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.

When I was growing up in the United States, we used the wretched RCAF fitness program. We were spurred on to flex and push up and run by taunts that, if we couldn’t do it, we would be lesser people than Canadians - which was somehow an insult. I had the distinct impression at that time that Canadians could do anything since all we knew about Canada was the RCAF fitness plan and the NFB.

If I recall, Canada Fitness personal records fell like dominoes for everybody when we were in grade three. I think it was attributable to: 1) wind-assisted sprint times 2) a faulty stopwatch 3) performance enhancing substances.

it is wonderful to see people remember the fitness award at school .My brother and I trained like dogs ,we were the school record holders for the flex arm hang (over 2 minutes) but like everybody we had our weak points . for many years we trained just for the test,it was a trampoline for a short sports carrier in running . I forgot about the test until my small kids found my badges . I would like to trie them on my boys since they are very sport oriented. Living in France I have a hard time trying to find the times needed for the test can somebody help me.

Anybody remember the standing long jump? Or the endurance run or partial curl-ups or the shuttle run? I sure do. I worked my butt off year after year for those badges. Everybody in my school did. It’s kinda nice to actually remember all of that. Until I saw this forum I’d had forgotten.

I now live in the States, and fondly remember the Socialist paradise that was Canada. For some reason I remembered the Canada Fitness Tests…Nothing was more fun that atching all the fat kids struggle to do flexed arm hangs… I have often wondered if there was a real reason for the tests…maybe all the kids who got Excellence Awards all were recruited to work for some super secret govenment agancy. I could tell you… but then i’d have to kill you.

I am trying to find the on-line 5BX program because I can afford the pamplet at this time. Can some one help me with this matter?

My father did the Canada Fitness tests, and recieved awards of excellence quite often, and I myself would like to know the standards for this test, you know, so we can have some comparisonb and all. If you find anything, please email me. thanks

I had to do the flexed arm hang…but there were different time requirements for girls. I remember the program as a great motivator though…my running scores always held me back from the coveted excellence award and so every lunch hour i would train(!!) It all was worth it though and in the end my name was called to stand in front of the assembly and collect that award of excellence!!!

I am a teacher and have tried to get my students to get into shape playing sports, but have not been entirely successful. I know that more encouragement to stay in shape physically needs to come from the home, but since this not happening I think we as educators need to take some responsibility in creating a desire for fitness. I just read that the Canada Fitness Program was discontinued because some kids couldn’t achieve. Isn’t it the same for any other type of program? Academics are difficult for some, but we don’t throw out the grade book—we just find a way of helping everyone have success. Can’t we do that with physical education? Just because our country seems to be out shape doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t work at getting healthy. I am interested in developing a program that would be sort of like the Canada Fitness Progam but without the prestigious award system—or would that even work? Perhaps there is already a modified program out there that would be beneficial for helping our kids stay in shape. If anyone knows of one could you let me know? Thanks, Sarah

The Hip song sparked memories for me too and I googled my way to this site. I saw several people asking for a record of the program and I found this site which lists the guidelines from 1986: http://www.edu.pe.ca/morellcons/grad5o/5fitness.htm

Here is a site that will help all keep fit. Thank You

I just wanted to make a note, I was actually looking for some Canada Fitness Award info that goes beyond the age of 18. Just so everyone knows, the Cadet program (from teens aged 12-18) does this testing yearly, and I wanted to see if myself as an instructor would qualify but my age group is not in the charts in the handbooks we give the youth.

I started public school in ‘72 and graduated in ‘84.I have at least 8 of these awards at home, I’m thinking the program started around ‘74 and I’m not sure how long it continued. The events we competed in were: - 50 yard dash - 300 yard run - flexed arm hang - shuttle run (4 trips back and forth, picking up and dropping objects0 - sit ups (number you could do in a minute) - standing long jump I think I got the award of excellence in grade 5 and 6, a couple of golds, a couple of silvers, and by grade 10 or 11, I dropped all the way to the bronze. I stumbled on to this discussion after looking up some tragically hip lyrics…kind of fun to remember that far back! Jay

Ahhh the good ol’ Canada Fitness awards. I used to loooove Canada Fitness week, almost as much as the Jump Rope For Heart week! For those of you who might wonder if there is something similar today, I give you the Go Active! Fitness Challenge It focuses more on personal improvement from year to year, which is better in my opinion, but there you have it. :)

Sorry - something to click: http://www.usask.ca/archives/participaction/english/home.html

