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Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Angry

I think I'd really like to write about something... new.  I was going to write about a slice of my day, but it's been a tough day.  Doesn't really fall into my positive plan.  I was going to write about some things that make me happy and something to help me cheer up, but then I felt like it was just so selfish.. and selfishness has been one of my major peeves lately.  So I decided I would start something new.  Maybe write some fiction... or some non-fiction cleverly disguised as fiction... but it turns out that's quite difficult. 

How do people just WRITE?! 

How are these stories made?  How do people come up with these entire worlds and universes, mythologies and lore, languages, families?  I'm sure it takes much more than a day, more than a quick write to get this type of thing done.  But man, how do you even start?!   

So instead, I made a to-do list, got overwhelmed, then frustrated, then deleted it and felt better. 
So here I am.  Stuck again.  And so my dear readers and fellow writers, I give you: a rant, turned belief system. 

People like to talk a big game.  They like to say they believe in something, but when it comes down to it, there's nothing to support it.  Here is something I believe in: Academics.  Academics above all.  You should always seek to better yourself and knowledge is more important than a high school game. I am a coach, and I believe student athletes should be more worried about their school work than their sport.  If you don't pass, you don't play anyway.  

I believe if you have a student who can't pass public high school, especially regular classes (mine in particular), they don't need to be spending so much time practicing their sport.  Perhaps, since a lot of that is muscle memory anyway, they should spend a little more time with their nose in a book, a moment in tutorials... maybe they should ASK SOME QUESTIONS!! There's an idea.  If I have an athlete that hasn't been able to hold up their end of the bargain, guess what: they don't play.  You are held accountable for your actions.  Now, if a teacher is simply being spiteful or unreasonable, sure.  I'll have a chat with that teacher and we will figure something out.  As teachers you know, though, that's rarely the case.  

I believe you hold kids accountable for their work. Someone has to. 

I believe in rewarding kids who work their hearts out.  And I don't believe in gifting kids grades just to push them through the system.  And I definitely don't believe in asking other teachers to bend their system, their beliefs, so that I can win a GAME.  Maybe I'm not a good coach.  I just don't think that's the way you teach a kid character, integrity, hard-work, tenacity, and accountability. 

We are teachers first.  We are educators.  Care takers.  We have kids that can't write a sentence in English.  We have kids that can't read... worse, well, equally bad... we have kids that WON'T read!! Oh, I could go on forever. I am so sorry.  I just don't understand.  




3 comments:

  1. Neither do I. I don't even know what exactly happens to them. I taught first grade for many years, and I've not been too impressed sometimes when I would see some of the students years later making mistakes in spelling or punctuation that they'd pretty close to mastered already in first grade. What happened? Did they lose interest? Were they not pushed to continue do their best or grow from where they were? What became a distraction?
    Certainly schools are set up to do the job of educating first. I agree, sports and other extra-curricular activities always should be secondary. When you know how to do readin', writin' and 'rithmetic you can conquer the rest...

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  2. So much truth is in this line - "You should always seek to better yourself and knowledge is more important than a high school game." Hope your writing helped to dissipate the anger...

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  3. Amen. That's what I have to say to this... Amen.

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