Author: Chris Ruffolo

A Perceived Philosophical Conflict

I am the only female in my high school PE department.  It’s been this way for 20 years.  The one time another female came in she tried to out-alpha the football coach and got removed from teaching PE and placed in Health.  I think she might have taught one section of PE in the two years she was here, and I think it was Adapted PE. Since we’ve had a fully working weight room, it was always paired with the football coach.  We got a new one this year, the fifth in my tenure working at this same high school.  As soon as I heard he teaches through an app I put my judgmental hat on.  Without any notion of what he does or how he does it, I decided we were adversaries.

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Coaches who also teach a class based on using your body trend toward it being visually productive.  It is much more about ‘making sure’ everyone is doing what they are ‘supposed’ to be doing and ‘working hard’.  The culture of sport (and the newer sport-as-fitness) revolves around the premise of effort equals results.  It dictates that you must remove sensation to be successful.  You are battling your body, not listening to or being led by it.

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Caring for Space

It has become wildly apparent that neglect leads to destruction.  The planet, the houseless, bodies, trauma, young people.  ( I could add the elderly or just ‘people’ there as well, but older people tend to have and want to keep, and don’t want upheaval to complicate things.  They also typically don’t have the energy.)  When I returned from my two-month leave, the storage closet and mat room were in shambles.  Two of my female students told me how they organized the equipment closet for me, then found it a mess the next day.  They cleaned it again and found it a mess again.  As I listened to their story, I playfully asked, “And then what happened?”  We just gave up.  I smiled, thanked them for their efforts, and said, “Welcome to [Physical] Education.”

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I get to school early, at least an hour before our directed 7:30 am start time.  I need time for myself, to move and notice the left conditions of things.  The starting point is never the same.  Not with my body, not with the environment.  There is a system of inspections that takes place.  We make continuous, sincere checks on that which we care about.  What is the current condition, what resources do we have to either solve or investigate the problem, and what conflicts are at play for maintaining order and ownership?

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PE as the Incubator of Risk

Physical Education classes have gotten bigger over the course of the pandemic.  The powers that be knowingly placed too many kids within too small an area. Wildly, there is this underlying assumption that whatever is asked of PE and the PE teacher will be OK.  Though COVID has highlighted the vast chasm between PE and the rest of campus, the many effects of the virus will not be the emphasis of this article.  Instead, I will attempt to cast a light on the larger, more long-term tendency that is crippling Physical Education — the fact that anyone, at any time is haphazardly added to the class roster.  There is no cohesion of who, which means there is no cohesion of what.

Classes are filled by available space, and there is ALWAYS space available in PE

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It’s Not Working

I wonder how many people within the work of physical education can admit what they are doing isn’t working. Kids can say it (Edwards, 2019). Parents can say it.  Academics who perhaps used to teach can say it.  But can people in the field say it?  And if they can say it, what is the result of this confession?  Frustration?  Blame?  Who is open and willing and free enough to utilize this acknowledgment as a means to do things differently?

The schools have done it (and continue to do it) by replacing physical education with physical activity.  They don’t need a teacher, they need space and equipment, and supervision.  The purpose and success of recess don’t get questioned as PE does.  Its benefits are known and agreed upon — it releases energy, encourages play, offers socialization, and doesn’t have an expectation of an outcome.  A kid can just sit in the grass and be left alone without worry or concern that something specific should be achieved or accomplished.

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