My brother was cleaning out his room and collected this box of old badges and pins. Amongst them were three of my Canada Fitness badges. I can recall receiving the silver and the gold that I found, but I was surprised to see what I remembered as being Excellence! I didn’t think I ever got one and I knew it wasn’t my brother’s because the program was gone by the time he was in school. So I googled Canada Fitness to verify if it indeed was Excellence and it was! Wow! My mom says she remembers me getting it, so I guess I did! As I am not the most athletic person now, I am seriously considering sewing it on a bag or something as a retro reminder of my “athletic” supremacy in the 80s! I think it would be a great conversation starter! It was really funny to read all these comments - an experience that really bonded all of us who grew up with this program! As a teacher now, I am really glad we don’t have it anymore. It obviously was pretty traumatic for most kids and I wouldn’t want to put my students through all that! But I’m proud to be able to relate to all these stories!

someone wanted to get info. on 5BX program?u can go to this site : http://www.statesa.com/gettingfit/5bx.php

Actually it was the episode of Corner Gas that reminded me of my time in school attempting to get the elusive Award of Excellence. I finally acheived this in garde 6. In grade school I was a tiny little girl but was freakishly strong and could out last most of the boys in my class for some of the events. I did always feel bad for those girls and buys in the class that just didn’t excel in sport. I asked my boyfriend if he remebered it but he said they never did it at his school. Maybe being in different school boards is the reason. I think I will try and dig up my awards this weekend and show him. I never got a participaction ribbon. I was mainly a gold award winner, the endureance run just about killed me every year. It’s hillarious what we considered to be a normal part of childhood. Almost like a right of passage.

I’d like to find a copy of the scoring charts for the Canada Fitness Test. I’m looking at the Air Cadet standards and I think they are incorrect. If anyone soon can help, that would be fantastic… pls send to jlarmond@gmail.com Cheers, John

Like most of you, I remember dreading Fitness testing day. And I also remember cheating my way to an Excellence badge one year. How? I don’t remember. But I know that getting that badge took brains and not brawn. Flexed arm hang…. I still can’t do them! I don’t know how my teacher kept from laughing out loud when she presented me with that beautiful red badge… The idea behind the program was a good one… but it certainly didn’t get me to love sports. Thanks for the trip down the darker part of my memory lane.

Ahh the Canada Fitness program… I know that it ran until at least 1992, because we did it in grade 7, which would have beeen ‘92. I was usually decent, mainly golds, a few silvers, but the one I remember most was in grade four, when I got excellence. This was not due to any extraordinary physical exertion on my part. two weeks before the testing I’d broken my wrist in 6 places, and was sporting a cast from my fingers all the way up to my armpit. Apparently a shattered wrist wasn’t excuse enough to get out of the testing, and so I had to do everything but the push-ups. As fun as that endurance run was at the best of times, it’s twice as great when you have a huge, heavy cast to drag around. I guess they felt sorry for me with that excellence award.

Finally, a chance to upgrade my Participation Pin to an Award of Excellence (and for a mere $200)! I don’t think “better late than never” applies in this instance, though…

I remember the CFT program well, or at least, the late 70s-early 80s version of it. Long before computers and affordable home video game systems, all we DID was spend every minute we possibly could OUTSIDE, running around and doing STUFF. Important stuff! We walked/ran/biked EVERYWHERE. Going to the arcade? It’s only about 20 blocks thataway. Going to the quarry/sandpit to do bike jumps? Only a few miles…(don’t even get me started on how horror stricken parents of today would be if their kids wanted to go to an old quarry sandpit to jump their bikes off 15 foot dunes/sandpiles!) So we were in pretty good shape. I did ok at the running/sprint tests, pretty good at the situp/pushup tests, but where I kicked serious butt was the flexed arm hang. I dunno how I did it, but I was up there for 23min18sec. Whether it was a locked joint thing, or a zen thing (I do remember just closing my eyes and breathing smoothly/rhythmically), I hung there for nearly half an hour while a host of other kids hung, dropped and cried. Then they made me get down because it was time for lunch. I do remember being sore as hell the next couple days, though. Our daily recess routine of playing “G-Force - Battle of the Planets” (I was always Keyop!) was torture. I look at my sister’s kids, especially my 10yr old niece/goddaughter who’s put on about 30 pounds in the last year, and firmly believe that we need to bring back the CFT program! We need to de-pudge our children!

So the comments here are clearly in two categories; one - people who think the awards were barbaric, and two - those who realize they were just a way of assessing fitness. Obviously the first group is now ruling Canada! I recently saw the noted Corner Gas episode and became aware of activ8, the “replacement ” for the Awards, which “celebrates” “ability” and “improvement”. Apparently now a grossly obese Canadian who improves their 10 yard walk time from 30 seconds to 29 is worthy of an award??? Give me an f’n break!

