Apropos of nothing, I was just remembering the misery of having to do square dancing every year in elementary and middle school. Who decided that was essential knowledge and when did it stop being required?
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Well I haven't thought of that since Well forever because I managed to bury the memory. Congrats you just gave me the topic for my next therapy session.
I mentioned this to my husband and he said I should research it and write an article for The Atlantic. Should’ve known that article was already written.
It beat the heck out of dodgeball, which, when the ball was thrown by certain boys in my class, was like trying to avoid a guided missile. And it was better than basketball in girls' P.E. in high school, when prep consisted of handing us a ball and saying, "Okay, go play basketball--for a grade."
I'd have happily traded - every girl I had to partner with ended up trying to turn it into something much more - looking back, flattering, sure, but it was not going to happen.
School is misery. Useless skills taught by enthusiasts. Worthwhile skills mistaught by incompetents. Crammed together, all with undeveloped social skills. Why pick on square dancing?
It's fun if you're okay at dancing. It's not fun for anyone who sucks at dancing/has 2 left feet/no sense of rhythm kind of thing. It's not fun for the kids who aren't popular or many of the kids in wheelchairs.
Heh, I liked it because I *wasn't* ok at dancing and was definitely not popular. At least in the type of square dancing we had in school, not being lithe or graceful, not knowing the right way to move your hips, being stiff as a board, all were totally fine!
This. The teachers just sneered at the boys and girls who were left waiting right until the end, when there were fifty ways for them to take control and put us out of our misery. Bullying at a whole new level.
For square dancing we were put in groups. Now, other sports, on the other hand, were a problem. I had gimpy feet and asthma..... that was a problem for me all the time.
IDK why it stopped being required but you can thank Henry Ford’s White Supremacist advocacy for it being required. He saw square dancing as a bulwark to defend white virtue against Black Music and Dance.
That really takes the shine off something that could have been fun for its own sake.
Good God - THAT was when I learned WHY we were required to wear a Jock-strap. Nothing like revealing your junk to the entire class and the PE teachers. #TrueStory #Humiliation101
Well, that happened on the big ass fiber rope hanging from the gym ceiling 30ft up. We would see if we could swing from one set of bleachers to the other without dying. Sometimes we even made it.
Memories....the school father/daughter dances. Being taught social dance. I do not recommend doing any of it on crutches. Debra, I think the pandemic changed a lot. There's also more awareness that forcing people to learn all of that isn't okay.
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https://youtu.be/EFofqe26t-4?si=hVM4h1LXeAfQUvwi
I'm glad we had to do it for so many reasons. There aren't enough letters to explain why.
No no, the 1990s.
Still have no idea why.
My parents let me skip the recital.
Never let me skip anything else.
Thanks Mom & Dad
In a smaller semi-rural school system.
Never did it prior in Kansas City or Houston.
That really takes the shine off something that could have been fun for its own sake.
https://youtu.be/5bhefS70tgs?si=hxD36Y9k-JyIoUsS