Canada Fitness

Riding the school bus in Loggieville, New Brunswick in grade five I was punched in the stomach by a kid named Jean-Jaques, and I didn’t fight back because he had gold in physical fitness and I only had bronze. I remember the shame of the fat kids who couldn’t register even a second of flex-arm hangtime, Mr. Ross the principal/gym teacher would hold them up then coach them to hold on, then let go and they’d drop.

I was forever among the most fit group - being a country raised jack-rabbit, but hit the bottom of the testing because I didn’t have brute strenth. I couldn’t beg, borrow or steal a sit-up to save my life and still can’t, but I could do push-ups ‘till I got bored, run ‘till sundown and bike until the snow flew or tires blew. Hauling in the award of excellence comes from being somewhat fit and having strength with it. People still confuse muscle with health. The flexed arm hang only tested how long we could put up with lactic acid.

Here is the link to the acual test. Slightly different title…but it is the test we endured from grade 9-12 http://titanous.com/cadets/fitness_test.pdf

Just the other day I was going through my tickle trunk of ancient memories of when I was a kid and came upon my one Gold and 3 Award of Excellence badges. Back in the day I was definately not an active kid except for playing outside with buddies. When this program was first introced to me through school it was a personal challenge. Only one kid in the whole school got the Award of Excellence and that kid was the school hero. That chin hang was the killer. You had to beat 60 secs. Everything else I could do fine but that damn chin hang. SO I PRACTICED AND PRACTICED. I would not settle for anything lower than the Award of Excellence after that Gold badge. It was the begining of a core mindset of a healthly lifestyle that I lead today. I am now 44 and I am still in better shape than most 20 year old guys. I play competetive soccer and work out every day for 40 mins. Compare Canadians to Americans and you will quickly see that we are more active and lead healthier lifestyles. I owe that to the program. Granted not all schools probably delivered the positives but rather the “you must do this” message thus forcing it upon the masses. My teachers were great at being positive and making the program fun. The last year I did it, over 30 kids got the Award of Excellence in my school.

I hate the Canada Fitness Test to this day. It rewarded skinny kids for being born gangly, and didn't do a lick to inspire me to do better. Thank God I undid the damage that was gym class, and went out and taught myself about fitness. I can now run half-marathons, I lift weights and do yoga and stretching daily, and none of this thanks to the Canada Fitness Test.

Thank you for ruining my self-esteem and giving my schoolmates even more reason to tease me Canada Fitness Test!

Why wasn't I ever given a "Super Genius" badge to wear whenever I got an "A" in math?

The Canada Fitness test is probably my single worst school memory! It's ludicrous if you think about it. Once a year you test students on something you have not been coaching or teaching at all. Yes, we had phys. ed. class but I don't remember ever doing an endurance run, flexed arm hang or any of the other tests during PE. If you are going to evaluate students on specific desired outcomes then you have to teach to with those outcomes in mind. It's a basic education principle! It's like testing students once a year on trigonometry after teaching calculus all year. I agree that schools need to encourage lifelong health and fitness but the Canada Fitness test is not the way! It always seemed very Soviet Russia to me.

“Next to your comrades in the national fitness program/ Caught in some eternal flexed arm hang/ Dropping to the mat in a fit of laughter” - Fireworks

I was often a participation pin recipient, although I logged a few bronzes along the way. My best year ever was grade three, when somehow the stars aligned to deliver me the gold. But I was never able to acheive it again. Instead of inspiring me, I was, by grade six, devastated to realize that I had reached my peak of physical strength in grade three, and that all my best years were behind me.

The Canada Fitness program was a cruel and poorly thought out social experiment.

I for one would like to find out if anyone has a record of what the tests were? While I don’t necessarily support the blatant recognition of ones level, the components of the test could be a useful tool in setting up circuit training to help kids develop better fitness. We are a national of fat kids and fat adults and we desparately need to do something about it!!!! Perhaps getting rid of cars and computers would help! Any help with locating more info on this years ago memory would be appreciated.

Hi about 20 years and 5 moves ago a friend lent us 5BX Fitness plan for men to get fit. We have tried unsuccessfully to find it and would like to get hold of a copy to give to him for his 65th birthday. Any ideas?

