FITNESS DEATH MARCHES TO EXHAUSTION STARTED IN 70S, NOW COMMON "REFORM" \doc\web\99\07\deatmar.txt From: Ken Wessels 6/2/99 Subject: Fitness Death Marches Hi Arthur - I have some information on the development of these "death march" type fitness programs for grade schoolers now in place all over America. It started in University physical education research during the 1970's. Once measuring athletes performance became a science, complete with medical like Ph.D. degrees, high school teachers upgrading their degrees during summer schools, were taught that this was and advanced way to fine tune the population. In fact these programs were measuring people being pushed to the limits of their endurance and then being allowed to recover. This type of training first began with the Canadian Air Force Aerobics plans that also later contributed to America's road running craze. There was a Nazi doctor like approach to all this testing and pushing of school kids. I was in a class like this in the summer of 1977, along with a local high school teacher. She is now the object of letters to the editor for pushing high school kids to exhaustion in P.E. classes! It was a flawed approach to Phys. Ed. and I became horrified when I realized these teachers were going to fully implement these over fatiguing programs in their curricula and view it as an advancement. -Kenneth Wessels, M.A. > +OK 4120 octets Received: from smtp11.nwnexus.com (smtp11.nwnexus.com [206.63.63.200]) by mail3.halcyon.com (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id OAA07466 for ; Mon, 7 Jun 1999 14:40:15 -0700 (PDT) Received: from soli.inav.net (soli.inav.net [199.120.107.103]) by smtp11.nwnexus.com (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id OAA09300 for ; Mon, 7 Jun 1999 14:36:27 -0700 Received: from inav.net (dip704.inav.net [206.230.237.100]) by soli.inav.net (8.8.7/8.6.12) with ESMTP id QAA30599 for ; Mon, 7 Jun 1999 16:36:23 -0500 Message-ID: <375C3BAF.B4F5763A@inav.net> Date: Mon, 07 Jun 1999 16:37:52 -0500 From: Ken Wessels Reply-To: cati@inav.net Organization: http://members.aol.com/MltplSanta/index.html X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.5 (Macintosh; I; PPC) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Arthur Hu Subject: Re: Fitness Death Marches References: <199906071932.MAA29991@mail4.halcyon.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=x-user-defined Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Status: Hi- The course was taught by Margaret Fox, in the Women's Phys. Ed. Department in 1977 at the University of Iowa. She is an elderly woman. The teacher herself I remembered when reading the letter to the editor complaining about her, in the Iowa City Press Citizen about 1 year ago. The high school is located in Tiffin, Iowa, 7 miles west of Iowa City, Iowa, and is called "Clear Creek-Amana", team name of the "Clippers". I will get any more info to you if I find it. -Ken Arthur Hu wrote: > > you got some of these letters or the name of the teacher? this is very > important > > On 1999-06-05 cati@inav.net said: > >Hi Arthur - > >I have some information on the development of these "death march" > >type fitness programs for grade schoolers now in place all over > >America. It started in University physical education research > >during the 1970's. Once measuring athletes performance became a > >science, complete with medical like Ph.D. degrees, high school > >teachers upgrading their degrees during summer schools, were taught > >that this was and advanced way to fine tune the population. In fact > >these programs were measuring people being pushed to the limits of > >their endurance and then being allowed to recover. This type of > >training first began with the Canadian Air Force Aerobics plans > >that also later contributed to America's road running craze. There > >was a Nazi doctor like approach to all this testing and pushing of > >school kids. I was in a class like this in the summer of 1977, > >along with a local high school teacher. She is now the object of > >letters to the editor for pushing high school kids to exhaustion in > >P.E. classes! It was a flawed approach to Phys. Ed. and I became > >horrified when I realized these teachers were going to fully > >implement these over fatiguing programs in their curricula and view > >it as an advancement. -Kenneth Wessels, M.A. > >> "LIFETIME FITNESS" = FIRST GRADE BATANN DEATH MARCH > >> MILE RUN > >> I joked to the principal about comparing excessive homework to > >> making > >> kids run laps. Well, it's no longer a joke. As if higher academic > >> standards were bad enough, my first grader just brought home his > >> fitness report card, complete with percentile rankings, fall and > >> spring. He did 33/17 sit-ups (85/25pct) 1/0 pull-ups (80/30pct) > >> 31/25cm (85/45) sit and reach, shuttle run in 13/14.5 secs > >>(60/15), and the 1 mile-run walk (1 mile???) 14 min = 30th > >>percentile. Children are _required_ to do pull ups even