Smelly Students

According to a study, more than half of secondary school boys and two-thirds of girls never shower after physical education (PE) lessons. Questioning children produced the surprising finding that showering routinely after PE is extremely rare. I say surprising because when I was in that age group, showering was not an optional decision ... the games master made everyone go under the water.

The only exceptions were medical conditions e.g. bandages or those odd looking boys whose body shapes were, well how shall I put this, 'feminine', and displayed an androgynous presentation of gender. Boys being boys, these were bullied, so excusing them the shower was a mercy ... there was one such lad in our games lessons and he had a torrid time of it.

The report apparently gives no reason why going to the showers caused children to hold back in lessons and thus gain no benefit from the physical exercise. The researchers believe that showering may be a hindrance towards children getting fitter but couldn't reach a conclusion as to what the problem is.

But where angels fear to tread and all that .....  I suggest that it could be cultural. So many children in the UK come from immigrant families, that religious modesty, which prohibits exposing naked bodies to anyone, could be the reason (or a major factor) why showering levels have dropped off.

PC policies in schools facilitate this by saying its multi-cultural for one group to not shower, and then the rot sets in and the lazy, or just dirty amongst the main population follow suit, and pretty soon it becomes the majority not showering ... the report is likely to be just as PC as well i.e. it makes no distinction between attitudes to showering in different ethnicities or religions ... Many Muslims refuse to strip in front of others, even of the same sex (its one of the signs of those who are adopting fundamentalist attitudes).

The Bane Of Many Teachers .....

So a lot of smelly students wander about (or students who make no physical effort during games, which is what the report fears).

Just a theory I know, but I do know that if big Arther Seddon was still a games master now, showering rates amongst boys would still be 100%  .... cultural issues or not.