LaSierra High (1 Viewer)

[Caveman33]

"The School Where Fitness Counts" on LaSierra High School in Carmichael, CA was produced by the President's Council On Physical Fitness and Sports in Washington, DC.

Kids in the 1960s were described as "soft, the marshmallow generation, overstuffed and overindulged, incapable of hard work or response to challenge."

What was your gym class like? How does it compare to your kids description of their gym class?

 

[zamboni]

It was all about square dancing back in the day.

Many high schools barely have gym class any more.

 

[Caveman33]

Growing up between 90s and 00s, I'm not even sure if there were showers at my high school. I think so but they were never used. Not after gym class, nor after sports. People just changed shirts, applied deodorant or went to class a little stinky. My childhood really lacked towel snapping hijinks.

 

[zamboni]

Growing up between 90s and 00s, I'm not even sure if there were showers at my high school. I think so but they were never used. Not after gym class, nor after sports. People just changed shirts, applied deodorant or went to class a little stinky. My childhood really lacked towel snapping hijinks.

I can't imagine having grown up without these. Can't even slap the back of the neck of a kid who just arrived to school with a fresh short haircut.

 

[Scoresman]

I was shocked when my niece told us that in PE, they are graded on their performance now. So like you get an A if you can run a mile in a set time limit, do a set number of situps, etc.

When I was in high school, all you had to do was dress for PE and show up and you got an automatic A. It was 100% Attendance based.

I think it's great, because attendance based grading is a complete joke, but I could see parents of obese out of shape kids raising a fuss, even though its their fault their kids are how they are.

 

[DA RAIDERS]

I was shocked when my niece told us that in PE, they are graded on their performance now. So like you get an A if you can run a mile in a set time limit, do a set number of situps, etc.

When I was in high school, all you had to do was dress for PE and show up and you got an automatic A. It was 100% Attendance based.

I think it's great, because attendance based grading is a complete joke, but I could see parents of obese out of shape kids raising a fuss, even though its their fault their kids are how they are.

Attendance is all public school cares about. It’s how they get paid.

 

[Scoresman]

I was shocked when my niece told us that in PE, they are graded on their performance now. So like you get an A if you can run a mile in a set time limit, do a set number of situps, etc.

When I was in high school, all you had to do was dress for PE and show up and you got an automatic A. It was 100% Attendance based.

I think it's great, because attendance based grading is a complete joke, but I could see parents of obese out of shape kids raising a fuss, even though its their fault their kids are how they are.

Attendance is all public school cares about. It’s how they get paid.

Pretty sure she goes to a public school.

 

[SWC]

our gym class was all about sitting and riding around on these wierdass little wood things with four coaster wheels on them i guess back in the day a good gym class involved a bunch of little snotfaced wierdos on wheels flying into walls and somehow we won a bunch of wars take that to the bank bromigos

 

[Doug B]

Growing up between 90s and 00s, I'm not even sure if there were showers at my high school. I think so but they were never used. Not after gym class, nor after sports. People just changed shirts, applied deodorant or went to class a little stinky.

Same for us in the mid-1980s. No shower usage. Not sure why no one cared about being sweaty after gym, but we didn't

 

[IvanKaramazov]

Growing up between 90s and 00s, I'm not even sure if there were showers at my high school. I think so but they were never used. Not after gym class, nor after sports. People just changed shirts, applied deodorant or went to class a little stinky.

Same for us in the mid-1980s. No shower usage. Not sure why no one cared about being sweaty after gym, but we didn't

Same. It's kind of gross to think about how we just marinated in sweat all day, but nobody ever took showers. I'm sure that was just a "young people have issues with body image" thing. I've noticed that our students rarely take showers at our campus gym, and they're basically never naked in the locker room even if they do shower. Young people are weird about this stuff.

 

[Mister CIA]

our gym class was all about sitting and riding around on these wierdass little wood things with four coaster wheels on them i guess back in the day a good gym class involved a bunch of little snotfaced wierdos on wheels flying into walls and somehow we won a bunch of wars take that to the bank bromigos

We had those back in my elementary days. Also, we'd scale up 15 foot ropes, and we'd do some wierd #### with a parachute. Jr. High was the best - kickball or dodge ball (we called it bombardment). Fun times.

 

[Doug B]

It's kind of gross to think about how we just marinated in sweat all day, but nobody ever took showers. I'm sure that was just a "young people have issues with body image" thing.

... I don't think we were even allowed to use the showers after gym class in junior high and high school. I can't even recall someone attempting a shower -- everyone just went into the locker room and put their jeans and non-gym shirt back on. To save time & effort, it was common just to wear your gym shorts under your jeans all day, before and after gym.

Showers were present, but there were very few considering the number of kids. Even if each kid was allowed, say, showers limited to 2 minutes, there's no way all the kids could've showered between the time they ended gym class and the next period's bell. Or else the entire gym class would've been spent lining up for showers.

 

[Doug B]

we'd scale up 15 foot ropes

I always wondered about this when I see rope-climbing in gym classes in movies and on TV. No ropes to be found in any school gymnasiums around here. Just not a thing.

