527

Presidential fitness test (startrek.website)

submitted 5 months ago by The_Picard_Maneuver@startrek.website to c/memes@lemmy.world

98 comments fedilink hide all child comments

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] The_Picard_Maneuver@startrek.website 55 points 5 months ago

In the US, there was a thing called the "Presidential Fitness Test" that kids had to do in P.E. (not sure if it's still a thing).

[-] Mr_Blott@lemmy.world 13 points 5 months ago

What does this mean?

[-] Drusas@kbin.social 22 points 5 months ago

You had to be able to do so many crunches, pushups, etc, in a certain amount of time.

[-] EdibleFriend@lemmy.world 54 points 5 months ago

1 kid failed it. Thats how we got 9/11. The president was not fucking around.

[-] Zoidsberg@lemmy.ca 6 points 5 months ago

Or what

[-] elliot_crane@lemmy.world 17 points 5 months ago

I was a fat kid. If you failed, you couldn’t get Phys. Ed. credit which was required coursework. They made you redo the test until you passed. The only other way out was a medical exemption. I eventually passed, damn near keeling over from the pain my lungs were in from running the mile. It made me resent my gym teacher and cardio, so in hindsight it was a pretty shitty way to encourage physical fitness. I didn’t get not fat until I was like 19.

[-] tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip 5 points 5 months ago

Damn your school was harsh-- pretty sure they didn't fail kids at my school in the 80s for failing the presidential test. I could never pass myself despite being an active kid. I was fine on most everything, then always barely squeaked by on the mile, but I could never do any pull-ups (even though the passing number was like 2 I think).

[-] elliot_crane@lemmy.world 5 points 5 months ago

To be fair I never looked into it whether or not that was school policy, but I do know that Phys. Ed. credit was required. My gym teacher at the time was the type to have us running track while sitting on a lawn chair and munching McD’s breakfast, so he could have just been an asshole.

[-] GuyDudeman@lemmy.world 5 points 5 months ago

Or you have failed as a patriot.

[-] Drusas@kbin.social 4 points 5 months ago

Shame. Shame. Shame.

[-] Artyom@lemm.ee 2 points 5 months ago

There's like 10 challenges including running a mile, a half basketball court relay, touching your toes (pictured), etc. There was a "great job" level and a "you did well enough to not fail" level. At my school, the great job level required you to meet a higher level at only 2 challenges and meant you got a free shirt. Other than that, there were no consequences. It was the same kids who did a great job each year, so a small subset of the class would be wearing those shirts all week, then walk home with a new one.