Ah… the Canada Fitness Program. You all take me back. I think I ‘ll call up my mom and have her dig up my 5 awards of excellence and one silver so I can sew them on my jean jacket to be proudly displayed once again. Although not the cure to the rise in overweight kids nowadays, but something like it certainly wouldn’t hurt.

As a teacher in B.C., I am interested in finding the program we used for the Canada Fitness testing. I too was in school when it was used - and although I did fairly well, I would never put my students through the same process. However, I do feel that I’m not doing enough to help increase my students level of fitness, and would like to go back to using some of those activities in a less competitive setting. Anyone know where I can find the info?

I loved doing the Canada Fitness program. But perhaps it was because I never had to do the flexed arm hang. Could it be that that was just for the boys? As I remember it, there were 6 tests: -endurance run -shuttle run -some other sprint run -push ups -sit-ups -standing long jump. Can anyone else verify this?

Don’t know what made me think of it but I was just speaking with someone at work about the shuttle run and we couldn’t remember what the whole program was called so I googled it and found this link. Thanks for helping me remember everyone. Now that line that Gordie wrote in Fireworks makes sense too! I was kinda sporty in elementary school so I was always a Gold or Excellence kid but I think that was only because I didn’t have to do the flexed arm hang…thank god! I did the same group of tests as Diane above mentioned and I think the other sprint run was the 100m dash. Good times, good times.

I was one of those kids who was always picked last for teams. Not naturally strong or athletic, the Canada Fitness program was even more torturous than regular gym because not only were we non-jocks “inferior,” we were formally recognized as such! By junior high, I was completely turned off of phys. ed. Now very active in my adult life (despite the endless blows to my self-esteem in gym class), I look back sadly on all of those competitive activities that taught me (wrongly) that fitness was “not for me.” Man, I sure hope we are doing a better job in phys. ed. programming these days…

I find this site very interesting. I have fond memories of the Canada Fitness Award, and in fact received the excellence award one year. I think that it is disappointing that a national program like this is non-existent today. We lament the lack of Olympic medals in Athens but at the same time have record obesity rates among adolescents. We have record waiting times for medical services, but do nothing to encourage the life-long commitment to exercise and disease prevention. Perhaps instead of throwing millions of $ at the healthcare system, Ottawa should become more proactive.

Diane: The flexed arm hang was replaced by push-ups in some schools. There were six events: 1. Endurance run 2. 50-metre run 3. Standing long jump 4. Shuttle run 5. Flexed arm hang or push-ups 6. Speed sit-ups or curl-ups The curl-ups were different from sit-ups in that they were not a matter of speed, but consistency as you had to do a curl-up at a steady, consistent speed to that indicated by the tester. In order to win the award of excellence, you had to achieve the excellence level in ALL six events. I remember a few years in which I narrowly missed out on the excellence award by coming up just short of the excellence level in one event. In my elementary school years, I ended up with 2 excellence, 3 gold, and 1 silver: grade 2: gold grade 3: gold grade 4: silver grade 5: gold grade 6: excellence grade 7: excellence The badges appeared in the same colour as described by their name, with the excellence badge appearing in a dark red colour. They were circular and measured 3 inches in diametre. Along with the excellence award badge came a Certificate of Excellence signed by the Prime Minister (then Brian Mulroney) and the Minister of State for Fitness and Amateur Sport. The cerficate read: ” To (your name) in recognition of attaining the highest achievement in the CANADA FITNESS AWARD ”

There is one thing about the Canada Fitness Program…everyone remembers it, but there is nowhere to find the detailed information. With our kids, there is definately alot lacking in schools around fitness. I would like to see a similar program instituted in schools, because it at least gave you something to strive for. Perhaps the activities need to be changed, but come on schools…DO SOMETHING!!!! By the way, I never did achieve the Award of Excellence.

i’m currently putting together a little project about the canada fitness program. I’m looking for any info i can, from anecdotes to academic article on the subject. I invite anyone to participate in the discussions (also, if anyone actually has an image of the “participation pin” i’d love to have one sent to me…. see an excellence award and a gold patch at: www.skinnyopolis.com/workshop/CanadaFitness be seeing you, bill

GEEZ…..This brings back some memories. I used to dread fitness testing day. Used to have a pile of “Participaction” ribbons lying around til I started faking sick so I could skip it. I could never do any of that stuff….cept the shuttle run. Funny how things work out…I’m now a fire fighter (FFCC Competitor), self defense instructor and certified fitness trainer. I work out 6 days a week. Would love to go back and try that all again! Would do anything to get my hands on one of those ribbons to hang on my wall. Hey, if anyone has one….please email me…i’d pay for one for sure! Ben

