Schools "warning" boys in advance

I had group sports physicals at school every year from junior high to the end of high school. I don't remember any “warnings” in advance about what would happen. Just a printed announcements about the date and times of the sports physicals that mailed to homes each summer and maybe a notice in the local newspaper that probably said the same thing. Our sports physicals were probably in August each year and everyone who played sports seemed to know about them. I guess if you were a new kid to our school district, you wouldn't necessarily know. My family moved around a lot so we must have found out some way. This was before email and the internet so word of mouth was how many people heard about such things. But I don't remember any “warnings” from the school about having to get undressed or what the physical exam would cover. I had an older brother so I remember knowing what the drill would be before my first sports physical in 7th grade.

The sports exam process was kind of basic. We checked in at a table outside the doors to the gym and were given a physical exam form to carry around to various stations inside the gym. After checking in, we were told to go inside. There was usually a coach standing just inside the doors to the gym who would point us to a spot along the gym wall and tell us to strip to our underpants only and leave our clothes on the floor next to the wall. We were told to carry the exam form around to each station but I'm not sure that we had to do that every year. Once undressed, another coach would point us to where to go next, which was usually the line for height and weight. At that station, there was a nurse or somebody, always a woman, who would measure our height and have us get on the scales to get weighed. After that, there was someone, usually another nurse, who would point us to the next station, which might be lungs and heart or spine and skin. The lungs and heart took a little longer because resting heart rate was checked first even though none of us was really resting and then we usually had to jump up and down for a minute and have our heart rate checked again. Eventually, we were directed to the line for genital and hernia checks. Which was no boy's favorite as we had to drop our underpants to our ankles and have our balls checked and then cough for the hernia exam. Imagine a long line of boys with everyone in line behind you seeing your ball exam, except all they really saw was your bare butt and not the exam itself. Then we were done and the last doctor signed our exam form. A coach took those forms from us and we were allowed to go back to our pile of clothes and get dressed to leave. The whole thing might have taken an hour, depending on how long the lines were at each station. But as for needing a warning about what would happen in advance, we didn't need one and it wouldn't have mattered if we had been told exactly what would happen. If we didn't get these physicals, we didn't play sports. Also this was in the 70s and 80s when our modesty was not important nor did we expect any. At least I came from a family of all boys so being undressed like that wasn't a big deal. By the end of 7th grade, every boy had been through PE and group showers and so nudity or being undressed wasn't much. It was basically like that every year.

The one from the Rochester City schools seems pretty standard for a school district in NY. I don’t know that the school I went to was quite as blunt on their paperwork. But the exams were always thorough.

It was pretty similar blunt language about undressing on the forms when I was in school. I remember reading it the first time and being mixed nervous and fascinated.

To me, all these blunt warnings are meant to ward off complaints by parents that they had not been told that the examination could be intimate.

To me, all these blunt warnings are meant to ward off complaints by parents that they had not been told that the examination could be intimate.

I am certain this is the case. There was a whole huge drama at my school (back in the 1980s) when a small number of parents complained about the undressing/exposure of their kid in a a group setting.

The medical questionnaires sent to my parents in the 1960s/1970s, and which I filled out myself, did not include any description of the exam, nor any specific question concerning the genitals.

It was therefore impossible to know that the penis and testicles were examined. However, my mother must have known it since she had attended the first time, she never asked me about it later.

To me, all these blunt warnings are meant to ward off complaints by parents that they had not been told that the examination could be intimate.

It was in Europe, I think in North America it is much more common to file complaints and ask for exorbitant amounts.

@Woyzeck When I got examined at school as a kid, my parents had not been called to attend. When my kids were examined, a parent was to be attending. Perhaps this too is to ward off complaints.

@Woyzeck When I got examined at school as a kid, my parents had not been called to attend. When my kids were examined, a parent was to be attending. Perhaps this too is to ward off complaints.

@Pecan_nutjob I have to clarify something. As I had the abilities, I skipped a year and only did a part of the first year of primary school, so I started the second year at age 7 instead of 8. The other pupils had already attend this school medical exam before, perhaps without the parents and in a group. I was alone with my mother. It cannot therefore be inferred that the parents were always present for this school exam at this age.

My school specifically warned the girls in advance. As part of middle/high school, every other year students did a hearing and vision screening. On alternating years, we'd get our height/weight recorded and get a scoliosis screening.

The letters sent home to parents warned them that students would need to remove their shirts for the scoliosis check and asked girls to wear a swimsuit under their clothes. I never really understood why, since nearly every girl at that age would've worn a bra and the screening was done privately in a room at the back of the nurse's office.