though > >>the chart clearly shows that the MEDIAN number of pull-ups is > >>ZERO, doing even one > >> pull-up puts you at the 75th percentile. > >> That's as far as kids used to have to walk to school! f > > Arthur Hu "Fairness in Diversity" Kirkland WA > http://www.leconsulting.com/arthurhu/ > > Net-Tamer V 1.11P - Registered . +OK 15462 octets Received: from smtp07.nwnexus.com (smtp07.nwnexus.com [192.135.191.4]) by mail3.halcyon.com (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id SAA10001 for ; Mon, 7 Jun 1999 18:55:11 -0700 (PDT) Received: from mail.emeraldnet.net (mail.emeraldnet.net [206.191.151.2]) by smtp07.nwnexus.com (8.8.8/8.8.8) with SMTP id SAA20684 for ; Mon, 7 Jun 1999 18:48:25 -0700 Received: (qmail 2403 invoked from network); 8 Jun 1999 01:48:18 -0000 Received: from ppp-206-191-150-15.emeraldnet.net (HELO default) (206.191.150.15) by mail.emeraldnet.net with SMTP; 8 Jun 1999 01:48:18 -0000 Message-ID: <001801beb151$55c39160$0f96bfce@default> From: "Lauren Bain" To: References: <199906080122.SAA27569@mail4.halcyon.com> Subject: Re: time change Date: Mon, 7 Jun 1999 18:50:48 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2014.211 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2014.211 Status: I remember the 600 yd run/walk seeming abusive when I was in 6th grade, but I wasn't too athletic. I'm sure children shouldn't run a mile unless they have proper $120 shoes for support of their undeveloped muscles. But it probably seems reasonable to the average clod. I don't know. You need to compare the new standards to the conventional ones and loose the hysteria when you're campaigning. This is the laid-back northwest. People mistrust hysteria. Hint: Probably not a good idea for you to allude to Bataan. John will be a good translator if he can come. He's a retired teacher and he knows all the buzzwords. Lauren ----- Original Message ----- From: arthur hu To: Lauren Bain Sent: Monday, June 07, 1999 6:19 PM Subject: Re: time change > yes that's good. You want to get on my ed deform mail list? Here's the > latest - my kids have to do a death march for "lifelong fitness". > > Arthur Hu's Education Deform / Diversity Update > Posted 6/5/1999 > http://www.leconsulting.com/99/07/eddef05.txt > > archives and mailing list: > www.egroups.com/groups/wa-ed-deform > > email arthurhu@halcyon.com > index www.leconsulting.com/arthurhu/edreform.htm > > "LIFETIME FITNESS" = FIRST GRADE BATANN DEATH MARCH > MILE RUN > > I joked to the principal about comparing excessive homework to > making > kids run laps. Well, it's no longer a joke. As if higher academic > standards were bad enough, my first grader just brought home his > fitness report card, complete with percentile rankings, fall and > spring. He did 33/17 sit-ups (85/25pct) 1/0 pull-ups (80/30pct) > 31/25cm (85/45) sit and reach, shuttle run in 13/14.5 secs (60/15), > and the 1 mile-run walk (1 mile???) 14 min = 30th percentile. > Children are _required_ to do pull ups even though the chart clearly > shows that the MEDIAN number of pull-ups is ZERO, doing even > one > pull-up puts you at the 75th percentile. > > That's as far as kids used to have to walk to school! I can't recall > doing this sort of stuff until middle high school. 1st grade was > playing tether ball, monkey bars and jump rope. This is all in > street clothes. At least Junior and High Schools have locker rooms > and gym clothes, and tracks. Parents were not informed at all about > the fall session, we just got the note back about spring today. There > was no permission slip to fill out. > > The scarier thing is that that is based on the "President's Challenge > Physical Fitness Program". Can anybody find out about this? Somebody > had to take 1000 first graders and make them run a mile to get this > norms chart. > > The attached letter (I can't mention the name for fear of LWEA > lawsuit) from the PE teacher said the main objective was to develop a > physical fiteness program to encourage lifetime fitness (= lifetime > learning??) for your child. "The results from the assessment will .. > provide a baseline to continue developing standards.. promoting a > healthy standard of living in children". Are we going to have > "performance-based" PE standards requiring 85th percentile > performance as what "all students should be able to do", "no excuses, > no exceptions"??? Be afraid, be very afraid. > > See images of actual documents my kid brought home: > http://www.leconsulting.com/arthurhu/images/99/06/03/pe/fit1.gif > http://www.leconsulting.com/arthurhu/images/99/06/03/pe/fit2.gif > > > ASIANS 20-30% OF SILICON VALLEY BUT ONLY 7% OF START UP EXECUTIVES > > "Running Your Own Show" Asian Week May 27, 1999 p. 15 Asians make up > 25 to 30 percent of workers in Silicon Valley hi-tech startups, but > of 100 firms that received venture capital funding, only 7 percent > were headed by Asians or Asian Americans according a study this year > by the San Jose Mercury News. > > > NEWSWEEK