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Comment by jdminhbg | Hacker News Reader

When was this golden age of phys ed? I'll admit that I don't have a ton of knowledge of the history of gym class, but if depictions of phys ed in movies or television are anything to go by, 'incompetent teacher with whistle' pretty much describes it in its entirety.

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Maybe it was like the golden age of New Math: theoretically supposed to happen, but never really did.

Sketerpot's pretty much right. I'm no actual PE historian (somehow I doubt such a thing exists), but I've heard several times that what the article describes is how it was supposed to work. It probably never did work that way, though.

I'm really reaching here, but I'm pretty sure that idea goes back to Plato, if not even earlier.

Not quite as far back as Plato, but I was reading Seneca the other day who whines that physical education in Imperial Rome ain't what it used to be:

Can we possibly look on this as a liberal accomplishment for the youth of Rome, whom our ancestors trained to stand up straight and throw a javelin, to toss the caber, and manage a horse, and handle weapons? They never used to teach their children anything that could be learned in a reclining posture.

I'm no actual PE historian (somehow I doubt such a thing exists)

Apparently there is such a thing as PE history: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dap...

(Ya, I'm surprised too)

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