"I hate Phys. Ed.": adolescent girls talk about physical education

Physical Educator, Spring, 2002 by Lori Olafson

Abstract

This article presents the experiences of adolescent girls in physical education. In the interviews and focus groups that were part of a larger study on resistance to schooling, the participants repeatedly expressed their dislike for physical education and discussed their strategies for avoiding physical education. In addition to describing the phenomenon of resistance to physical education from a Foucauldian and feminist framework, this paper suggests curricular implications arising from the theoretical frame. The data demonstrate that resistance to physical education stems from three sources. Therefore, revisioning physical education classes must take into account these barriers to participation.

**********

We skip Phys. Ed. because it's totally embarrassing. We started skipping it the second day of school this year. We don't like people staring. Everybody watches you and makes comments, even the teacher. Sometimes the teacher makes you go up in front of the whole class and do a demonstration. And the whole class comments when you walk back to your place. They insult you and say mean stuff. The boys--they have a big mouth. Like they started commenting on our chests in grade six. (Rebecca and Diane: 12/10/98)

Phys. Ed., I don't like, especially demonstrations in front of the whole class and there's a whole bunch of eyes staring at you. I didn't mind in grade four, but now, it's like, "Oh God, help me" and I turn all red. I'd rather have girls-only P.E. classes because then you don't have men looking at you. They're stupid and they don't understand. Like they don't know the emotional pain they cause when they call you bad names. Of course they do it when the teacher isn't listening. (Lynn: 06/18/98)

I don't like P.E. Everyone's always watching. It makes you really self-conscious. You' re always being evaluated by your teachers and your peers. You get made fun of in P.E. because you look stupid. When I don't have to take P.E. anymore, I'm not going to. (Angela: 12/03/98)

This paper presents one of the unexpected results that surfaced during a program of research in which I was interested in adolescent girls in grades seven and eight and the ways in which they made sense of the experience of resistance to schooling. Although this research did not focus specifically on physical education, it emerged as a common theme, with all participants expressing their dislike for physical education. The purposes of this paper are:

1. To discuss the phenomenon of resistance to schooling,

2. To describe the phenomenon of resistance to physical education as it is experienced by adolescent girls, and,

3. To suggest curricular implications arising from the theoretical frame.

Background/Context

The research was conducted in two classrooms at two schools during the 1997-1998 and 1998-1999 school years: one school was in a large western Canadian city and the second school was located in smaller community located in the same geographical area. Classroom teachers from these schools recommended potential participants following a presentation by the researcher on the "classic" signs of resistance to schooling, and seven of these students (and their parents) consented to be a part of this study. As I developed a more complex understanding of resistance, I expanded the study to include participants were not overtly resistant to schooling and three more students volunteered to participate. Multiple, in-depth interviewing of the participants, also called feminist interviewing (Reinharz, 1992), was the primary data-collection activity. In all, I conducted 46 individual interviews that were audio-taped and subsequently transcribed. In addition to the individual interviews, I conducted three focus groups that were also taped and transcribed. Pseudonyms are used to refer to participants, schools, and teachers throughout this paper.

Theoretical Framework

I use aspects of Foucault's work as theoretical lenses through which to view the ways that resistance is constructed in schools and in physical education in particular. Using Foucauldian insights permits exploration of the relationship between power and resistance; that is, the notion that resistance is intimately connected to the play of power. In fact, there are no relations of power without resistances, according to Foucault (1980) and multiple forms of resistance emerge in response to the different forms of power (Foucault, 1982). In schools, then, the vast network of power relationships (between administrators, teachers and students) give rise to various forms of resistance.

Previous studies (Everhart, 1983; Kohl, 1994; Miron & Lauria, 1995, Sefa Dei, Massuca, McIsaac, & Zine, 1997; Starr, 1981; Willis, 1977) have focused on the asymmetrical teacher-student relationship in the construction of resistance. That is, the power hierarchy in schools and resultant power struggles between students and school authorities leads to student resistance. Contemporary scholarship on resistance also categorizes and classifies resistance by the appearance of certain behaviors. For example, "Skipping school, cutting classes, making fun of their teachers, or goofing off in class" are instances of students engaging in resistant behavior at school (Sun, 1995, p. 843). Avoidance of school work is also considered as one of the central features of student resistance (Contenta, 1993; Everhart, 1983; Kohl, 1994; Willis, 1977). These conceptions of resistance are essentially structuralist in nature; that is, students from subordinated positions engage in oppositional behaviours and anti-school tactics in order to win what Willis (1977) calls physical and symbolic space from the institution and the dominant school culture. In other words, it is the institutional and bureaucratic nature of schooling that is solely responsible for creating the conditions that give rise to student resistance.