SPOTLIGHT SHOWS EVEN AFFLUENT BLACKS IN BEST SCHOOLS LAG > WHITES. [I dug this up in my National Review article, not that > anybody was paying any attention - in every affluent school district > blacks perform either as badly as in urban centers, or no better than > state average for whites] > \clip\99\11\shaker.txt > http://www.newsweek.com/nw-srv/printed/us/na/so0423_2.htm > Newsweek, June 7, 1999 > Trying to Close the Achievement Gap > Why, in this upper-middle-class Ohio high school, do blacks perform > worse than whites? > > [in Shaker Heights, Ohio. The affluent suburb of Cleveland has long > been hailed as a model of successful integration. By and large, > blacks and whites there are equally well off and live harmoniously > side by side. The high school consistently ranks as one of the > nation's best. There's just one nagging failure: the persistent > achievement gap between black and white students. The brightest black > students at Shaker are among the country's best, but a study released > two years ago turned up a bleak reality. Though blacks make up half > the high-school population, they regularly account for less than 10 > percent of those at the top of the class and nearly 90 percent of the > bottom.] > > > KINDERGARTEN READING COMPANION SERIES - GRADE 1/2 READING / > COMPREHENSION > > Kindergarten half day 4 day / week reading assignment. Read "to > fluency" A.G. Bell. Teacher name ommitted to avoid lawsuit from LW > teachers union. > > [Note, there are no pictures on this page] > > Share sheet Unit 18 > > The log > > 1 A log was on the path. > 2 Sam said "Here is a big log!" > 3 "We have got to cut this log!" > 4 "Where is an ax?" said Kim. > 5 Sam said, "There is an ax in the shed." > 6 The ax was in a box. > 7 "We can cut the big log," said Kim and Sam. > 8 The ax hit the log and cut it. > 9 It was fun to cut the log > ---------------------------- > > [Comprehension questions at k?] > Was there a log on the path? [line 1 " a log was on the path"] > Where was the ax? [line 6 "in a box"] > Do you have an ax? [no, had to ask dad] > > KINDERGARTEN MATH - > > My kids got a drawing of Eric Carle's Hungry Caterpillar (good) > and they had to estimate how many squares would fit inside (bad) > There was no grid to count. > > INVESTIGATIONS HOMEWORK - SHAPES AROUND THE HOME > > One of the more innocent "investigations" by Dale Seymour assignments > my 1st grader got was to write or draw 5 objects with shapes around > the house. Sounds pretty easy, but I the parent still had to explain > the problem, point out objects and shapes for him, and help him. The > only shapes around most kitches and houses are rectangles and > circles. Problem? it takes a lot of time and motion on the part of > student and parent and doesn't teach him much vs. a worksheet that > tests the student's knowledge of shapes. > > > DRESS CODE FOR 00S > Dress Code from an elementary school in > Kirkland WA May 1999 > > In the 60s, we didn't have detailed policies like these, and these > things generally weren't a problem: > > Dress expectations (from our behavior policy) > the following will be allowed: > > 1. Tanks tops if a shirt is worn on top, over it > or under it > 2. Shorts and skirts will be the length of the > tip of the mmiddle finger when the student's > arm is placed down at his / her side. (Primary > teachers may use their judgement on this) > 3. Hemmed or rolled up jean shorts > 4. Spandex shorts > > The following will _not_ be allowed > > 1. Halter tops, midriff tops, tube tops > 2. Inappropriate sayings on clothes > 3. T-shirts with alchohol or tobacco logos > 4. Holes in pants when hole is above the knee > 5. Ripped or large holes in shirts > 6. Hats in the building / classroom > 7. "Sagging" pants > 8. Gang related clothing > > Also students are expected to keep their > pants UP at all times. "Sagging" or showing > underwear is not appropriate, and will be > treated as requiring disciplinary actions. > > Behavior expectations: > > 1. Only school equipment will e used at reccess > on the playground. Any equipment from home must > stay in the classroom. Electronic equipment including > walkmans, radios and walkie talkies are not > allowed at school. > > 2. No hardballs, boomerangs, skates, skateboards, hockey > or lacrosse equiepment at school. District policy forbids > skateboarding at all schools for liability reasons. > > 3. Activities such as "pantsing", "mooning", or other > behaviors which embarass or humiliate students are in > violation of our human dignity policy and will not > be allowed. Disciplinary action will be the consequence > for these behaviors at school > > 4. The school bus is considered an extension of the school > for safety and disciplinary matters. > > 5. students may not buy or sell their personal posessions at > school. > > > LAKE WASHINGTON DISTRICT HOMEWORK POLICY > see > http://www.leconsulting.com/arthurhu/images/99/06/03/homework.gi > f > > A.G. BELL RELEASES ELEMENTRARY HOMEWORK