The ParticpACTION archive brought back lots of memories for me: http://www.usask.ca/archives/participaction/english/home.html

I think the guy who called it a cruel social experiment hit it on the head. Honestly, the testing scarred me for life. Thanks to this program, my dorkiness was broadcast to the entire class on an annual basis, including all the girls. I was fine playing sports, but couldn’t do well in these ridiculous tests. I was a participaction winner, with the odd bronze award thrown in. At a young age, the last thing you need is to be put in the spotlight for your physical abilities, or lack thereof. Nobody knew or cared what you got on the math test, but everyone knew if you were one of the few losers in the class who couldn’t even muster a bronze award. I’m not one to whine or complain all that much, but this is something that has bothered me for a long time. I can’t understand why our government subjected us to this cruelty.

Don’t know what made me think of the fitness testing that brought a healthier lifestyle to generations?Although some found the Canada Fitness tests a nightmare,at least there was a program that made you think about fitness? I agree with those who are now teachers,something like this could/should be brought back.To me, the badge system is an incentive and should remain a part of any new version of Canada Fitness. I had fun with the program,think i tried to beat the times 4 the guys?Yes,i was that competitive,only remember competing against those who were trying for Excellence also. To this day,sports plays a role in the foundation of who I am? Can’t find any [good] archive of the original program,think it was some sort of National secret?! Cheers.

If anyone saw this week’s episode of Corner Gas, one of the three plots revolved around the Canada Fitness Program. Oscar waved the book around and had the local police officer running the drills throughout the show. As Oscar said, “The Canada Fitness Program was the last great thing this country ever did”. Hope you can see it.

I was a teacher who often taught P.ED. for over 30 years. The biggest health problem in our country is said to be obesity. A lot of cardiovascular problems are also up there. I liked the Fitness Tests and I think that most ( not all ) of my students liked them as well. I had quite a lot of students who never liked anything we did in school so I did not expect everybody to like them. I think that some emphasis on fitness is necessary. I know that a number of exercises that were originally used have been judged to be unhealthy. I have a hard time believing that it is better to be an obese couch potato. There is little doubt that some students felt threatened and perhaps put down by the process. I think that I got better as an educator at reducing that anxiety but the reality of school is that if you want to compare yourself to others, the possibility is great in every subject. I do not believe that was a good reason for throwing out a good program.

I just did this in Air Cadets (yes, this test still exists). I got Bronze, but the reason I didn’t get Silver is that the timekeeper on the Shuttle Run was rounding to the nearest second instead of tenth of the second. Here’s a link to the full scoring matrix and test instructions: http://titanous.com/cadets/fitness_test.pdf

Great thread! Brings back a lot of memories. I was one of the kids who could not sleep the night before Canada Fitness Day because I was so excited. Had a few Excellence, a few Gold’s and a few Silver’s. I’m not sure when the Canada Fitness Program ended, but one interesting statistic is that between 1981 and 2001, the obesity rate among 7-13 year olds in Canada increased from 3.7% to 19%. I do not think it a conincidence that during this time, Phys Ed, and programs such as this have gone the wayside in elementary schools.

Someone decided to auction off their excellence badge at this eBay site: http://cgi.ebay.com/1970s-Participaction-Canada-Fitness-Award-Excellence_W0QQitemZ300024529821QQihZ020QQcategoryZ39727QQcmdZViewItem

I was at the gym today trying to a pushup and remembered how in year 7 I was able to do the 60 seconds on the flexed arm hang to get my Award of Excellence. Came across this site today. Often thing the same testing should be brought back. Having fitness goals never hurt me and some kids today could sure benefit from goals. What ever happened to a bit of competive spirit?

I can’t believe there are so many of us that remember the CFT….now I am a 30 year old homeschooling mom and I would love to try it with my kids. I LOVED the shuttle run and hated HATED the flexed arm hang. Can anyone find this program? Has it been completed deleted like some covert operations file? It would be such a laugh to try it again with friends to see how out of shape we are in comparison with our 10 year old selves. If anyone finds it, please email me. I would love to see the return of some sort of physical activity for children that requires more fortitude than they are used to exerting on video games and movies. What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger, right?