As soon as I heard the word, Canada Fitness Test, I immediately had flashbacks of my fifth grade white and blue North Star running shoes which were anchored to the floor of a stinking gritty gym by a classmates hands, while I, straining and turning red and purple, desperately tried to crank out 60(?) sit ups in 2 minutes. I can’t remember if I got Silver or Gold but I do remember how hard I worked to do well on those tests and how important it was to do well on them. I concur with the other females who cursed the flexed arm hang. It was torture-pure and simple. Fun times. I often wondered if those tests were still in existence. Perhaps it is my rose coloured glasses but I also remember how few of us were fat back then, not because we were super athletes but because we were always outside playing. Remember the Participaction commercials? Was that the same era?

The test was discontinued in ‘92, the reason being it didn’t encourage those who needed it the most. Or something like that. However, some schools (certainly mine) continued to do the test without the incentive of a badge. I believe my school continued the program until ‘98 when a new teacher took over. I usualy got silver, a few gold and a few bronze. I don’t remember dreading it, but I don’t remember being overly fond of it. I think it would be a fine idea to start it again, it should no longer be a traumatising experiance to not recieve an award as it seems likely that the majority wouldn’t be capable of getting one. Kids today need some incentive.

I have found the information that you all might be looking for. I was able to get my hands on a copy of the program. If done correctly, you were suppose to have had a pre-test in the fall and then been given opportunity to increase your fitness in gym and by yourself. Then in the spring, you should have been tested again. These results were the ones to be used for awards. The events were: push-ups, shuttle run, partial curl-ups, standing long jump, 50 metre run and endurance test. For younger children, the push-ups used to be the flex arm hang. I only have the results for up the age 13. To get an excellence badge, you had to get 39 - push-ups, 11.4sec - shuttle run, 59 partial curl-ups, 200cm - standing long jump, 7.7sec - 50m run & 11:21 - 2400meter run. To get a bronze: 11 push-ups, 13.5sec - shuttle run, 28 - partial curl-ups, 151cm - standing long jump, 9.2sec - 50meter run & 15:35 - 2400meter endurance run. There is a President’s challenge down in the states that you can find online that is based off of the Canada Fitness awards program. It has most of the same tests and provides results for up to 17years of age. I enjoyed the fitness testing very much and received Excellence badges every year. It is a shame that so many of you put so much value in a badge. I never did well on my timed math facts and had to call out my score in front of the class, but you don’t see math facts being eliminated from school or anyone calling them brutal or cruel. You can not be good at every subject. It takes hard work and practice to get better. Just because you did not do well, does not mean that the program was bad. It just took work to get better and did any of you actually work at trying to get better? I am a PE specialist now and would love to have the program come back, like it has in the states.

The Canada Fitness Test was the single worst thing about elementary school. I wish I had gone to one of those no-flexed-arm-hang-for-girls schools that some of you talk about, then maybe I wouldn’t have played hookey week after week in order to miss phys ed class. The jocks’ comments about their own academic failures not resulting in math being taken out of the curriculum have no relevance in the discussion of the CFT’s demise. No one at my school who scored badly on a math or spelling test was ever mocked and taunted day in and day out for weeks on end for it, but the same cannot be said for those of us whose time on the flexed-arm hang measured in the deciseconds! All this test made me do was miss a lot of school in order to avoid it, and count the days till the middle of Grade 10, when I would never again have to attend another phys ed class for as long as I lived. If we want Canadians to do better at the Olympics, how about giving kids the opportunity to try a wealth of sports? Chances are, a great deal more children will find something they’re good at, perhaps even leading them to lifelong fitness. I have since gone on to bicycle to Mexico and back from Edmonton, to Atlanta (one-way), around Ireland, across France, and around Tasmania. I’ve even (VOLUNTARILY) run a few 5-K races, no thanks to the CFT!

I was just looking to see if I could find the Canada Fitness Test Booklet online and stumbled onto this blog. I was interested to read everyone’s feelings about the Test. As I kid I moved at least once a year and we were too poor to play organized sports, so it was hard to compare myself to the other kids. I just felt like a loser…. I remember the first time I did the test, I was scared to death!!! I was already at the bottom of the social pecking order and expected the test to demonstrate my weakness for all to see. To my surprise, I was actually good at the things tested in the Canada Fitness Test! It was a big boost for my self-esteem. To see popular, jock kids failing the flex-arm hang when I had just been up there until the teacher told me to come down, was a revelation. I never felt physically inferior again. I hindsight, it is sad that my own elation came at the expense of other kids. Anyway, if anyone out there has an old Canada Fitness Test booklet packed away somewhere, I would be happy to buy it.