SURVEY > > In response to my complaints about the homework load and level, > the > principal agreed to distribute a survey to parents asking them what > they thought the homework load should be. I believe kindergarteners > can get maybe 2 times a month requiring parental supervision, first > graders may once a week. Traditional is no homework until they > can do > it without assistance. They have been returned, but no word on the > results. > > A.G. BELL ELEMENTARY GETS BLUE RIBBON NATIONAL > RECOGNITION > > see > http://www.leconsulting.com/arthurhu/images/99/06/03/bluerib.gif > for image. > > "We are delighted to announce that A.G. Bell has been selected > as one > of the schools to receive national recognition as a Blue Ribbon > School.. began with application by a team of 18 staff members, > parents and members of our school community.. site visit in > march.. > is a great honor.. we will announce a celebration" > > JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL SERVICE REQUIREMENT THREATENS > TO FLUNK 9TH GRADER > > Kimakin Junior High in Kirkland (Lake Washington District) may be > one > of the only junior high schools in the nation with a community > service requirement. It's called capstone with CAP meaning > something > like Community Action Projet. Active libertarian Rachael Hawkridge > raehawkrij@aol.com 425-814-4548 reports that her son is being > threatened with failing the 9th grade because he believes that > community service requriements violate his freedom. > > Notes: > > Arthur Hu is the same parent who was sent a letter from the Lake > Washington Education Association (district teachers union) > threatening a lawsuit if he did not stop publicly complaining about > his kindergarteners getting reading and writing assignment, and his > first grader getting math and writing assignments not appropriate for > his grade level. > > Arthur Hu is also investigating a run for Superintent of Public > Instruction in 2000 against incumbent Terry Bergeson. He would > oppose > the dismantling of, and restore a traditional content-based education > that works for all students, and work to stop outcome based > education, school to work, and progressive education in all its > mutant forms before it takes a Train Wreck for the public to notice > what has happened to public education. > > A.G. Bell Elementary office number is 425-822-7450. The principal > is > Dr. Nancy Wilson. > > SPEECH ON ROOTS OF POLITICAL CORRECTNESS / TRANSF > MARXISM > > Terry Olive recently forwarded to me th web address of an speech > by Bill > Lind of the Free Congress Foundation. In this speech Lind speaks > of the > origins of political correctness and the connections men known to > be > transformational Marxists: Theodor Adorno, Gramsci, Luckasc, > Marcuse ... > It's well worth the read and can be found at > http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a37100ace0b5a.htm . > > > Letter to President's challenge > > Please address the following problems in your materials and > website: > > 1. Please require children to have parental consent and knowlege > before subjecting children to this program. > > 2. Please require children to be in gym clothes. > > 3. Please acknowlege activity may not even be appropriate at K-6 > grade level since most elmentary shools do not lockers or changing > rooms or gym clothing. > > > From: "Lauren Bain" > To: > Subject: Re: time change > Date sent: Fri, 4 Jun 1999 06:53:16 -0700 > > > Good--Thursday 1:00? Soon as you know for sure I'll contact a guy on Vashon > > who's in the LP database--apparently he's on the VI school board. Maybe he > > could join us. > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: arthur hu > > To: Lauren Bain > > Sent: Thursday, June 03, 1999 10:52 PM > > Subject: Re: time change > > > > > > > yeah, that should work too. > > > > > > From: "Lauren Bain" > > > To: "Arthur Hu" > > > Subject: time change > > > Date sent: Thu, 3 Jun 1999 19:01:10 -0700 > > > > > > > Hi Arthur, > > > > > > > > I need to ask you to arrive after 1:00 p.m.--the 12:30 ferry would be > > fine. > > > > Also, if it is raining, your guests' options might be limited--my house > > is > > > > very small, and without the deck (which is not rainproof), they'd be > > welcome > > > > to read in the living room while we plot in the kitchen. Or they could > > > > drive around and tour the island, of course. There's the lighthouse, > > the > > > > bicycle in the tree, and cute stores. > > > > > > > > Lauren > > > > > > > > Lauren Bain > > > > Read a Good Cat Lately? > > > > http://www.seanet.com/~rvb/ > > > > > > > > > > > > > Arthur Hu arthurhu@halcyon.com Education Deform Critic > > > Index: http://www.leconsulting.com/arthurhu/index/edreform.htm > > > listserver: http://www.egroups.com/list/wa-ed-deform > > > > > Arthur Hu arthurhu@halcyon.com Education Deform Critic > Index: http://www.leconsulting.com/arthurhu/index/edreform.htm > listserver: http://www.egroups.com/list/wa-ed-deform .