Blog post from the New Yorker
It's not a new criticism, but the international aspect is pretty interesting.
It's not a new criticism, but the international aspect is pretty interesting.
Do organized sports belong in US schools?
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Liosse de Velishaf
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Well, at the schools I attended, and schools that my friends attended, not only were sports not a huge deal, although football teams still tended to get the biggest audience, but there was a focus on academics. A focus that got kids into the classroom or study hall who might not otherwise have done it. Many schools have academic requirements for sports teams, up to and including delayed and cancelled practices, cuts, study halls, etc for under-performing students. And many teams have collective members with high gpas.
There are so many other factors involved, it's really silly to point to sports as a whole as the issue. You could certainly consider it as a strong factor in individual schools or regions. But to suggest taking sports out of American schools wholesale is not something I support. If nothing else, mandatory participation schools encourage healthier living through exercise!
There are so many other factors involved, it's really silly to point to sports as a whole as the issue. You could certainly consider it as a strong factor in individual schools or regions. But to suggest taking sports out of American schools wholesale is not something I support. If nothing else, mandatory participation schools encourage healthier living through exercise!
IN Canada, the most gung-ho sport here is ice hockey. There are no hockey teams in high school. The hockey development leagues are completely independent and if one reaches the major-juniors, they earn a stipend. Colleges do have sports teams, however attendance is fairly meagre when it comes to fans. The big games are always in the Pros or the juniors.
Soccer and baseball share a similar setup, although the steps between the development leagues and the big league is still lacking.
Football and basketball are different stories. We do have high school teams, alongside swimming, waterpolo, rugby and volleyball. They do not receive the same volume of funds nor do their attendance numbers impress, but they do hold disruptive tournaments and training sessions. But it does not dominate nor does it leave one tending to feel neglected if they are big into arts, computers, sciences or shop.
Soccer and baseball share a similar setup, although the steps between the development leagues and the big league is still lacking.
Football and basketball are different stories. We do have high school teams, alongside swimming, waterpolo, rugby and volleyball. They do not receive the same volume of funds nor do their attendance numbers impress, but they do hold disruptive tournaments and training sessions. But it does not dominate nor does it leave one tending to feel neglected if they are big into arts, computers, sciences or shop.
Maybe because it was a small school (my graduating class had 72 students) but most of the kids who took part in sports were also the ones who did well academically and took part in other non-sport extra-curriculars as well. And kids who didn't take part in sports weren't considered "lesser" students or nerds. I think a lot it is just how the school approaches things.
Schools have already begun the slow strangle of the emotional release valve by killing art programs. It wouldn't surprise me if they started squeezing physical programs because, you know, obesity rates. Sit and memorize your facts, kids, we have a test to pass.
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Sport isn't the issue or the problem.
Ask Juan Williams.
I am not an opponent of collective bargaining. But the organizations that represent collective bargaining these days are impediments to progress and reform. Not participants.
Ask Juan Williams.
Juan Williams said:
I am not an opponent of collective bargaining. But the organizations that represent collective bargaining these days are impediments to progress and reform. Not participants.
Ah yes, that old windmill. Do those wages reflect the cost of living in Chicago? The teachers in Chicago make roughly as much as they do in Edmonton, FYI.
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And nothing at all about the second paragraph, eh? Nothing about wanting to tax white people?
I remind you the article linked in the OP reported Poland's success spending less than half of what we do per student.
There is, if any, an almost reverse correlation between spending per student and academic success. Washington D.C., Chicago, New York City, L.A., virtually all of the biggest urban school systems rank way above average (or mean) in spending per student, and rank way down the list in academic performance.
Money isn't the answer, any more than sports (or cutting them) is.
I actually think it matters less how much money there is and more what it is being spent on. If you sink most of your school budget into metal detectors and security cameras, shockingly, your students will not learn that much from the defensive fortifications.
Save, of course, that school is somewhat analogous to prison...
Save, of course, that school is somewhat analogous to prison...
Here they aren't organized sport teams except for the really expensive schools, same deal with anything extracurricular. No clubs or any other activities than 7 or 8 subjects. Also, school is a part-time affair for some reason (7:30 am to 1 pm in high school, for example) and I find it quite dire. But not as dire as the tales of US high schools we tend to get from those herenwho studied there. Seriously, we're baffled by pep rallies and whatnot.
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Heh, you're not the only ones. I don't know that I've ever met anyone who attended an actual pep rally. I mean I probably have, as an adult, and it just never came up, but my h.s. had no such thing, dunno anyone else's that did at the time.
