Should our Schools teach fishing as a sport?

Since our schools teach our kids the sport of football, baseball, basket ball, tennis, volleyball, soccer, golf and just about every other sport that one can think of, should our schools teach our kids the sport of fishing, one of the oldest sports known to man?

It really seems strange that our schools are "not teaching" this to our kids today! WHY NOT? If you think about it, it's one of the purest and oldest sports that a kid can learn or do. They can learn how to be completive; they can learn sportsmanship, and they can do it all without the need for using drugs to enhance their abilities to be really good at it! What more could a parent ask for?

It would help the kids to understand the "balance" between man, fish and nature and how everything relates to the "bigger picture" in life. Can anyone explain how the sport of football, baseball, basket ball, tennis, volleyball, soccer, and golf can do that?

If you think that fishing shouldn't be taught as a sport in our schools, will you tell us why?

So what do you think people, since we have several teachers on our board, it should very informative to hear their thought on this issue too (come on elkrun, we both can probably agree on this one )

No one should get too offended about this thread, because we all love our this sport so much!


Cowlitzfisherman

ya that makes sense we have overcrowded schools that are underfunded
but hey lets teach kids fishing
jeez
i suppose you think elementary kids should be taught how to roll their own too

Nice try cfm.... only fishing reports from now on.

Fishing today was great! My deer is cooling nicely in the garage, I just finished a fresh alder cooked salmon for lunch. Now I'm sitting back to watch the seahawks.

I hope everyone else has as nice a day.

CFM,

No, not as a required course anyway. If a school can afford to offer it as an elective, then that's fine. However, it's not the primary responsibility of public education to ensure that every child knows how to "play" every elective sport or game someone might think important.

The purpose of the public schools is to teach children how to learn so that they might make their way in this world as adult citizens. That no longer requires the specific skills of hunting and fishing, altho hunting and fishing are certainly attributes that enhance many lifestyles. As does football, basketball, etc. Public schools have already been saddled with many requirements that cut in to "learning how to learn" the basic skills necessary for successful living. Of course, that drags in the topic of critical parenting that doesn't get done on behalf of all too many kids - and become a whole 'nuther thread.

Then again, it would be nice to have an abundant supply of very young kids, with their excellent eyesight, tying those size 18 and 20 flies for us oldtimers who can barely thread them on a leader, even with coke-bottle reading glasses!

Sincerely,

Salmo g.

Salmo

I agree with you about it being a "required course"! But why shouldn't it be offered just like football, baseball, basket ball, tennis, volleyball, soccer, golf and just about every other sport that one can think of? It's not really going to cost that much more, but it would give the parents a chance to choose what sport they want their kids to enjoy with what money is there.

Cowlitzfisherman

I'd like it to happen. It would be the only sport that I would be able to kick a$$ at!

As an elementary PE teacher this is something that I've tried in the school system before but it was alomost ENTIRELY out of my pocket. I taught the class in the art of fly tying and basic casting. We went into jig tying and basic rigging set ups. Unfortunetly I couldn't arrange a field trip. Liability issues. I also taught this to middle school students. I now teach basic fly casting but it is on recess time only. When I taught fly tying I did get some local fly shops to donate vises and what not. You just have to get out there and hustle for donations. So, yes, I would love to see this as part of the curriculum. Lifetime hobbies would get more people off their hineys.

~steelymann~

Oregon State University offered a steelhead fishing class and a fly fishing class as recreational sports a couple years back. Don't know if that still stands. If I lived in Oregon, that would be a convincing reason for me to attend that school.

If it's in PE class thats fine. I don't think the taxpayers should be supporting any after school sports, even if it is fishing. We send our kids to school to learn. I don't pay my taxes so that 1/100,000 might make the pros for a year or two before they get hurt. Neighboring school district was talking about cutting out all extra-curricular activities if a bond/levy didn't pass. Good. They shouldn't be there anyways!!

There was a fishing class in the highschool I went to 20 years ago... It was an after school deal but at least it was offered to us young uns..

So I am in 9th grade and I go to Leota Junior High in Wooodinville. I think it would be awesome to have it avaliable at school. Wheather it be an elective as a fine arts class maybe?? or an after school club. Maybe with fishing they could mix in outdoors and hiking and survival in the woods or something to divide them up into semesters or trimester i.e. fishing the first semester hiking/survival the second semester. I think CFM is correct in saying it should and that it would be good. Plus it might even take there minds off stuff (atleast it does for me) and help them relax. It would be aweosme to have it even avaliable. They have after school arts, drill team and even folk guitar as a credits class ( not folk music though) all they do is listen to music and play the guitar so why not let kids relax and fish. I think it would be an exelent idea....oh well thats my .02

i am with fisherman8989 on that one. it would be nice to actually learn something that you want too. and for the kids that dont get the chance to go do things like that it would be a way to finally do that. i am all go for the fishing in school idea.