My husband and I are transplanted Canucks living in NJ. We just watched the episode of Corner Gas (got the DVDs - LOVE THEM!!) that was mentioned above about the Canada Fitness Tests. Too funny!!! I had forgotten about those brutal tests too. I absolutely hated the endurance run - it killed me every year. I was never a great athlete - I think my best was a silver - and usually I got bronze or the dreaded participation award. BUT - I do think it was a good idea and if the stupid Phys Ed. teachers would have actually had the kids train for it, it wouldn’t have been so bad. But take a kid that never runs any distance and tell him to run a mile?? Fugetaboudit. It was brutal. And yes, cruel.

Curious…can anyone confirm that the Canada Fitness Test/Program that we all had to endure was an initiative of ParticipACTION? Any help is much appreciated!

I remember this test well. I consistently got bronze on account of being unable to do a single sit up and yet it was the only thing about elementary school gym that I really liked. I was proud that I always placed near the top in about 3 of the 6 events. I could then complain bitterly about the injustice of a scoring system that surely, in no way, properly recognized the level of my achievement. The only respect I ever earned in gym class may have come from getting that little bronze patch and knowing that I flat out beat all the “award of excellence” winners in the 50 yard dash and 300 yard run.

here’s an update,they’re bringing back ParticipACTION;election coming? Funding’s going to be mostly corporate based this time ‘round,so hope it’s long term.We’ll see what the 21C version of participAction does for the current 16 and under generation who have weight and repetitive use injury issues.

This is great! I’m writing a script, and at one point, the main characters are sitting in a bar trying to remember what the events in this Fitness Test were. I couldn’t remember all of them myself. I only remembered the dreaded endurance run, the flexed arm hang and the sprint. So, I set about looking for some info. It is surprisingly hard to find. As for my own achievements in this: 1 Silver, 2 Bronze, 1 Sticker. Remember the damn sticker? It was like they were saying, “Thanks for playing.” I got that the year they put me up into the next age group. So instead of four big laps in the endurance run, I had to do EIGHT! And at one point, I tried to cheat by not running all the way around the cones, and this one little bastard (who always got Gold or Excellent) saw me and ran to tell the teacher. The year I got Silver, I went to a particularly rough school, where more often than not I had to run like the devil to avoid a solid beating after school. It whipped me into shape pretty quick. Thank you all for the memories. That’s hilarious that the Hip song mentions the flexed-arm hang. I’ll have to listen to it again.

I live in the UK and was a keen follower of the RCAF 5BX in the late sixties and achieved chart 5 A+ in my late 20’s. Now in my late 60,s I strive for a chart 2 C…….anno domini. For those of you wanting a link to the 5BX for men and the SBX for women, visit the following url for free downloads of both. http://www.idmclient.com/gettingfit/5bx.php I feel that whilst being the forerunner of the ParticipAction Awards/tests the 5BX and SBX should have remained as they were and extended down from RCAF cadet age into the juniors. These regimen offered no hangups for participants as the grades made allowances for body weight and builds and did not include the giving of badges, nor did they prompt Physical Capability (PC) grade announcements. What is more 23million copies of th *BX publications were sold globally and became the defacto standard for practically all commercial aircrew to use prior to their contractual medical examinations. What a shame that Dr Bill Orban did not receive a cent in recognition of his work.

Canada Fitness Test Does anyone rememeber the distance we had to run for the Canada Fitness Test? Was it 2400 m, 6 laps around a 400 m track. How many sit-ups did we have to do in a minute to get Excellence?

I was wondering of anyone was able to find a copy of the canada fitness test. i am teacher and would love to give it to my students. thanks

At our school in the late 70s the endurance run was 1600m. As a 10km runner now, I recall thinking back then that that distance seemed incomprehensively long, and I couldn’t figure out why anyone would ever need to be able to run that far. I too remember the flexed arm hang being more as some sort of bizarre mental test of will rather than anything to do with fitness. Some of the most athletic kids in our class couldn’t last more than 10 seconds. Why didn’t they just call it the pain threshold test? In a strange way this seems to have been a unifying rite of passage for Canadians of our generation.

