+1 Lazy feckers should walk to school unless they live a long way from school.

I’m remembering the distance I used to walk to and fro from school. Almost 2 miles each way.

They better do cooking classes in schools to be honest...

P.E. at my school were run by a bunch of people who had once been bullies at school.
"Team" sports made weaker players feel belittled. It was a horrid experience.
Plus the equipment we were using were very substandard, nothing worked well and everything was decades old...

Personally, sports outside of school should be very much encouraged, and school should concentrate on teaching students valuable things.

That’s one of the subjects that “don’t count” any more. Why? It’s not maths or science or technology - schools are being pushed to excel in these areas, at the expense of humanities, arts and what used to be referred to as “domestic science” (that’s cooking and sewing to you and me).

There is some food stuff being taught in schools, but as part of the health & social education. You will also find food buried in the technology subject as well, but only so far. Children are given a project to design a healthy sandwich. It’s all terribly contrived - note the word “design”. There are no lessons on cooking. At the primary school my other half works at, cooking barely happens now. Firstly, the head sees it as a waste of time (no proper maths or science there), and all primary schools in Essex had their kitchens taken out a few years back. There are no hot meals served up anymore, so the kids bring in packed lunches. So healthy eating can’t be taught through the school dinner service because there are no facilities to make them any more. Some educational cooking can be done, but the facilities available for that are very meagre.

In secondary school, food is part of technology and focuses on the food industry, designing food to be produces in mass.

I think this is a given. We had some ex-military type who was particularly idiotic.



I think we had similar experiences here. The PE department at my school were so bloody idiotic that every half term, my parents had to write to them explaining that I was asthmatic. They never seemed to be able to retain that information - they said that I had to bring a letter every half term. I’m sure that they were doing it on purpose just hoping that the asthma would just go away. I remember they pushed me so hard that I wrenched a muscle in my leg and I couldn’t do PE for weeks (that was a blessing in disguise - I think the pain was worth it).

When my dad started teaching, he taught metalwork and woodwork. When he started, he was teaching skills such as tin plating. Health and safety would be all over that like a rash - too many cuts caused by the tin. He started despairing in the 1980s when his workshops were being pared down. He said he could get O level passes with no practical input. He fought to keep some workshops open, but they stripped out a lot of kit.

The whole subject changed - by the time he retired, it was more design and technology than working with the materials. And, I believe, sandwiches (yes, the National Curriculum repeats itself a number of times).

This dovetails rather nicely with a conversation I had with a senior lecturer at my University when I was studying. He was running the 3D part of the design division, and for some reason I was doing something on a lathe (or was seeing if I could). He was bemoaning the fact that the students coming into his course knew nothing about materials or machinery. They have to run remedial courses for new students - how to use lathes, band saws, what wood is you know - the basics. Thing is, he knew of my dad and told me that he was one of the few teachers in the area who was giving kids a decent exposure to the practicalities of the subject.

This is a problem I have heard of in a lot of subjects - not just in the practical subjects. I know that some universities are having problems with the quality of maths students coming to them, and they have to run remedial classes too. It seems that secondary education and university expectations are not as closely connected as they used to be.

I know how to use a wood turning lathe, My dad’s made sure of that Not that I have one to work on myself, but I think it was a matter of pride for him that I made a few things on his.

I'd say in all likelihood that P.E. puts more kids off in later life than it entices

As far as governments are concerned the impact from the unhealthy eating in schools is not their problem. By the time it becomes an issue they will have long been out of power.

I was not allowed to do the sports I liked and so barely took part as a result. Yes they do not teach it well.

Those that can't teach, "teach" P.E....

I'm reminded of Holly in Red Dwarf with his alleged IQ of 9000 P.E. teachers

That is the same as most PE teachers an IQ of 9000.