Here it's from 7:15 AM (or so) to 1 PM. That's quite enough. 45-minute or 90-minute classes, five minute breaks in between, one 15-minute break for lunch. Clearly it's not the issue, we can always go back to Finland - where teachers work considerably fewer hours, they spend less money per student, and yet look at them.
It's not news. The days when sport meant something were the days when sportsmanship meant something. Those days are long behind us.
How in the hell would schools teach blind loyalty to the group, vicious othering of one's opponents, the true value of brawn over brains (what's the attendance at the scholastics award ceremony vs. homecoming?), and such homilies as "to the victor go the spoils" (translation: the quarterback and center get the hot, easy chicks) and "some animals are more equal than others" (the authorities turn a blind eye if "boys will be boys" and some girl gets abused as a result) if it weren't for organized sports in schools?
Not to mention the importance of physical conditioning and deference to the team structure necessary to prepare a new generation as cannon fodder to feed our politician's lust for empire.
...and how's that fit in with the whole "education is a public good" thingie, anyway? Shouldn't the focus be on delivering the public good instead of throwing distractions in the way?
Not to mention the importance of physical conditioning and deference to the team structure necessary to prepare a new generation as cannon fodder to feed our politician's lust for empire.
...and how's that fit in with the whole "education is a public good" thingie, anyway? Shouldn't the focus be on delivering the public good instead of throwing distractions in the way?
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First, it seems at best a side matter to the topic at hand.
Second, there is no sign that that was a real comment. To assert that the person cited said it is false attribution.
There is no direct quote, either in your citation or in the linked Fox News article, to indicate that that is actually what this person said or intended.
The only direct quote from that person in that article was “Rich white people think they know what’s in the best interest of children of African-Americans and Latinos, no matter what the parents’ income or educational level.”
That seems to be a reference to privileged people steamrollering over other people's understanding of their own children's needs.
It is hardly a controversial comment, although the reporter seems infuriated by it.
The comments about taxes are all the reporter's own analysis and assertions with no facts or quotes to back them up.
And the whole thing is a sideline, a distraction, even, from this topic.
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Chicago is a racist city, especially the Machine. I've watched people get ground into the mould as they climb up and become made. To enter is to accept the racism, to accept the racist and sexist jokes, to deny people who have not made themselves. There is a lot of exclusion going on there.
And Canada has similar results to Poland. And Poland has a different cost of living.
The places where education is spent the most has the highest cost of living. These places also have significant gaps in terms of inequality.
So why did you bring it up?
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True and not true.
Chicago is a city of three million people, six million including the suburbs.
Chicago is one of the most segregated cities in the US -- apart from my neighborhood which is strongly integrated.
The Chicago Machine is racist, but also much diminished in power.
Chicagoans do not en masse accept racism, or sexism, or the Machine.
The current Cook County Board president is a black woman, a reformer and progressive who was never a part of the Machine.
The current US President is a black man from Chicago who was also never a part of the Machine.
Both of those people's houses are less than ten minute's walk from my house.
Chicago has many problems with racism and exclusion, but it is not monolithic.
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What I pointed out was yet another education "leader" coming up with more non-answers that will accomplish nothing but driving out the very people she wants to use as a source of funds.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jun/19/union-boss-karen-lewis-blames-rich-white-people-ch/
I don't know if you noticed, but *I* noticed not a single word on what these proposed taxes will do to or for education. I looked through a dozen links after googling "Karen Lewis reform." I saw not one proposal, through right-wing *and* left-wing sites, that actually reforms anything.
And at each of those urban districts, you're going to find a similar lack of focus on actually fixing education.
Karen Lewis inadvertently bumped into a truth when she spoke of the status quo. She was simply pointing in the wrong direction. She *should* be pointing at her own organization, at school administration, *and* at parents.
Probably because they are talking about budgets. It's a bit difficult to talk about education when you are talking about looking at whether the revenue streams are being correctly represented or tapped. She may be wrong, whatever, but a budget is a budget.
Agree with this. And even non-high risk kids who get bored do stupid things.
I see huge motivation in my teenage son and his teammates to stay fit and healthy--healthy food, active lifestyle, keeping the grades up (requirement to play), let alone staying away from drugs and alcohol--so that they can play well. Sports are fun and satisfying, teach teamwork and discipline... it's not all about "we're gonna kick that other team's ass..." IME.
And, if sports were only available through private clubs, lots of families couldn't afford it.
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I didn't mean to say that at all. I meant to say that not all parts of Chicago are like that.
The argument that the habits other people/places are worse than one's own bad habits is, to my eye, a cop-out from one's responsibility to improve things.
But a blanket condemnation of an entire people or place should be examined.