A few months ago in a Wealth Daily issue titled "The Castration of Competition," I wrote about "pop" science's obsession with eliminating competition from the public school system.
You may remember the quote I cited, which has become gospel among "enlightened circles" of today's childhood educators:
"Competition is to self-esteem, as sugar is to teeth."
How witty.
Nowhere in the US is this rather unique belief more prevalent than in the state of Maryland schools.
In Baltimore City - where it's not unprecedented for half the city's high school students to attend summer school - some school board officials are calling for the end of grades, arguing that bad or failing grades hurt students with an already fragile self-esteem.
I also told you how some schools have eliminated competition by eliminating scoring in sports. Everybody wins. There are no losers.
Oh happy day, right?
But I've got another doozy for you. It's a phrase that'll become a permanent fixture in the lexicon of school principle offices everywhere. And you may have heard it here first: It's called "athletic bullying."
As you read this, parents of some students are receiving letters from schools.
Their kids are guilty of one thing: Being really good at sports.
One boy who lives in my neighborhood is gifted athletically. Only 10 years old, mind you, he stands nearly 5 feet 2 inches tall, head and shoulders over most of his peers.
As a result, he's really good at basketball. But according to the school he attends, he's too good. So much so, the school asked his parents to tell him to essentially "take it down a notch."
The letter said (paraphrase): "Your son has done nothing wrong. But he does excel in sports. So much so, it borders on 'athletic bullying.' This is a good problem, but a problem nonetheless.
Mind you, he's not violent or verbally abusive to the other children. Quite the contrary. Robert is one of the friendliest students in the class.
However, his athletic ability is so superior to that of the other children, it can be interpreted as 'intimidating.' And we don't want anybody to feel intimidated in gym class. We want everyone to have fun and to participate in all our sports activities.
We suggest that you talk to Robert, and ask him to play to the level of the other kids."
May I ask a question: Have we lost our minds?!?
... I'm reminded about Kurt Vonnegut, in his short story "Harrison Bergeron."
He starts "the year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal... Nobody was smarter than anybody else. Nobody was stronger or quicker than anyone else." The more graceful the dancer, the heavier the weights she must wear. The more beautiful the face, the more hideous the mask.
Vonnegut's main criticism of this way of life is that in a world where everything is equal, there is nothing or no one exceptional. It's the exceptional things in life that remind us to keep striving, to keep evolving and growing.
--- from Brian Hicks, Wealth Daily |
