville, AL, and one on Rochester, NY. Life sent reporters and photographers to Benjamin Franklin High School in Rochester, NY.
The top half of page 66 shows girls, dressed in the gym bloomers typical of that era, in the midst of doing exercises. The bottom half of page 66 shows a boys PE class -- in the showers! While the boys are turned so that their penises are not visible, the naked backsides and faces of several boys are clearly visible. The caption reads as follows:
"The school showers are a steam-heated melting pot for boys of all classes and races. One boy provided a caption for this picture. He wrote, 'The example of democracy the boys displayed was that they did not shove each other around to be in the picture or underneath the shower. They awaited their turns instead."
This article and statement tends to jibe with the view that required showers were not viewed as infringemnet on individual rights in the USA at that time. Of course views change over time. Sometimes for the better (civil rights etc.) and sometimes for the worse (e.g. schools ending PE showers, IMHO).
For those who believe that I'm making up the whole thing, I've given you the date of the issue. Furthermore, it is Volume 10, number 2 of Life Magazine. Go to the library and check for yourself. While there, you may also wish to read the subsequent issues and read the letters to the editor about this article. Several were published but not one -- NOT ONE -- made any reference to the boys' nudity in the shower picture.
here's a clue for you, dr freud: I went to boarding school and spent several years serving in the army; if I wanted shower-based jerkoff material then I wouldn't need to fantasize about anyone else's. 