this post was submitted on 25 Jan 2024
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[–] JaymesRS@literature.cafe 93 points 11 months ago (4 children)

Speaking of crazy things in US PE classes, if you learned to Square Dance, it was because Henry Ford was a racist who was afraid of Jazz.

[–] Anticorp@lemmy.world 22 points 11 months ago (1 children)

That might be why it was added to the curriculum at first, but that's certainly not why it stayed, nor why we did it at my school. It's a pretty fun activity too, so a good use of that PE time.

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 9 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Man. We hated square dancing time in PE.

[–] ethanolparty@lemmy.ml 5 points 11 months ago

I had horrible eyesight and was shockingly inept at all sportball games, even compared to other hopeless nerds, so I found it slightly less awful than the stuff we usually did.

[–] yeather@lemmy.ca 18 points 11 months ago (4 children)

There’s usually a dance section included in PE instruction, mostly to break up hard physical activity snd allow kids to have fun. The type of dancing depends on the school and the state, we did salsa dancing in Florida.

[–] Zron@lemmy.world 19 points 11 months ago (1 children)

“Allow the kids to have fun”

Should have told that to my PE teacher in grade school. I’ve never been good at dancing, and I got pulled aside multiple times in front of the class because I just couldn’t follow some of the dances we were supposed to do. These weren’t for competitions or anything, just as an activity.

That’s when I learned that not all bullies are children.

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 5 points 11 months ago

Let me guess: "if you only applied yourself, you'd get it. It's easy (for me). Watch!"

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 7 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

We waltzed in german Catholic land, but we also square danced because midwest

[–] Chetzemoka@startrek.website 7 points 11 months ago (3 children)

You're younger than I am. For my generation, it was all square dancing.

[–] JaymesRS@literature.cafe 6 points 11 months ago

Same. I lived in Minnesota and Indiana and did Square Dancing in both.

[–] son_named_bort@lemmy.world 5 points 11 months ago

Same here. Nobody liked it.

[–] Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works 3 points 11 months ago

I'm over 60, growing up in SoCal we had Square Dancing and the Maypole but also the Mexican Hat Dance, plus Tinikling, the Filipino one with two poles. Oh, and I think a bit of Hula.

(Later as a teacher I taught my 2nd graders some Russian dancing I had learned from my ballet teacher, because little kids are bouncy and kicky and we could do it inside when it rained.)

[–] poppy@lemm.ee 4 points 11 months ago

I never had dancing in PE in any grade. Can’t decide if that sucks or not. Maybe I’d have better coordination now. We did get roller skating week though.

[–] ZombieMantis@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

We did square dancing, but I'm from Texas, so our families joined the hoedown. I was so proud of my bolo, fond memories.

And I don't think it was part of the curriculum, I think they were just throwing a party for graduation or something. It's been years, and this was when I was little, in elementary school.