Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for July 05, 2021

Time to feign a stomach ache and go to the nurse’s office.

Others call it “Physical education”.

That class has no class…..

Moe don’t follow the “third time” rule of Rugby.

You need to learn to defend yourself!!

Forewarned is forearmed…although I don’t know if a forearm is going to work on Moe!

Starting in about 5th grade, I absolutely HATED what they called P.E. It was, in fact, “state sponsored” pain, if not terror. (Before that, it was just “playground” which was okay, because I could just keep out of the way). And not just pain but scorn. I got pretty good at getting tagged out by the smallest person on the other team, volunteer to be the scorekeeper, and sadly, get shoved to the hard ground to bleed a bit, or hit in the stomach/chest with body or ball. Or tripped…

The good side: When I finally got to Junior High, I was able to use “marching band” as a way to avoid P.E. I actually kind of LIKED that.

“Studies in contemporary state sponsored terrorism”, huh!?! Looks like someone is gonna setup a think-tank when grown up.

I remember in P.E. how they’d let the kids choose their own teams, and I ALWAYS got chosen last. (If I’d just been second-last, I wouldn’t have minded.) On one occasion both teams insisted that the other team take me! Now that was just mean—they were drunk with power.

The bully needs to find religion – Calvinism, of course!

You must bear that for some years further!!

State-sponsored terrorism — that’s Truth, right there.

Moe isn’t as generous as he looks, the thugs I went to school with (several schools) would happily donate their otherwise free time at recess to the task of putting me in my place, which usually involved some measure of violence.

Free style dodge ball was the main sport in my grammar school. Non-PC name we used for the game was “Smear the …..” 1950s was rough….

“What’s your 2 o’clock class?”

“Conflict in the classroom.”

“You mean conflict mediation in the classroom.”

“I know what I mean.”

Calvin in the fourth panel: the gloom before the doom.

I thought it was only for guys named Jim.

How come they have periods in elementary school?

Gym class wasn’t all that bad for me. I just disliked the shower class that came after it.

Happy birthday Mr. William “Bill” Boyd Watterson II!!!!!

Although I was only moderately athletic, I still (50 years later) remember “highlights” of my physical education. In elementary school climbing the rope and touching the gym ceiling though I was desperately afraid of hights. Being in a mano a mano dodgeball showdown with the hardest throwing kid in fifth grade and getting him out on a catch that left welts. Doing 60 sit ups in a minute and running a “good enough” timed mile (after throwing up the day before in practice) to get the presidential fitness certificate. Shredding my 6th grade braced mouth on the trampoline doing a face down “lay out” (okay that’s not the fondest of memories). Having all the other kids wait for me on the pool ledge while I finally figured out the side stroke. (Kinda embarassing, but I learned it) Playing gym floor hockey and banging into the other guys. Being told by the cool gym teacher/track coach that instead of running events, I should concentrate on “javelin catching”. Phys Ed, among many other sometimes hard and difficult child experiences (including group showering in 5th grade) truly did “build character”. Kids need challenges. They need to realize that their reach should exceed their grasp. To realize that life isn’t fair and that other kids have different abilities. End of sermon. Have a great day!

Elementary school didn’t have periods

Gym class in H.S. wasn’t much better when facing football linemen in games.

Fast-forward 35 years and Moe is in jail for storming the US capital building, with 50 senators pretending that it didn’t happen. (“I thought that they were tourists”)

I don’t remember having “periods” in first grade. Sure, at one point during the day we had what they called a “special” period where we’d either go to the gymnasium, art class, music class or the media center/library, and of course we had lunch and recess, but that was pretty much it.

Happy birthday Bill!

This is why I don’t have a single pleasant memory associated with gyms, after a youth spent moving from place to place to find a new bully at each gym. I never found any gym coach willing to discourage the bullies.

Now coming to a national capitol near you.

I always used to think that said “asphalf.”

Yup most kids think that on gym workout.

All this talk about getting out of gym reminded me how lucky I was going to a district with a two-year middle school and a four-year high school. Between the 10th and 11th grade, I transferred to a district with a three-year junior high school and a three-year high school. My state requires two years of high school P.E., and I had already satisfied them by dint of starting out in a four-year high school. My classmates couldn’t figure out why I was never in P.E. class. Wait, were they talking about me behind my back?

I have hideous memories of P.E. class. Other kids already hated me, plus, I was totally incompetent at any sort of ball game, so P.E. was pure [heck]. I remember standing waaay out in the outfield and praying that the ball wouldn’t come anywhere near me. If they had let me just walk laps, I would have happily walked for the entire class period.And then showers were even worse. I don’t see how it is even constitutional to make any child get naked in front of other children. If they can’t afford to provide privacy then they shouldn’t be allowed to require the activity that requires showers.

The activity I was most anxious about in high school PE was the rope climb. Not due to a fear of heights but my upper body strength was non-existent. Alas, it never came to pass as those ropes looked really ancient. They just hung up way up there for all four years never to be touched.

Classic dodgeball gym class.

He’s got “Twinky” twinkin’, er thinkin’…

Twinky, the monosyllable bully is no match to you when it comes to wits. Just put a word to the gym instructor to take care of this brat, or better he would rather be a prey to that feline called Hobbes.

Between this strip and my own experience, we need to be doing better with physical education courses in the K-12 schools. It ought to be more than mandatory filler or another avenue for bullies.

I remember gym class. The teachers would often ignore some petty serious bullying.

tasting ashphalt? That won’t be good!

Calvin’s got that crazy, psycho energy going on when he fights..

A six-year-old has “Gym Class”? We had minimally supervised playground mayhem.

Are kids still using homosexual taunts (Twink, Twinkie, Twinky) on the school yard these days? I sorta feel like the younger generations no longer do, but I could be mistaken. I know, I know, some people probably aren’t aware of the connection, or never thought it was demeaning to gays, but it certainly was very often used that way in my public school days, around where I lived (Toronto). Of course, the gay community has reclaimed the word since then. https://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/2017/8/02/21-words-queer-community-has-reclaimed-and-some-we-havent

Amen. Being an out of the closet gay kid, I was always the “Smear the queer” target.