Capitol Hill Blue Forums Science and Technology Health, Medicine & the healing Sciences College's too-fat-to-graduate rule under fire

I took karate and a circuit training class.

(A borderline off-topic rant...)

Freshman year I was required to take a split PE class. First half I took archery...which I was good at. Second was tap dancing...not so good at. Felt then and still do that both were a waste of time and money. Sophomore year swimming was required. I would have taken that anyway.

Almost all colleges require that you take courses which have nothing to do with your major and which you often never use again. My degree is in Theatre Arts...but I feel like I only dabbled in it because I had to fill time with courses like PE, Physics, Logic, Astronomy, European History, etc. I would have much preferred to take theatre-related courses from day one.

Freshman year...as is the case in many schools...was required courses across the board. That's fine if you're not paying to be educated in a certain field. Saying you know what the requirements are when you apply, isn't completely fair. Students have to apply, get accepted and be able to pay for a college. It's not a matter of picking a school and it's a done deal. I had to go to a state school because the money wasn't there for anything else.

Anyway...I think electives are fine. And even having a Freshman year that offers the opportunity to take a spectrum of courses rather than jumping right into a major...as long as it's a choice and not a requirement.

As for exercise...I got plenty every day criss-crossing campus to get to classes on time. And on weekends...hours of dancing at frat and house parties. Hey, it is exercise!

Not to harp on this too much, but, you never know what you might find yourself interested in, and neither does the university, which is why they make you take so much. Their goal is to make you a more rounded individual, not churn out robots good in one field of choice, again, that's what vocational schools are for. Theatrical schools know this too and if you had gone to one of those, you would have had to take physics, math, history etc there too, because they know the importance of a well rounded education. You don't have to take the super hard sciences but you get the basic grounding, knowing more about the world we live in is never a bad thing.

I was a Visual Arts major, with a focus in drawing and painting. Because of the college I went to my undergrad requirements had me take five humanities courses, three chemistry courses, one biology course, one physics course (from an astronaut!), I took five calculus courses (no, not the same one five times), a statistics course, an anthropology course to satisfy the history requirement as well as an african studies course, plus some stuff I can't even remember anymore, plus the courses I took for my minor.

I went to a UC so it's technically a public university. I loved that anthropology course so much I thought about switching majors at one point, but it would have required doing more of the other sciences that I wasn't really into so, I decided against it, point is, you never know what you might find on the course list and those requirements force you to take stuff you might not take if it was just an elective.

I can't even remember if the PE course I took was required or not, it was weight training BTW. I also took gospel choir but that wasn't a requirement, that was just to meet girls... plus it was a fun class.

Being a nutrition major, I took a Women's Studies class to fulfill a GE requirement and I also took a History of the Vietnam War from the History Department to fulfill a philosophy GE requirement.

Basically, your freshman and sophomore years are fulfilling GE requirements and some basic classes for your major.

I didn't take Women's studies to meet girls. I did join a gay fraternity to met guys, however.

When I started at San Diego State, everybody had to take a PE course each semester for their first two years. If you were confined to a wheelchair, they would put you in a wheelchair exercise class! I had zero registration priority, so all I could get was Basic Conditioning (high-falutin' PE-speak for lifting free weights and then running around the track).

Once I had earlier registration, I took archery, swimming, scuba, and canoe and kayak. I discovered that I had a talent for the wave-ski (the surf kayak you sit on and paddle into waves) and the standard one-man kayak. I was the only one in that class who learned how to do an Eskimo Roll.

All way more fun than Basic Conditioning, and essentially free rec activity that others had to pay a lot of money to enjoy. I even had fun doing the rescue breathing exercises in the scuba class, where for some reason I always ended up paired up with cute girls!

You may be right, although I believe that a student should be able to meet the requirement by passing a test. The public university where I began my education allowed a student to meet the requirement by passing such a test consisting of doing a certain number of chin-ups, push-ups, etc. and running and swimming. I thought that the swimming test was a good idea, because I believe that people should know how to at least dog-paddle. They had us do a number of laps in an Olympic sized pool. I was surprised that some couldn't even do one lap.

This option should definitely be available if a student is required to take a PE course.

You're right, but it's an individual habit that one elects as a life-style. You can make someone move (or exercise)at the point of a bayonet, but I don't believe that's the way to do it. Life-long sports are generally not team sports, and maybe it's a good idea to introduce some students to other options that they'd find enjoyable and would continue with.

I suspect that you would have eventually become involved with scuba diving anyway. However, if a student is required to take a PE course, then it's a good idea to expose them to a variety and let them chose one that they may find enjoyable and stay with for the rest of their life. Did you do foil,sabre, or épée?

I attended the girls' gymnastic club one evening looking to work out in gymnastics. I had competed in gymnastics in HS. Our state university did not have a gymnastic team (either male or female), but did have a club. The instructor(s)meant well, but really didn't know what they were doing. I don't believe that you necessarily have to be able to do something to teach it, but it doesn't hurt, either. The instructor had been unsuccessfully trying to teach the students how to do a glide-kip (basic uneven parallel bars move)for about 3 weeks. I helped some of the young ladies through the move and, by the end of the evening,all those who ever would do a glide-kip were doing them. I was allowed to stay and even got a date or two. Later I learned that some upper class men were working out informally at the field house and I continued my work-outs there. There were a set of rings and parallel bars behind the bleachers that we were permitted to use. This wasn't required. I had an interest. Some students don't. It's probably a good idea exposing them to a variety of sports, one of which may remain with them.

Later at another university (sans gymnastics team), I declined the gymnastic club instructor's offer to put me on the payroll as an instructor, because I had other jobs and commitments. I did teach some young ladies some moves, and got some dates. There were also some males at this club, and I taught them some basic moves, such as giant swings on the high bar, dislocates on the rings, and a simple technique to hold a hand stand. None of those students were required to attend that club, but they had an interest and talent.