Skip to main content

Rah, Rah Team



Football season has started, and the media have hyped the fans to their annual fall frenzy. It would be wonderful if they could support performance in the classroom to the same extent as they do for performance on the athletic field. It seems odd that so much emphasis is placed on things that many animals can do much better than humans ― they can run faster, jump higher, copulate more often, perform greater feats of strength, etc. ― and so little on the process at which humans excel: think. We celebrate what we do from the neck down, and merely tolerate what we do from the neck up.
I do not believe that education necessarily can be improved by throwing more money at it, but it would help if some of the same spirit could be thrown at it.
However, on the subject of money, I realize that athletics is a money-making activity; it is probably the only education-related activity that is self-supporting, and it is my understanding that income from athletic endeavors goes strictly for the furtherance of more athletic endeavors. I do not see any reason why some of the income from sports should not be diverted to classroom necessities. School boards are having a tough time budgeting during the present recession. Everyone wants more results with less money, and here is readily available cash.
I know this is not going to happen, so perhaps another solution would be a change in attitude. Some schools have already done so.
In my area there are two high schools within five miles of each other. One has an outstanding sports program, and the athletes receive overwhelming support from the local fans. Their football team, for example, is almost always in the running for the state championship in its class.
The other school concentrates on classroom results, and although their athletic teams also receive local support, they do not turn out state champions; not many of their athletes receive full athletic scholarships.
At the last area science fair, the second school had 29 students who won awards for their achievements. The first school had no students entered. I believe a difference in emphasis, perhaps by one teacher, made the difference.
I do not mean to imply that the first school turns out only moronic jocks – I realize that there are many good students coming out every year. But with the emphasis of both the school administration and the community concentrated on sports, and scholarships going to more athletes than bright students, even the good students must wonder if it is all worth it. Which school is more likely to turn out the well-rounded citizens which our society needs to compete with China, India and other rising nations in the 21st century? Will it be the brainiacs, or the brawniacs?
As always, time will tell. I’m betting on the brainiacs.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

There Are Only Seven Jokes - Introduction

      The statement “There are only seven jokes – all the rest are variations,” has been around for a long time, but no one ever seems to know what the original seven are. I think I have found the solution to the mystery.       The answer is to be found in an article published in the New York Times on May 2, 1909. Entitled “New Jokes? There Are No New Jokes, There Is Only One Joke,” it goes on to say that all jokes are a distortion, and lists seven categories of distortion. Supposedly every joke will fit into one of the categories. I believe that repetition changed the seven categories into the seven jokes.       Each of my next seven blogs will be devoted to exploring one of the categories. In addition, I shall attempt to give an example or two of jokes which I think fit the category.       You must realize that this article appeared over one hundred years ago, so most of the jokes appearing therein are so out-of-date that modern readers wouldn’t even understand them. For example,

By Today’s Standards Many of my Teachers Would be in Jail

I started school in a two-room building: grades 1 to 4 in one room; grades 5 to 8 in the other. One teacher in each room taught all four grades. I don’t remember first grade very well – the teacher left at the end of the year. I am pretty sure it was not my fault. Now keep in mind that reading the Bible every morning was the standard for all grades at that time. But my teacher in grades two to four went a little above and beyond the normal practice. As a member of a “plain” sect, she considered it her duty to lead the little heathens to Christianity. She offered a free Bible to all students who managed to memorize 20 verses. I memorized my verses – “Jesus saves” was my favorite because it was the shortest – and got my Bible with my twenty underlined in red. That would be illegal today (not the underlining), and rightly so. Teachers may not teach religion, although contrary to what many folks seem to think, students may bring their Bibles to school, read them, and pray their
The National Anthem I have a somewhat minor pet peeve. I say minor because in the grand scheme of things neither I nor society will do anything substantive about it, so my best bet is probably to suck it up and move on. Perhaps after writing about it I can lay it to rest. It came up recently while I was working out at our Wellness Center. A program on television was playing America The Beautiful , and I remarked to a lady I have known for 40 years that I thought that should be the National Anthem instead of The Star Spangled Banner. She replied, rather huffily, I thought, “Some people think God Bless America should be the national anthem.” At that point I decided, wisely, I think, to back off before an argument sprang up. Now I realize that The Star Spangled Banner is a very nice, patriotic song, but an anthem it is not. According to Wikipedia, “ An anthem is a  musical composition  of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the  nationa