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Comment by matbilodeau | Hacker News Reader

PE instructors were the worst discriminators. They gave out grades based on physical performance. Looking at old class pictures, the lowest percentile could be easily identified (also corresponding to the last picked when building teams). I hope this has changed.

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I thought you were joking at first, but looks like you are not? What else would PE grades be based on if not on physical performance?

Well though I somewhat agree, a lot of kids do not have parents who care or know better and may be on poor diets that cause obesity. Also some kids just don’t have the genetics. The grades should be based on effort applied at whatever skill level those kids are at. How do you grade effort? I don’t know but expecting a kid who comes in 100lbs heavier then other kids and expect him to run the same pace as some hyperactive kid really isn’t fair.

> The grades should be based on effort applied at whatever skill level those kids are at.

Are you suggesting that PE should have different grading procedures than other subjects (which reward measured results, or at least in my school did)? Or are you even suggesting in general that all subjects should be graded like this (and for example someone really bad at math but "trying really hard" should actually be getting A's and B's)?

You are mixing physical and mental checks. If I think really really hard about moving a 20lbs ball on 40m I doubt it will budge. If I repeatedly punch a sudoku puzzle it will not solve itself.

Actually, I'm not. We definitely had outcome-based (not effort-based) grading for both physical and mental disciplines in my school.

We had this too. It somewhat frustrated me to be able to understand the theory and apply it but not being "good" enough in the eyes of the PE teacher. Excellent grades in other subjects though, just didn't see the fun in running after a ball or the worth of investing time and effort at being faster or better at it. College change that. PE was stil mandatory in the cursus but was more oriented towards a healthy lifestyle. Benefits of physical activity, research on muscle development and training methods, what consists of a healthy diet, how to enjoy physical activities and include them in your schedule etc.

Oh and in primary school, teachers would go in the teachers lounge to smoke while they were given a break by us being in PE.

I didn't see the fun in many subjects either, and got appropriately poor grades that reflected my level of knowledge or skill.

For PE we had normatives we were supposed to meet -- so many pullups, etc (based on old soviet army normatives I think :)), and if you don't you got corresponding grade.

I would make sense to break PE course into two -- one about theory and one about skill and have two separate grades for them.

Other subjects generally have a well-defined “100% score” and time limit, and assume some basic range of ability (and people outside this ability range are treated differently). It’s not like math tests are usually graded on how fast you could complete the test.

Of course, you could establish a similar grading schemes for physical education, but that would essentially look like grading based on effort and participation.

In many areas, physical education and health education are combined. It is possible for an understanding of health to compensate for physical performance. The metrics for evaluation of physical performance can also be considered. Understanding and demonstrating technique may be a better metric in an educational setting where the rate of physical development is varied (especially in the middle grades). It may also be a better metric overall. Consider a coach: their goal is to help others to achieve their best, that does not imply that they are the best.

Like the above replies, effort and participation. Also set open objectives. Want the kids to do a 5k ? Give them an "inclusive" deadline. That way, if you already are a future champion you can get do it during class in be done in 15 mins or you have the option to split it into a few walks during lunch and after class.

Lots of comments going around that seem to be jokes to other people, apparently. Is it normal for people to expect physical education classes to literally just be various physical activities with grades handed out directly related to each student’s absolute performance in each activity? To me that sounds patently ridiculous.

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