A real Olympic legacy.

[chiller]

There's much talk of Olympic legacy at the moment - the carrying of the torch - and the bluntest minds jump on the bluntest version of that legacy. In their unseemly rush for column inches (another competitive boys' sport, of course), Boris and Dave have floated the idea of two hours' mandatory PE per day, for children

Comments

[chiller]

*high fives you*

[dakegra]

Two hours a day? I thought it was two hours a week?

Great post.

[chiller]

It will end up being nothing per nothing, but Boris said 2 hrs a day. *ulp*

[chiller]

The problem with the Daves and Borises of this world is that they're incredibly well educated, but they're narrow, and not natively bright. enough to overcome that.

[almostwitty]

While I totally agree with you about the two hours of awesomeness thing, I think the reasons Cameron et. al. are making these announcements are just to try and imply there's going to be a legacy.

After Rio, it'll be quietly forgotten about - a bit like Australia after 2004, resulting in the dearth of medals for them this year.

Sport requires investment. And Cameron generally is not interested in investment that doesn't produce some kind of financial return for GB PLC.

[chiller]

I completely agree with you - there will be no legacy, none of this will happen because none of it is sponsored by McDonalds or Coke.

[obsessive_katy]

If I had watched these Olympics as a youngster, I would probably have been more inspired to get involved with sport. But not if it was compulsory. Then I would have rallied against it and squirmed my way out of every lesson that I could. I would have been resentful of losing the time when I could sit on my own and sew or read or daydream

[chiller]

Couldn't agree more - I love that last idea. And you're right, there are lots of other ways a child can learn teamwork, and for most of us, teamwork in application as an adult is more about building things than running about. It's strange there aren't more things like that in school.

[obsessive_katy]

(My new job is working on a 'design' programme for secondary schools which is just that - a healthy dose of working together to get stuff made/done and some good practical skills too. We want kids to be able to work out how to put up a shelf and how to think of creative solutions to everyday problems.

But we also want them to try out all the other subjects too. Who knows, maybe they'll find out they're complementary or something *shock horror*.)

[biascut]

I pointed out to my school that I ought to get school colours on my blazer for having represented the school in a choir competition. They all went, "Er - oh - um - right, yeah, I suppose so."

[kiss_me_quick]

I've only skimmed ths but have had similar thoughts. I'm sure they said something like not putting emphasis on getting prizes or something but then said compulsory competitive sport. The whole issue I had with PE at school was it being competitive and me being rubbish at it. I liked most of it and tried so hard but never got recognition for that. Forcing kids to compete with other kids at something they are no good at will just make those kids miserable.