 

[Jayrod]

Growing up between 90s and 00s, I'm not even sure if there were showers at my high school. I think so but they were never used. Not after gym class, nor after sports. People just changed shirts, applied deodorant or went to class a little stinky.

Same for us in the mid-1980s. No shower usage. Not sure why no one cared about being sweaty after gym, but we didn't

Same. It's kind of gross to think about how we just marinated in sweat all day, but nobody ever took showers. I'm sure that was just a "young people have issues with body image" thing. I've noticed that our students rarely take showers at our campus gym, and they're basically never naked in the locker room even if they do shower. Young people are weird about this stuff.

In grades 7-10 it is extremely awkward as you have young boys not yet in puberty with some that have gone all the way through it. Also anti-gay sentiment was rampant in my childhood years.

I remember we had football practice before school in 9th grade and everyone showered with their underwear on or didn't shower. This would have been 1991.

 

[Mister CIA]

we'd scale up 15 foot ropes

I always wondered about this when I see rope-climbing in gym classes in movies and on TV. No ropes to be found in any school gymnasiums around here. Just not a thing.

In my case, rope life in elementary P.E. class was in Arlington, TX.

 

[rockaction]

Young people are weird about this stuff.

From someone who hit puberty late, yes, young people can be "weird" about showering in group showers with others. Word gets out about people's development and that's never a good thing. Everybody I knew eschewed the showers, but probably for other reasons. We never got enough time to shower.

Your point about college stands, though you can pick up some gnarly stuff from group college showers. It's why I rarely showered at the gym after picking up a case of fungal foot in my early thirties.

 

[Galileo]

Growing up between 90s and 00s, I'm not even sure if there were showers at my high school. I think so but they were never used. Not after gym class, nor after sports. People just changed shirts, applied deodorant or went to class a little stinky.

Same for us in the mid-1980s. No shower usage. Not sure why no one cared about being sweaty after gym, but we didn't

Same. It's kind of gross to think about how we just marinated in sweat all day, but nobody ever took showers. I'm sure that was just a "young people have issues with body image" thing. I've noticed that our students rarely take showers at our campus gym, and they're basically never naked in the locker room even if they do shower. Young people are weird about this stuff.

We were required to take a shower after gym class in my high school (Jesuit all boys school) in the early-mid 80s.

 

[Mister CIA]

Growing up between 90s and 00s, I'm not even sure if there were showers at my high school. I think so but they were never used. Not after gym class, nor after sports. People just changed shirts, applied deodorant or went to class a little stinky.

Same for us in the mid-1980s. No shower usage. Not sure why no one cared about being sweaty after gym, but we didn't

Same. It's kind of gross to think about how we just marinated in sweat all day, but nobody ever took showers. I'm sure that was just a "young people have issues with body image" thing. I've noticed that our students rarely take showers at our campus gym, and they're basically never naked in the locker room even if they do shower. Young people are weird about this stuff.

We were required to take a shower after gym class in my high school (Jesuit all boys school) in the early-mid 80s.

Well, Duh!

 

[WDIK2]

Growing up between 90s and 00s, I'm not even sure if there were showers at my high school. I think so but they were never used. Not after gym class, nor after sports. People just changed shirts, applied deodorant or went to class a little stinky.

Same for us in the mid-1980s. No shower usage. Not sure why no one cared about being sweaty after gym, but we didn't

Weird. Mid 80s also. Showered every day after PE.

Had PE as a freshman where we did all the square dancing, rope climbing, badminton, gymnastics type stuff. Had PE II as a sophomore where we pretty much played pickup basketball and lifted weights all year.

 

[El Floppo]

when you're hung like a horse like me, showering in the gym is glorious.

Growing up between 90s and 00s, I'm not even sure if there were showers at my high school. I think so but they were never used. Not after gym class, nor after sports. People just changed shirts, applied deodorant or went to class a little stinky.

Same for us in the mid-1980s. No shower usage. Not sure why no one cared about being sweaty after gym, but we didn't

Weird. Mid 80s also. Showered every day after PE.

Had PE as a freshman where we did all the square dancing, rope climbing, badminton, gymnastics type stuff. Had PE II as a sophomore where we pretty much played pickup basketball and lifted weights all year.

same time frame, but I only remember having the time to shower after swimming.

we had square dancing, all the sports- obviously coed. at some point the girls split off for self-defense/rape-prevention and the boys ironically split off for wrestling, aka learning how to rape.

 

[Navin Johnson]

Growing up between 90s and 00s, I'm not even sure if there were showers at my high school. I think so but they were never used. Not after gym class, nor after sports. People just changed shirts, applied deodorant or went to class a little stinky.

Same for us in the mid-1980s. No shower usage. Not sure why no one cared about being sweaty after gym, but we didn't

Same. It's kind of gross to think about how we just marinated in sweat all day, but nobody ever took showers. I'm sure that was just a "young people have issues with body image" thing. I've noticed that our students rarely take showers at our campus gym, and they're basically never naked in the locker room even if they do shower. Young people are weird about this stuff.

We were required to take a shower after gym class in my high school (Jesuit all boys school) in the early-mid 80s.

