PE class... a peer driven, pecking order, compulsory nightmare event all through my school years : 60's - 70's. Seriously..I witnessed children mentally traumatized in boys PE " class " My personal favorite game? " Slaughter Ball " Dodge Ball on steroids. Hopefully we have become more enlightened today with Physical Education practices. This film shows the indoctrination process of educators of that epoch quite well.

Boys and girls together...the class formed two teams; she blew the whistle and you would lob these balls as hard as you could to "tag out" opponents- especially the girls because they were always treated like princesses while the boys were treated like criminals and idiots in the other classes....so this was "payoff time"...we'd knock the girls out of the game first and then the boys left in the game would play til the last kid was left (often me because I'd hide behind the girls and later those left in the game, which usually ended when the meanest and biggest kid in the class, on the other team would finally let me have it, full steam, right in the kisser...and it would, like, stun ya). It's a wonder my nose is still recognizeable.

All that other fancy phys ed stuff is a big waste of money and time for students most of whom (in the U.S.) are unable to learn anything - even if the school day was uninterrupted and 10 hours long.

This film was so drawn out and boring...and I'm still unsure what was the point. They had gym teachers 90 years ago when my parents were in school....what are they talking about?

Was there an American aversion to water? Why not play in the rain and snow? We always used to. Football is played mostly in rain in northern Europe. Cross-country running. Rugby. Circuit training (great memories of press-ups in puddles) You go out. Run around. Get muddy. Stay warm. Back in for a shower. Back to lessons. Invigorated and awake. Unfortunately even in UK we've moved away from this, with Thatcher/Blair selling off playing fields and the Health and Safety Police sticking their oars in.
Ho hum said Pooh.
btw, I'm only going back to '78-'83. Hardly ancient history!
Now we reap the benefits of allergies due to molly-coddling disinfection and obesity due to more input than output.
Go figure/do the math, as the Americans say

This is like a commercial making everything said and done seems so idyllic. As other reviewers mentioned, there were negative consequences of such programs. Like many 1950's films of this kind,the setting was an affluent community. Here all the parents seemed highly intelligent, and all the schools modern and spacious. A utopian situation.

A very interesting, unexplored (at least in Prelinger land) subject of lack of proper physical education is discussed here. A mother is wondering why her son is just so mopey all the time. Some people believe that the reason for his, and other kids' restlessness is the lack of a proper Gym teacher, to properly supervise the kids sports. "Nonsense!" one guy blurts out, "Just leave them on the playground and let them be!". This all becomes pretty much then a lecture of there should be these instructors, the final speech seems to take up the last 1/4 of the film, but don't worry, because while this happens, there's some great shots of kids sports, bizarre races, and some long-forgotten activities (like the tandem basketball bouncing race).
Now I know why I had to take Square Dancing in Phys-Ed in Junior High.
By the way, the print looks great!