Sport

The term used in schools here for gym is “Sport”.   It’s taken very seriously too.  To give you an indication of how seriously, the Bundesrat, or Federal Council, which is the top of the Swiss governmental pyramid, is made up of seven people.   Each of them is responsible for a federal department, for instance like our State Department or Department of Interior.  One of these is the Departement für Verteidigung, Bevölkerungsschutz und Sport, which translates as Defense, Civil Protection and Sport.  This is sort of like combining the positions of Secretary of Defense and Secretary of Homeland Security under one person and adding Gym to their job title.   Like I said, they take it seriously.   When a student passes their Matura here, which is the university qualifying exam, regardless of their grade they are automatically qualified to pursue any course of studies at the university level save three.  One is medicine.  One is veterinary medicine.  And one is Sport.  For these three, an additional exam is necessary.   Paige’s scout group receives government funding for their two week camp each summer.  There is one stipulation for receiving this subsidy.  The leaders must ensure that the program consists of five hours of Sport each day.  This past Spring, as part of the Track and Field component of her Sport class, Paige took her sprinting exam and received a “3”.  This is failing.  Granted, she’s not a jack rabbit but she did run forward.  Shouldn't that be sufficient to at least pass?   I should mention, since Paige would insist, that there were ten other kids who failed the sprinting test (out of 23).  Perhaps their teacher wasn't very good.