Separated Gender Physical Education
It was finally time for my favourite time of the school day, physical education time! This time was different, only the boys were allowed to go this time. As a kid in grade six, I really didn’t understand what was going on; however, I was thrilled to go run around and throw dodgeballs at my friends. This was the first time in my educational experience that the boys and girls were separated. The school decided for gender based physical education. Now at the time it flew right over my head, but now looking back at it, I do not think that’s the best decision.
This was really the first time I was gendered as a boy. At the time I thought absolutely nothing about it; however, I thought class was more fun with all my classmates there. Every student being in class allowed for you to create relationships with others and see if you had similar interests. Taking that away from students creates a divide within the class room. To me is also gives the “boys are better than girls” mentality putting them into two different groups. Girls can do everything boys can and should be given the same respect within a physical education class.
The job of school is to provide safe learning environment for all to participate in. Practicing separating the boys and girls does not need to take place within schools. Looking back at the situation, it really bothers me. What if someone didn’t identify as a boy? It isn’t the job of teachers to tell students how to feel. It is the teacher’s job to create a fun, safe learning environment that offers everyone equal opportunity. Gendering students does the opposite of that. It doesn’t allow students to feel like themselves. Staying away from gendering students allows for a more positive learning environment.
Many children in school struggle with finding their place. Some find it hard to make friends and to fit in. As a physical education major, I have learned a lot of do’s and don’t of physical education. One of the first ones is never do boys verse girls. This creates a divide within the classroom and genders students. Many kids feel uncomfortable in these circumstances because it puts a label on them that they may not identify with. Being labeled a specific gender has many issues; however, it is not the job of the teacher or school to put labels on the students. Each student has the choice to feel/express themselves however they may like. Keep school fun for all and a safe place to be, then finally we will see positive results.
1 Comment
Jerico · March 18, 2021 at 7:13 am
I completely agree with your standpoint! The division between boys and girls creates a spectrum of issues, but most importantly perpetuates the myth that gender is binary. As I read your story, I thought back to my grade 9 physical education class and having a transgender man having to do most of the class with the female part of the class. I later became good friends with him and he told me that it was one of the defining moments of his high school experience and he remembers high school being rather harrowing because of that. Of course, the experience he had is one of many possible experiences, but schools having the ability to perpetuate a student’s internal conflict should not be on the table. I do have a couple notes on your writing structure that I’d like to make: First, the chronology of the story is a rather confusing and takes away from the immersion of your story; second, the addition of more rich text would add greatly to your telling of the event; third, there were only a few grammatical and punctuation errors I noticed. Regardless, you make many valid points and strive to implement your teachings during your education journey in your future curriculum. Great job Riley!!