For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for September 15, 2014

“Those who can, DO.Those who can’t, TEACH.Those who can’t Teach, TEACH GYMN!”

(Some truths ARE timeless.)

Hmmmmmmm…the only nightmare PE teachers I had were in high-school PE. One did Not mess around with these two woman…No Way! =-O

REAL nice way to get the kids turned on to physical fitness there, coach. :/

So, how DOES Canada handle its bad teachers?

I remember my high school PE teacher because he made lasting impression on me. He told me that I was just as useless as my 2 older brothers and that I was not going to get anywhere in his class. And he was right; thanks for those encouraging words Coach JackA…

Fear the coach, but fear the song “Chicken Fat” even more.I have yet to meet another adult in my age group who did not HATE that “song”.

My high-school P.E. instructor WAS a drill-sergeant. I mean REALLY a drill-sergeant. He was retired from the army but still active in the guard.

He taught us how to stand at attention, “dress right,” form up for P.T., and many other “army” type things.

While the weather was still warm enough, we’d go on 2-mile marches through the back-streets of our little town. This meant sending out “cover guards” when we came to intersections. If we were doing well the guards could come out of the front of the formation and fall into the rear when done. But if we were messing up then the guards had to double-time it from the rear of the formation to the front to cover and then double time up to the front to fall-in. There were plenty of intersections so the pain was evenly distributed.

I’ll say this though: He never belittled us or insulted us (unless we REALLY had it coming). He wanted us “walking tall and proud” at all times. (If he saw you leaning up against something while waiting for your Mom in the grocery store you caught an ear-full from him if he happened to be in there.)

He was an older gentleman 28 years ago so if he’s still around, he’s getting up there in age. He was a heck of a guy. Best algebra teacher you could ever want too. He retired the year before I took Algebra II so I missed out on that.

We didn’t have gym in 4th grade. Elm. was recess then gym from Jr high through grad. every day. Now they have gym once a week in elm. school and have to take it one semester either in middle/ high school. Heck they did away with the Jr. high football. So sad….

Like, ‘Lifestyle’, we didn’t have ‘gym’ in grade school. Got into gym starting in eighth grade. All the (male) gym instructors were the various coaches of the high school athletic teams. The (young ladies)girls had there own gym instructors and a separate facility in the basement of the main high school building(off limits to all male personnel—they ever had their own ‘janitors’) ! ! ! ! !

Adding the n to gym my be due to the word gymnastics. The best gymnastic coaches are tough.

But not all the tough coaches are good

Lynn’s Notes

I never looked forward to phys ed, and as soon as I could, I dropped it in favour of…well, anything else! This series was done for the teachers who loved to watch us tail-draggers squirm! In their defense, they kept us in the best shape we’d ever been in.

My home room teacher in eighth grade was a stereotypical gym teacher. I didn’t get to enjoy his tutelage, because I was of the wrong gender. However, I did get to enjoy his policy of making those of us who were late to class stay in after school. A nice group of us were late because our severely overloaded bus was running late (later pickups had to stand in the aisle). I forget whether his policy made us miss the bus after school sometimes, but I recall that after parents complained, he was persuaded to change his policy.

Meet the new school bully.

I’m surprised no one mentioned that this is no longer funny because of the young athletes who have died from heat stroke due to coaches like this one. These are children who have no choice in being there, you bully, not adults signed up for multi-million dollar contracts.

I had abusive gym teachers in first grade and second and third grade. The 1st grade was total drill sergeant who’d wiggle his ears and scream at you if you giggled. In Mississippi (2nd and 3rd grade) they still had active corporal punishment.

Actually, the worst was the guy in 9th grade who didn’t believe my top of the class squat thrust numbers and made me redo them. That started the knee problems I still deal with today.

A few comments -First - defending my fellow teachers once again- we’re all enjoying these strips & their comments because we can READ and WRITE, skills taught by TEACHERS. If course, being an idiot is innate.Second – I too went to junior high in the 70s in California – yes, we had mandatory shower checks (consider the ridicule the “late bloomers” would get – not to mention having to be naked in front of your teacher), along with swats for rules violations (and those PE shorts were THIN!)Third – Come on folks, let’s not mentioned HEAT any more (read the news about temps in L.A. this week…)

Gym teachers nowadays rely on things such as Kinects in order to get kids in shape (well I know they’re doing that in my old elementary schools). Its a shame really…

Why does it look like his head is on backwards???

I was lucky in grade school because my PE teacher was a cute young gal who liked me although I was the worst student in her class. Our school had a Christmas pageant one year in which she did an acrobatic dance to the tune of “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer”, wearing a red nose, fake antlers and a skin-tight leotard. I remember hearing another of my classmates in the audience saying to his father, “Dad, don’t lean forward so far—I can’t see!”

Duck, my school was like yours. PE was part of our everyday classes and was “taught” by our regular teacher. In fact the only three things that had “special” teachers were square dancing, instrumental music and “religious release”. I was involved with two of the three (I didn’t take up the flute until Jr. High.) mostly in order to get out of class.

The first grade school I attended was an inner city school, so overcrowded that they used the gym for class space. -When we moved to a newer area, I was in 4th grade, and had to take PE for the first time. Our gym teachers were absolute bullies who not only yelled the whole time, they hit kids, too. Once of the kids had just come back to school after suffering a burn on the back, and the PE teacher accused the kid of talking during class (a major sin). After the teacher hit the kid on the back, the kid fainted. -Nothing was done about the teachers who hit back then. Now, if a teacher hugs a kid, the teacher is in trouble. There seems to be no common sense in public school systems in the US…

In my last year of college they let us take a phys ed credit for marching band. It was more of a workout than archery or bowling, which were options for phys ed.

looks like his head is on backwards

You were lucky. I had 4 years of Gen-U-Wine US Marine Corps Drill Sargent PE teachers. .Didn’t help my asthma any.

Yes. It seems like a disproportionate percentage of secondary school administrators are former P.E. teachers.

I never had any PE teachers that were fit and healthy, like this guy. All the ones I can remember were overweight, gone to pot, ex-jock. They all had this same macho BS attitude, though.

Is his head on backwards?

RWJAMES: I don’t think W.A.C. Bennet (BC) had any education and Wacky Too even less..bherbert: A rich enough Texas school could have legally hired Tom Landry when he left the Cowboys, but insist on PE majors with a gratis teacher’s certificate. That way, if they have enough winning seasons, they can become principals and superintendents, and tell real teachers how to teach.

I’m so lucky that none of the coaches or coach/teachers I ever encountered in my schooling years were “Gunny Hartman” types like this.

BRI-NO-MITE!!: At least you had a choice of three lifetime activities. All we had were pro sports (as if) or now spectator sports watching the pros. We don’t march in band today, but it did teach me enough trombone that I am in three community concert bands at 81. (I just got back from rehearsal for one of them.)

Who is this ape??!! A throw back who didn’t qualify for the Armed Forces, so he’s taking out his frustration on a bunch of spagetti limbed little kids. What a bully.

What a bullying jerk

What a jerk