Sorry. No Scholarship for You. You’re Too Slow at Jumping Rope.

family, Fitness, happiness, health related issues, lessons learned, politics, rankings, Teaching and Education, United States 1 Minute

In 2014, Chinese authorities introduced physical-education requirements that included a national jump-rope exam for boys and girls from first through sixth grades.

To pass, students must complete minimum numbers of skips a minute, and failure can trip up an otherwise promising academic trajectory. Top officials see the activity as an accessible, low-cost way to help build national sports excellence, a priority of China’s leader Xi Jinping.

Every school in China must administer annual jump-rope tests, issuing one of four grades: Fail, Pass, Good and Excellent. Only students who receive a Good or Excellent are eligible for scholarships.

First-grade boys and girls must be able to skip 17 times in a minute to pass and 87 to receive a Good rating. Boys have to skip 99 times in a minute for an Excellent mark but girls need to hit 103.

If this were the U.S., a natural response would be a capitalist one – entrepreneurs popping up to offer jump rope lessons. Interestingly enough, that is what is happening in China.

Jump-rope schools charge as much as $50 an hour to teach children as young as 3 the mechanics of what has traditionally been a carefree childhood pastime.

Authorities seem OK with such a response. Beijing has called for the opening of hundreds of thousands of fitness centers and earlier this year launched a five-year nationwide fitness program.

I like the idea of implementing fitness standards and would be happy to see the U.S. do so.

I am not sure if I like the idea of tying such standards to scholarship eligibility. If a student excels academically, then that should be the key criterion for an academic scholarship.

If you are going to tie jump roping ability to scholarships, then the cutoff should be the passing grade; not good or excellent.

I think I could jump 17 times in a minute.

Of course, another U.S. response would be to try and bribe your way into the college of your choice…

source:: Wall Street Journal

*image from verywell family

Published by Jim Borden

A 60-something guy trying to figure out the world, and his place in it. Happily married for 40-plus years, three wonderful sons. Accounting teacher, fitness enthusiast, blogger, reader.

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53 thoughts on “Sorry. No Scholarship for You. You’re Too Slow at Jumping Rope.”

  2. What if you have only one leg? Will half the mark win you the scholarship?

    I’m thinking maybe this is why the Wuhan lab leak occurred. The lab workers were so jumpy that they spilled a bunch of petri dishes.

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  4. I used to have to give the physical fitness test to my students in 5th and 6th grade. It wasn’t like anything happened to them if they didn’t pass, but kids received an award if they passed all six events. I thought the test was biased toward kids with smaller builds, I recall the events were usually easier for lighter/thinner kids. I remember them doing the mile run, pull-ups, sit-ups, the side shuttle which was really an agility test moving from side to side, and a flexibility test. I’m missing one more, but my memory can’t seem to recall what it was. No jump rope, although one year I had a jump rope team at school.

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    1. the test sounds little biased; I am sure there would have been events the bigger kids would have done better at, like tire flipping and shot put 🙂

      was the jump rope team for events like double dutch and the like?

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  5. Tying academic scholarships to physical ability is a stupid idea IMHO. I always assumed that at least elementary and high school were free in China. If there is private education, I’m sure the state controls it. People with disabilities are out of luck it seems. To improve the gene pool and get a more athletic population, maybe China will institute a physical ability test before people are allowed to have sex. I’d like to see Xi and his cronies take the test.

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    1. I’d be curious to know what happens to students with disabilities. and I think older people should be required to take a fitness test every five years – maybe you lose your driver’s license if you fail…

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  13. Were you around in the days of the annual Presidential Fitness Test? I usually failed because, though able to do everything else, I couldn’t do even 1 pullup. I still recall the year I did 4… no idea how!… and got my silver medal patch!! That has to have been almost 50yrs ago!!

    I think there’d be a LOT less diagnoses of ADHD if PE was resumed in school. There is literally NO mandatory PE anymore.

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    2. I remember those tests and that I probably failed them every time! I don’t remember if they included jumping rope but I doubt it since I could probably have performed at least up to the minimum standard on that one!

      I went to college at USC (So Cal) home of what used to be the country’s (or at least the Pac-8’s then followed by -10 to now -12) best (semi-pro) football team. They told the regular students (as opposed to those “student-athletes”) that they wanted to produce well-rounded individuals so for my PE elective there I took horseback riding. That ruined my back almost forever, until it was replaced by the arthritis in my hip which was replaced with a titanium one!

      If Mom didn’t have Alzheimer’s, she would probably remember Lynn Swann telling us at orientation he was the best paid student on campus. That was one of the highlights for her of my time there!

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      1. that would have been cool to have Lynn Swann talk at your orientation, and what a great line..

        I remembering college we had to take three 1-credit courses in phys ed. I took yoga, fencing, and racquetball. I loved all three of them…

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    1. I think I’d rather seem jump roping as an event than some of the other events that have made their way into the Olympics. But you are right, the Chinese would likely dominate such an event, given this mandate…

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