Watching the episode of Corner Gas with the ParticipACTION spoof in it brought back vivid memories of doing the Canada Fitness Test in elementary school in the early 1980s. I’m not exaggerating when I say that it completely turned me off any kind of exercise until adulthood. Perhaps my school implemented the program incorrectly, but we never had the opportunity to learn or practice the skills we needed to succeed at the test - it was just given to us toward the end of the school year, usually without warning. To me it was akin to writing a math test without having taken a math class - with 26 of your peers and one disapproving teacher looking on. I’m not one to whine about things that happened in my childhood and I’m definitely in favour of all kids getting plenty of opportunities to exercise, but geez, there has to be a happy medium between humiliating kids who aren’t naturally athletically inclined and the current trend toward lavishing praise on everyone for fear of damaging their precious self-esteem.

I remember consistently getting the “thanks for trying” participation pin. I had two problems. For one, I was much shorter and smaller than the norm so events like the standing long jump left me markedly disadvantaged. Secondly, having cerebral palsy made it more difficult for me to run. I usually finished with a silver in the 50m dash but the 2400m killed me. I remember being paired with a jock in the grade eight flexed arm hang and decided I would just hold on until after he let go. It was the highlight of my Canada Fitness career. In grade seven we did the first try in the fall and the second try in the spring thing and actually worked at my situps and improved from 18 in a minute to 45. I was very strong at Math and was willing to help any of my peers in that subject so generally nobody mocked my handicapped Canada Fitness tests.

I enjoyed reading all the comments on the Canada Fitness Test - I live in BC, and the government in its eternal wisdom has decided that our kids are all fat, and has mandated 30 minutes of exercise per day, and is banning junk food from our schools. Duh, I say. Just bring back the Canada Fitness Test, but make the flexed arm hang optional. I am and was a scrawny little runt, but I couldn’t do the flexed arm hang to save my life. The endurance run and the speed sit-ups, however, those were my areas of expertise!!

I’m currently in high school and the pass two classes we had a fitness test. Today we had a beep test …. I passed level 3. Now I have no idea if that is good or not compared to the average in Quebec or Canada I have been looking and I can’t seem to find anything. Would anyone be able to tell me the average for 12-16 girls for: -Beep Test -Sit ups -Push ups -Flexibility -Grip test -Standing long jump So if anyone has this information I would be very thankful. :)(Please just post it on this board) Thank you, Pauline

Just reminiscing about my elementary school years when me and another girl won the “award of excellence” in the Canada Fitness Challenge. We had our pictures taken by the local newspaper, Prince Albert Daily Herald. I recall my friend donned a “summer outfit” of white slacks and a summer blouse. Me.. I turned up in a pair of denim cutoffs, tank top and bare feet (my usual summer attire). Anyway, I am proud to say the that the “Canada Fitness Challenge” inspired me my whole life. I am now a 46-year-old-soon-to-be-grandma and I continue to make fitness and health my addiction. Those who do not find time for exercise will have to find time for illness. - Earl of Derby

i remember waiting forever for the gym teacher to time us on the flexed arm hang. By the time he got over to us I had burned out my arms trying to see if I could do it. I never even got a bronze but I did manage to make the school soccer, volleyball, basketball(team mvp), cross country and track teams. I don’t think the testing was a very good measure of ones abilities and my non-athletic wife is constantly reminding me as I head off (at age 50) to the soccer field that she has her award of excellence.

I looooved the CFP!! I always got the award of excellence (which included the arm hang for girls). I was always so excited when the time came for it every year. Thanks for all the memories everyone! :o)

Ah, the beloved/ begruged CFT…LMAO well I never got an award badge, despite excelling in sports. were we really supposed to get a participation pin/ sticker? the endurance run didn’t take asthma into account anymore more or less then any disability, illness, or injury. my teacher called it the neccesary evil, we were never graded on this, i was always forced to stop on the endurance run because i wasn’t breathing properly. watching my kids in school and going through 3 gym teachers i’ve noticed the quality is different. the current teacher has tested them at the beginning of the year in things like flexibilty, coordination, strength, endurance and balance. the goal is to see an improvement by the end of the year. these days the education system seems more concearned about social growth then achieving academically or physically. with the lack of discipline and pushing kids ahead without the neccesary skills, is it really a surprise that that our kids lack self control/ self discipline when they seldom hear the word no? tv/ game systems/ computer babysitters , convienient for parents wanting time for themselves. let’s hope the past 20years have taught us what we need to know and we can move forward. really the testing is ok, it’s all the to do with badges and singling people out that’s not so great.

hi i am writing this to see if anyone still has the badge for excellance i won one before and have lost it over the years and am just wondering if anyone has one and they would like to sell please email me if your interested…if not sell even email me pics so i can show my son when he gets older it funny how after you have children thing like that all of the sudden mean much more then what they did thanks and hope to here from you guys soon….

I loved the Canada fitness test. The 50 m was, at times, my stumbling block. Has anyone found a booklet that shows the events and standards?

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.