I confirmed with the re-invented ParticipACTION that the Canada Fitness Test was NOT developed or implemented by them, but was a government initiative. I have the standards for kids ages 12-18 but nothing below this age. If ANYONE (retired teacher etc.) has a copy of the standards for the younger groups PLEASE e-mail me directly or post on this site! Thanks in advance! Mike

I loved doing Canada Fitness - likely because I received the Award of Excellence every year. Until reading the comments here, I never really considered how the not so athletic kids must have felt. Regardless, I think the skills tested were a fantastic way of pushing kids to the limit to achieve their best. I suppose a more modern spin on this program could be to do the testing several times through the year and present awards based on improvement from a previous result rather than using a predetermined standard. I think this would be motivating for all the students and a great way to encourage physical fitness.

It was the shuttle run that killed me and prevented me from attaining my Award of Excellence. I am a teacher now. One of the subjects that I teach is Phys-Ed. I was saddened to learn that these awards are no longer available. I have read many of the above posts and find some of them suggest a double standard. Why is it okay to relegate Phys-ed to an improvement/participation based model when every other subject is rigorously tested? Just a thought.

I actually have in my possession a complete chart for the Canada Fitness Award. So, if there are any questions regarding it throw them on here and I will endeavour to answer them. The chart has the standards from ages 6 to 17. My question is does anyone remember how the shuttle run was run and what was the distance you ran between? I can’t remember for the life of me…

Ok so after a bottle and a half of wine, we somehow came to the subject of this test, the CFT. Sorry, but this blog has brought back memories for us all and we literally have never laughed so hard reading the comments………we can so relate. As many of you, we are were completely traumatized by the test although some of us managed to attain the Award of Excellence (small dig there). From what we recall, the shuttle run took place in the gym. So it appears to be a dash of 25m, running to grab the ‘bean bag’ of which there were 2. Total distance covered was probably 100m. Start, run 25m, grab bag 1, return to start, run back to grab bean bag 2 and return to start. As far as we can remember anyway. Thanks for the memories.

I wish to find and acquire the 2 booklets 5BX and SBX, which I had 40 years ago. I am 80 and out of shape. Perhaps the exercises will do me a lot of good. Thanks. antoinette

Ok so the original posting was entered March 10, 2003… nearly SIX YEARS ago!! Not only are people seeking this info, but we’re still relishing the discussion and sharing memories— the good, bad & ugly. This page contains spectacular feedback on what worked and what did NOT work with the Canada Fitness Test. Anyone heard of Nike SPARQ training? check out http://www.sparqtraining.com and http://sparqmagazine.com There is a basic multi-sport 5-event SPARQ test. 20m sprint kneeling ball toss agility shuttle vertical jump yo yo recovery The cool part is that you receive a score for EACH event and an OVERALL score. Based on feedback here it might be ultra cool to feature different Cdn Olympic athletes and their scores to show that the best excell in DIFFERENT AREAS. For example a decathlete will score poorly on the shuttle run but a football player is likely to excell at this event. It’s kind of like featuring different “heroes” for the various Briggs-Meyers “personality tests”. I’m eager to hear feedback on whether people think this would be an improvement over the current/obsolete fitness testing model offered by GO ACTIVE! (Stellick Mktg. Comm.) Please feel free to contact me with your thoughts. McDonald’s sponsoring a fitness test for elementary school kids. Anyone else see the irony in that? peace, Ingrid

I just found the booklet and card that you would fill out for this. So if anyone wants a copy I can make a .pdf of it and send it to you.

I have my booklet and my results from grade 6. All I had up till then was a gold, and I decided that I would earn my award of excellence! I worked at it all winter, sit up, my feet tucked under the coach, long jump in the living room until my Mom could not handle the noise. As soon as it was dry enough in the spring I started running 1 mile a day. And I pracised the flexed arm hang in our barn, my Dad had hung up a swing from the rafters, nothing came easy for me, but I earned it that year, and best of all I beat all the boys except for one in the flexed arm hang, I stayed up for 78 sec! I was really proud of myself, I guess that is why I still have all the stuff, the booklet, the badge and the signed paper for Trudeau, and a pic of me grinning ear to ear, dated June 1977.

