this post was submitted on 25 Jan 2024
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[–] [email protected] 28 points 10 months ago (3 children)
[–] [email protected] 55 points 10 months ago (3 children)

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 13 points 10 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 22 points 10 months ago (2 children)

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

[–] EdibleFriend 54 points 10 months ago

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

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago (4 children)
[–] elliot_crane 17 points 10 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

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 5 points 10 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 5 points 10 months ago

Or you have failed as a patriot.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago

Shame. Shame. Shame.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 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.

[–] EdibleFriend 10 points 10 months ago (1 children)
[–] gmtom 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)
[–] killeronthecorner 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)
[–] edgemaster72 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)
[–] moistclump 2 points 10 months ago
[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I was born in 1999 and I'm pretty sure that I never had to do this.

[–] GuyDudeman 12 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I graduated high school in 1999 and I definitely had to do this in elementary school.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago
[–] TehBamski 4 points 10 months ago

I sure as fuck, hope it is. Could you imagine kids today doing it and thinking, "Wait, Fat Cheeto and Sleepy Joe did this? No fucking way."

[–] [email protected] 15 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The presidential fitness test is something us kids had to do every year. It was basically doing a bunch of different exercises, and if you did good enough you got a certificate.

Things like sit ups, push ups, chin ups, vertical jump, running a mile, etc. Based on your height and weight there was an expected level you were supposed to achieve.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I believe it. I guess I was hanging out with the metal heads, stoners, and hacky sack kids during gym. That's why I got a D. And not the gym teacher's D... That was reserved for the underage girls that used to play with his leg hair. Right there in the bleachers of a New Hampshire school.

(Actual true story... Girls used to play with his leg hair... This was middle school or 9th grade. Larry A. ...I'm looking at you.)

Knowing my town, I'm surprised that guy stayed athletic director and not a paraplegic. He must have paid someone off. 70k to be a shit-town gym director? Riiiiight........

Where I grew up school was for chumps.

The village makes the villains.

[–] TropicalDingdong 5 points 10 months ago

If you can't bend over and touch your toes, you can't be President.