I am enrolled at Humboldt State university in Eureka, CA and I am planning on majoring in fisheries. any way we have two fishing related classes offered. one is called fishing the Great northwest. where diffrent guides from across North California come in and talk about the techniques they use for Salmon and Steelhead and Trout, the class also takes various fishing related field trips such as fiahing the Klamath River area for half pounders. It is an awesome class. The other class is begginning fly fishing don;t know two much about this calls as it was full when i went to register for it.

I taught shop for thirty years. The days of elective classes are all but gone in most school districts. The emphasis is on teaching to pass the WASL tests, and college preparation. As the elective teachers retire, districts close the pre-vocational and vocational classes. The best chance for a program like CFM mentioned would be through an after school club with a volunteer teacher (unpaid). I ran a fishing club, taught fly tying, rod building and would take the kids fishing on the weekends. Great fun, but had to end it because the district didn't want the liability.We even built a few muzzel loaders from kits and refinished gun stocks until someone decided that we were teaching kids how to make weapons in school. The good old days ...................!

Dougs got it right really...

However, I'll let all my fellow high schoolers on to something. If you can find a teacher who will volunteer their time a few hours after school, you CAN make a Fishing Club at your school.

Me and a few friends were thinking about it earlier last year, but what would we do? Tie leaders and teach knots? What about actual fishing time? I think if we put our heads together we could find a fairly simple way to make a time consuming (and fun) way to get actual fishing time AND have time to pick each others brains.

Time wise, it really just wasn't worth it, but we do take a lot of people out to local lakes and rivers for fun, trying to get as many people into the sport as possible.

So basically, its not like its illegal... It CAN happen. There just wasn't a point. Unless you get someone whos willing to teach like.. Fly fishing/tying lessons...

Curtis

I have got the answer to this dilemma. All of the conservatives out there, this is your chance to counter-act the influence of those liberal, unionized teachers. Volunteer to teach a class/club at your local school. Write up a class outline and present it to the administration. Make sure you include a field trip to Walmart so the kids can see were the Evergreen Freedom Foundation gets its money.

Teaching fishing as a sport? I don't think so, mostly because most fishing involves no competition. Moreover, it is a primarily solo activity, meaning no teamwork is involved. In my experience, the most successful high school activities will include at least one of the two qualities listed above.

Team sports such as football, volleyball, and the like attract the most interest due to being both competitive and requiring extensive teamwork. In the last few decades, even inherently non-competitive activities such as band and orchestra have been turned into competitive activities.

Despite fitting the dictionary definition of a sport, fishing will be relegated to clubs and interest groups (along with the Math Club and FBLA) because it is very difficult to convice school administrators that it has the necessary teamwork and competitive aspects that would fit in with the rest of the school's athletic program. Face it, despite our derbys and the attempt at competition in the bass community, the competitive aspect of fishing simply isn't for kids. The equipment needed to be competitive is simply too expensive.

There are community college classes available that teach the basics of fishing. Of course, there are clubs that people can join that do a good job of teaching about fishing. Our K-12 schools ought to concentrate on the basics like writing and reading and math as kids are coming out of them almost illiterate. Kids are learning alot about politically correct issues but not much about reading the newspaper or keeping track of a checkbook.

Here's the deal fellas. By the way, great question CFM..
My district offers teachers a small stipend for conducting activities with students during their "duty free" time in the day (lunch). A buddy of mine taught a class on fishing his first year of teaching. I've spoken with my principal and I'll be starting one in the spring. Several of the classrooms at my school are doing the salmon rearing/releasing project where we raise and release smolt into local rivers. Having a fishing class/fishing ethics class piggybacks the salmon fry unit perfectly. The first week I plan on teaching students the salmon lifecycle. Upon completion of learning about the fish we will move on to ethics. Students will learn how to read regulations, discern the difference between hatchery vs. wild fish, understand how quotas are established, etc..... The final two weeks will consist of fun activities such as casting, feeling a bite, reeling in a fish, different presentations, river vs. lake fishing etc.
I can't wait. I have always wanted to see more kids get hooked on fishing. Hopefully this class will get students pumped up about fishing and teach them some valuable knowledge as well. There's nothing like seeing a 10 year old kid reel in his first fish. It would be wonderful if more and more children could experience that thrill. Hopefully I can aid in that experience....
-Cuttie
Oh yeah, this course will be offered during students' recess time. No "curricular instructional time" is lost whatsoever. So to those of you that complain that our schools should be focusing on curricular activities, rest assured that I am still teaching kids to read, write, and do arithmetic.

"I hope you get plenty of help from the parents. When it's all said and done, it's still the parents who need to make sure that Johnny can read, write and do math. "

And fish, for that matter.

I don't see where fishing fits into the PE part of the equation. Physical education should (IMHO) focus on activities that promote teamwork, competition, sportsmanship, and fitness, the latter being something that seems to be lost in this discussion.

I wouldn't mind them offering electives, though, or a fishing club, and I'd contribute directly to that if my kids were involved..maybe even if they weren't.

It also wouldn't be much of a stretch to include some anadromous fish science in the biology and/or natural science curriculum, either.