Apropos, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the last remaining political throwback to that era, recently went viral for a video of a shirtless outdoor lifting session. This occasioned a lot of commentary, most centered around Kennedy being completely jacked (though some haters criticized the amount of weight he was putting up, not taking into account that it was a drop set and that Kennedy is almost 70). But perhaps the most jarring thing was the spectacle of an avowed progressive being in shape, as this is atypical, given the leftist proclivity for fetishizing weakness and victimhood. But while RFK Jr. is a progressive, he is also a Kennedy, and that fact is significant, because it points to an overlooked part of the Kennedy legacy- the role that his uncle, John F. Kennedy, playing in creating the last great wave of enthusiasm for physical education, and what that means for the future. . . .
Stan LaProtti was a WWII vet like many of his generation. And like many of his peers, he felt that the youth were getting soft, and also like many of them, he sought to make a difference as a physical education teacher. The modern reader, accustomed to a feminized and safety-centric version of PE (assuming it exists) taught by the bottom of the educational barrel, should know that in the semi-recent past public education was an attractive career prospect for bright and talented men who brought to their work an unapologetic masculinity, especially in PE. LaProtti was such a man, not only a teacher, but a real theorist and philosopher, and he got his chance to put his ideas into practice as head of the physical education department at La Sierra High School in Carmichael, California.
Plus: “For the confused modern reader, please know that at one time, California was not the American capital of fail, fentanyl, and feces. For a shining moment after the Second World War, the Golden State was the epicenter of all the promise of the nation, a paradise of opportunity and excellence, glamor, wealth, fame, and beauty.”
And: “We cannot be a group of part-time philosophers, earning a living while complaining about what the system is doing to kids these days; we must be the system, or the kids will. And if that doesn’t motivate you, remember: A commie taught a kid today- DID YOU?”