I remember this torture with fondness, only because I actually improved from one year to the next. I think this got started in my school district in 1973 or 1974. Anyway after a couple of years of achieving only recognition for participation I finally managed a bronze in 1976 then a silver in 1977. I felt pretty proud of myself since I was one of those kids with medical excuses and would be given to the last team by the default of being last to be picked. I considered this program to be a competition with a set standard and since I knew I would never be a Gary Nylund who went on to a much anticipated but unfortunately short NHL career I thought silver was pretty good for an athletic underachiever. No body explained it to us but once we reached high school the program was no longer graded and the awards were put to an end, however our school’s Phys Ed department decided to continue the program and I recall another fellow student and myself breaking, or so our teacher told us, the best recorded time for the dreaded flexed arm hang. We didn’t get to compete head to head but I know I managed 3 minutes and 12 seconds. I stopped because I was shaking so hard that my fellow classmates were making fun of me. I don’t know that I could have lasted much longer anyway but the alleged achievement felt pretty good. I remember only the 6 events; Flexed arm hang, Shuttle run, Standing broad jump, 100 meter dash, 400 meter run and Speed sit-ups, all very punishing. However I have yet to use any of these skills in my daily life.

I am doing a science project on the Canada Fitness test. If anyone has a booklet that they could scan with the results page, that would be great. I will be testing 12 year old students and want to compare scores today with those when the CFT was used in school 20-30 years ago to see if student’s are more or less fit now. Anything you could send would be appreciated.

Sorry page 4: 8. The ACFP is based on the Canada Fitness Award, a programme of Fitness Canada Government of Canada. The figures are reproduced with permission. 9. If you have achieved a Canada Fitness Award level from school or from another organization, you can get credit for this at Cadets. You will probably have to bring in proof of this level. Check with your instructor or training officer to determine the procedure. Don’t know if my perennial silver achievement would have got me into the cadets.

I have a few comments in regards to the Canadian Fitness Testing. I was always one of the smallest, shortest, skinniest guys in my classes every year until grade 10. Perhaps I was better suited for this testing than someone overweight or obese but I busted my back and put every single ounce of energy and strength into Canada Fitness. I grew up in a home where sports outside of school was not an option until i was 13. My family simply couldn’t afford any of it. Canada fitness was not only from my experience the most fun part of the entire year in gym class. It’s the first thing in my memory that I fully 100% put forth my greatest effort. This is academically, physically, mentally, all of it. Achieving a high level in Canada Fitness was for whatever reason super important to me. It’s the first thing in my life that I achieved myself, for myself, by myself and the first real thing I truly “applied” myself to. I can understand how some kids could find getting a “participation” award from the program but that should not be the focus, or the topic of your pain or your ill memory. What should be remembered is that you tried your best, you applied yourself and wasn’t it super fun? I had many friends that got the participation award and were happy, proud of themselves because they finished the long distance run, they finished everything and those were huge goals for them to simply finish! The program pushed them, it pushed them hard, it made them set goals and achieve them. What’s negative about that? If in fact some were made fun of because of the grade they got on the testing, that’s truly heinous, but I remember it happening and myself and my friends used to freak out on people that would brag or make fun of others for not getting something better than a bronze. I never got anything but Excellence in any year (and still have my patches and certificates), and yet I still stuck up for those that didn’t achieve that, but they tried their best, they had fun and that’s the best possible scenario with this testing. Lighten up, it was fun, it was a break from “dodgeball” or “european handball” or whatever dumb game we were playing in gym that day. You got to be in cool little groups, a buddy to record your results and broke the boring same old thing every day. Kids today should only be so lucky to have such programs in place.

I loved these tests! I was always way above excellent in the long distant run, but usually around gold or silver in the rest. The all around jocks did best, I remember, as they were pretty good at everything. I remember that flexed arm hang like it was yesterday. We did in the guy’s bathroom on some shower rod. We’d all watch as our peers would hang red-faced for as long as we could.

I now have 4 children, 2 boys and two girls, and they are all very athletic, and ask about our school programs and what we did in phys. ed. It brings back good memories,and the fun times we had. I won the award of excellence twice, and my wife won the award of excellence 3 times. We have fun working out with them and it makes you feel young again, and brings back the good and fun memories.

Does anyone know who to petition to get the program re-instated? To whom can we send a copy of this thread? I also rememebr the progam fondly and have a series of badge sewn on a badge blanket. I homeschool and as hoping the program was still active. Sad to see that it is not and that it was canned due to the fact that some kids could not achieve. Some kids do not achive A plus on math tests, but we still do math. Faulty Logic Kills Good Idea… ugh. The CFP was one of those national pride buliding things. Corner Gas had it dead on, as usual. One of the last great things our nation achieved.