We didn't in HS but did in middle school. 3 dress cuts and yougrade dropped. A shower cut was one third of a dress cut.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

It was all about square dancing back in the day.

Many high schools barely have gym class any more.

We had square dancing on Fridays. That was the only day they lifted the barrier between the girls side and the boys side.

 

[HellToupee]

Growing up between 90s and 00s, I'm not even sure if there were showers at my high school. I think so but they were never used. Not after gym class, nor after sports. People just changed shirts, applied deodorant or went to class a little stinky.

Same for us in the mid-1980s. No shower usage. Not sure why no one cared about being sweaty after gym, but we didn't

Same. It's kind of gross to think about how we just marinated in sweat all day, but nobody ever took showers. I'm sure that was just a "young people have issues with body image" thing. I've noticed that our students rarely take showers at our campus gym, and they're basically never naked in the locker room even if they do shower. Young people are weird about this stuff.

We were required to take a shower after gym class in my high school (Jesuit all boys school) in the early-mid 80s.

Same here at a Xaverian Brothers run school. Brother Phillip would sit with a clipboard at the entrance of the showers

 

[Snoopy]

Early 80s Junior High. Grades were given solely on alethic talent, good thing it didn't count towards the GPA at the time. Used Jimmy Carter's fitness test results. Square dancing was for girls only. Teacher was very sadistic, especially toward those who were less talented. Showers were required through high school. Teacher watched to enforce this rule and punished the last one to leave by making him do extra work.

 

[Orange&Blue]

so, what happened to this type of thing and the school itself?

 

[WDIK2]

when you're hung like a horse like me, showering in the gym is glorious.

Growing up between 90s and 00s, I'm not even sure if there were showers at my high school. I think so but they were never used. Not after gym class, nor after sports. People just changed shirts, applied deodorant or went to class a little stinky.

Same for us in the mid-1980s. No shower usage. Not sure why no one cared about being sweaty after gym, but we didn't

Weird. Mid 80s also. Showered every day after PE.

Had PE as a freshman where we did all the square dancing, rope climbing, badminton, gymnastics type stuff. Had PE II as a sophomore where we pretty much played pickup basketball and lifted weights all year.

same time frame, but I only remember having the time to shower after swimming.

we had square dancing, all the sports- obviously coed. at some point the girls split off for self-defense/rape-prevention and the boys ironically split off for wrestling, aka learning how to rape.

At that time I was taking 3 showers a day. One in the morning before school, then after PE, another after football/basketball/track practice.

There was a kid in my grade that refused to take showers ever. The PE teacher and football coach ended up forcing him to shower.

 

[Caveman33]

so, what happened to this type of thing and the school itself?

Due to the attention brought by President JFK in 1962, 4,000 other schools signed up to emulate the La Sierra P/E program. Keeping high school students physicallt fit was adavantageous for a nation drafting its young men into war. La Sierra High closed in 1983, and I struggled to find stories about Stan Le Protti and his P/E program in the years between 1963-1983.

A P/E historian gave his personal account here:
"Interestingly, upon researching La Sierra, I realized that my very own California high school had used the same system during the late 1970s! It was slightly modified into only four levels (Gray, White, Red, Red Satin), but what I can tell you “personally”–which parallels what I have read about Mr. LeProtti’s program, is that it was very motivating. In this program, boys would create fitness areas at home so they could practice and improve their ranks. In 1975, I came in at the very bottom of the fitness ranks. I was so mortified by my lack of physical prowess that I trained all summer long! By my sophomore year, I was at the second level and was on my way to the third level by my junior year, but they abandoned the program due to social pressures. Sadly, too many kids in the late 1970s could not perform the tests. We went from having to “increase standards” in 1962 to complete elimination at my high school by 1976."

I found what is claimed to be a La Sierra warm up routine. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NM6pQFy1n4
Jumping Jacks 5 sets
Push-ups 5
Windmills 5 sets
Push-ups 5
Full Bends 5 sets
Push-ups 5
Straddle hops 5 sets
Push-ups 5
Stride hops 5 sets
Push-ups 5
Toe hops 5 sets
Push-ups 5
Burpees 5 sets
Push-ups 5
Mountainclimbers 5 sets
Push-ups 5
Agility routine 4 sets

 

[Orange&Blue]

Podcast #183: When High School PE Was a Man-Maker

During the 1960s, high schools across America used a physical education program that was designed to create strong, athletic young people who'd go on to be strong and useful citizens with character.

www.artofmanliness.com

this podcast, transcript below, goes into this in more detail

 

[ChiefD]

We had showers available at my high school for PE class. Had to take PE freshman year. I had come from a Catholic private school setting, but my dad was too cheap for Catholic high school so he sent us to public school.

I'll never forget the first day of PE. Some kids were in there taking showers, so the concrete floor was wet of course throughout the whole locker room area. I was terrified of course. Never really had been in a locker room setting before.

This was 1983/84, so break dancing was getting going at that time. So there was dudes spinning on their backs, and I'll never forget this one dude. Freshman kid. Dong was so long he looked like a helicopter on the ground. I thought he was gonna take off in the air spinning around that fast.

Everyone was hooting and hollering and laughing.