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For school children around the world, gym class is a grueling, years-long rite of passage, and when we were growing up, it was especially arduous. Climbing ropes. Getting picked last. The dreaded Presidential Challenge. Square dancing?! Let's be honest: Gym was (and still is) complete nonsense -- a distraction from learning the fundamentals -- but it's a collective memory for most of us, and it's the perfect topic for KnockBack. So nock your arrow, pull yourself up, go watch film, and then join us for an extensive discussion about a piece of perpetual Americana: Physical education. Or the lack thereof.


Topic starts at 0:19:57

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Comments

Jeffery Carlson

The point of gym class is to break up the monotony of being in class all day from morning to afternoon to help children burn off energy. Could be better ways to do that, but that’s the original purpose

Kenneth Oms

Great episode boys. I introduced cartoonist Kayfabe to Dagan via DMs more then a year ago. Glad that he keeps up with their content

Anonymous

Shoutout from Ronkonkoma! I always love these episodes that reflect on stories and happenings so close to home!

macdaddyx4

Powerful episode. From the nostalgia of giant parachutes and dolly boards to the harsh reality of being stuck with a near useless bachelor's degree and deciding if a master's program makes economic sense. Thank you both.

NeO JD

I never heard of safety town before. Guess we didn’t have that in Freeport. Definitely didn’t have any dancing at all. And what’s this about skateboarding in gym now? That’s pretty cool. Overall, I feel like this was one of the better eps you’ve done. Dagan makes some great points about how gym class may actually be doing more mental harm than any physical good. Came off very passionate at times. ❤️

Ryan Greenwood

Great episode! I grew up in eastern Washington and we had the exact a same games and activities in our pe classes. From the parachute to kick ball even line dancing. However it was required from sixth grade on that we had to shower after class.

Chris Adams

I never had to square dance but we did have line dancing. It was during the "Acky breaky heart" craze mid 90's

Jakob Podstawek

Though its true that P.E is usually treated as a means to wear out kids with ideally some healthy competitors as well as cooperation, it is technically an education of your body through physical activities. In my school here in Australia, we learned about the effects of gravity on balls, projectiles, how to use your body correctly to maximise performance in different sports while minimising damage to your bones, muscles and tendons. Leaning angles and trajectories. Most importantly, the psychology of mental stress and how it effects performance in a sport, which can be adapted to real life situations.

GU7_

Has anyone else witnessed someone strike out in kickball?

MarkGrouch

I witnessed myself do it nearly every time I was up. Fucking hated kickball.

Casey Lloyd

I’m from upstate NY near the VT border (Whitehall NY). We had all the same gym “units” for the most part, including square dancing and line dancing. My school was very small so we had coed gym K-12. It was brutal! I got kicked in the shins in soccer, pushed and had jammed fingers in basketball, basically got assaulted in swimming…. I had a bathing suit with a zipper that some boy in 7/8th grade unzipped!! The outdoor compass and map activity you did in Maine was called orienteering for us. Probably a made up term. Lol Our final practice for orienteering was a field trip to Saratoga park. You may have heard of Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC). It’s in the same park, along with acres and acres of forest, trails, picnic areas etc. Orienteering there with a bunch of 9th-10th graders was an absolute shit show! This was around 2000-2001ish. We’re the same age.