My school offered full physicals, but they were just for students who wanted to do sports, but didn't have a private doctor. I don't know if the letters contained any warning or if there were letters at all, as I had a private doctor.

Very similar to JP1’s experience, brown envelopes with a letter and consent form were handed out by the teacher at morning registration. I don’t think the letter made any specific reference to the content of the medical, but it was common knowledge that the boys would be getting their genitalia examined.

School sent a letter home thru the mail to my parents advising them of physicals done by the school appointed doctor. I remember it stated that boys were required to undress to underwear. This was in the 80s and 90s.

I remember my kindergarten teacher telling me the nurse would "check me out" meaning to see I hadn't stained my underwear (at least that's what I recall).

We received a letter home stating a date and time when the school examination would take place. Everyone was required to participate in this study. As far as I remember, this happened annually, the examination took half a day and took place in a medical center specially set up for such school examinations.

We never knew who the examining doctor would be and as soon as we arrived at the center we had to undress until we were only wearing our panties. The studies were not mixed.

For all my school physicals starting in Jr. High through college I saw our family doc. No idea If he had a form or a set of requirements from the school The physicals were pretty routine, heart, lungs, history, and a hernia check. Simply got a note saying I was cleared for sports. That took the liability off the school

We never had a warning about the possibility of a genital check during school physicals. And neither have our parents been invited to attend. It just was not the case. They were only invited to talk after the fact that the doc ‘feared’ that my development was later than normal. They then proposed follow-up exams to be done every 6 months. (And those went on until 18 )… I always was alone during those exams also.

As I said before in this forum I firmly believes that my medical fetish started as a consequence of the school physical. I clearly remember the elementary school physical, usually the Doctor given to me a very thorough genital exam. But honestly I don't remember any letter from the school maybe I was too young to remember this detail.

All my exams were at the pediatrician and later our family doctor. We did get forms to bring to them and it was clear that they expected a full exam including check boxes for genitalia and anus or maybe rectum for both boys and girls. There were always some giggle or nervous looks when we looked at them. Out pediatrician never did a genital or anal exam, just lucky I suppose. I would definitely not enjoyed either. My exams at our family doctor where very similar to that in the Rochester form, except I was in bra and panties, removing or lowering them as necessary for the exam.

I guess I’m fortunate to have never had one of these experiences.

For my school exams there wasn’t a specific letter that went ‘home’, and parents were almost certainly left out of the loop on what was actually happening unless their kid told them. I remember being told by one of the older boys what happened during the ‘medical’ a few days before it took place and then having the agonising anticipation of my genitals being felt for the first time.

Later when I was throwing out some old school papers I found and read the ‘terms and conditions’ for my school place which did specify the mandatory requirement for a health declaration and annual medical examination, apparently for insurance purposes. The school was also allowed to provide any medical treatment deemed necessary if they were unable to contact parents in an emergency, I presume that included the time one of my classmates got an extra examination when he was hit in the groin playing cricket - he definitely didn’t get any advance warning that time.

They also reserved the right to - without notice - undertake ‘supervised urine and stool samples to test for illicit substances’ - a few of my contemporaries were excluded for drug taking but perhaps they rather admitted it than have the doctor watch them urinate or defecate to prove it. All sounds very extreme in the 2020s!

I knew in advance I was going to be having an exam as we'd been handed envelopes in registration to be signed in advance. We knew when it was going to be as our PE teacher would tell us we didn't need to bring kit to the next lesson as we'd be having a physical.

It did make it clear how we would be dressed stating that boys would be weighed in their underpants and girls would be required to be weighed in their underwear, so at least no double standard - though they did undress in the gym and not the changing rooms to walk down the corridor undressed as we did.

The paperwork did state that genitalia would be examined, but didn't go into war and peace as to what would be examined.

We were always given a letter to take home the day before a school medical to inform our parents that we were to be examined by the school doctor the following day. We would also be given a small tube to take home to provide a urine sample. The letter asked that our parents ensure that we have a shower in the morning before going to school.

In former Soviet Union we never received any letters before school physicals. It was always a surprise. At the beginning of a lesson a knock on the classroom door and then our school nurse wearing her white coat inserts her head into the classroom and tells our teacher that we are due for a physical exam. The boys then stand up and follow the nurse to the medical office where a doctor would examine us. During the next lesson/session it was for girls. No consent forms or anything like that were required. If a pupil was absent on the day, they would be chased later and called for physical on another day and have it with another grade.