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Actually, lots of schools are dropping football because it's too expensive.
Honestly, how much does it cost to outfit the Spelling Bee Team?
Lot of schools? I can only speak about Western Pennsylvania, but I'm not aware of a single school that has dropped football because it is too expensive. The schools that have dropped football did it because they didn't have enough players to take the field. In at least one case, they had a girl volunteer to play so they would have enough players. With injuries during a season, you need to start with at least 18-19 players at the beginning of the season. One school in the area was on a week to week basis whether they would have to forfeit or not. A couple schools have cancelled seasons but started up again after a year or two.
Lot of schools? I can only speak about Western Pennsylvania, but I'm not aware of a single school that has dropped football because it is too expensive.
Plenty of private schools don’t have football teams. Plenty of community colleges or junior college don’t have any sports teams at all, some do.
Plenty of private schools don’t have football teams. Plenty of community colleges or junior college don’t have any sports teams at all, some do.
You're correct, though for many of the private schools they tend to have soccer instead because it's much cheaper and easier to put on. And in our area we're seeing more and more community colleges growing their sports teams and moving into more sports.
Early to mid 60s. I was happy in Kindergarten. Probably would have been happy going forward, if I hadn't had the misfortune to be stuck in that evil woman's first grade class.
The city I lived in kept black people out until around 1970. Then they let ONE black family move into town. Wow! How forward thinking of them! (NOT!)
I also remember, in the 2nd grade (my first year in school since I skipped a grade) a kid coming up to me on the playground and whispering into my ear "I'm Jewish. I can tell you because I know you won't tell anyone." Which was doubtless because he had witnessed a series of incidents that started with some kid calling me a n-word-lover. I didn't know what the n-word was. Had to go home where my mother was appalled but finally told me it was a really mean name for someone who didn't hate black people. So next time he called me that, I thanked him, because not hating black people was a GOOD thing. Which shocked the living daylights out of him. He paused for a second and then said, "Well, then, you're a JEW lover."
By now I had the tone of his "insults" so I said, "What's wrong with being Jewish? Jesus was a Jew."
This kid went on a rant about how Jesus was NOT a Jew and the Jews KILLED him. "No, the ROMANS killed him, and even if the Jews 2000 years ago DID kill him, it wouldn't be the fault of anyone alive today". He was in a state of apoplexy, just choking on the very idea.
Pretty sure this was the incident that got me labeled "heathen".
I think another problem was that I showed just enough of my Native American heritage that people always suspected I wasn't really One of Them. Didn't help that my mother used to insist on braiding my hair. The other kids would follow me around going "WOO WOO WOO! SQUAW!" ( Westerns were BIG on TV at the time, and people in little Midwest fairly rural towns were WAY more sensitive to and suspicious of perceived "differences" than they are now)
Keeping in mind, I was 30 years old before I found out about our Native American heritage because, you know, unfounded and unreasonable shame. The whole family hid it. Not being white in the 60s was a pretty harsh existence. Had I known, I could have been proud of it. But my mother would never have wanted anyone to know this (it was on my dad's side) so - she hid it and insisted my dad do the same. I could never figure out why she insisted on braiding my hair that way given she supposedly didn't want anyone to twig to our background. So, without that knowledge, it just seemed like one more unfair way for people to make fun of me. Of the 6 children, including me, only my older brother (who died in a car accident when he was 6) and I showed any of that heritage.
Bigots suck. Bigotry at school directed at kids sucks even more. My own son with his Asian Indian heritage faced a fair amount, people used to mistake him for Mexican before 9-11. Guess what they thought AFTER 9-11.
When we lived in Puerto Rico, someone called him a s pic and he had to ask me what that meant. I told him, and told him anyone who used those kinds of terms was an idiot, especially when it comes from an adult (which it had). So we came up with a little speech for him to use and he wrote it down and memorized it - went like this: "I am NOT a "s pic". Technically I am a "wog" or a "half-breed". If you MUST impugn my ethnicity, you should at least get it right."
I swear, he lived for the day he could whip that puppy out and use it. But what you could do in the 90s would probably get you lynched in the 60s.
People who discount the experiences of children, especially experiences like this, are just as bad. "Oh you can't really complain because you are talking from the experience of a child". Being a child doesn't invalidate the facts when you've been abused like this. Taking that stance, no child will ever be believed, and no child will ever be helped. What an awful world that makes!
Those were dark days, especially in a rural or semi-rural area. Lots of overt bigotry and it was acceptable. I'll bet some of your teachers started teaching in the 30s and 40s.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Pyewackette
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Unschooling is a little too vague and loosey-goosey. I've known "unschoolers" who didn't think it mattered at all whether or not their kids learned to so much as balance a checkbook. There has to be SOME guidance. Not ALL learning is fun. Just because something may be hard (which would make a kid not like it) doesn't mean its not worthwhile.
Since I have to HIRE kids / new workers... I will stick with the Un-schooled. They are the ones who know how to WORK, get results, take initiative, lead others ... the 'schooled' employees... they are VERY obvious... sitting around waiting for instruction, then do the minimal possible to get a passing grade ("give me my DESERVED paycheck!")
Our own, were trading stocks by age 12 and running businesses by age 15 (as were most their peers). They seemed to have skipped the 'Balance a checkbook' hour of instruction. That is a GOOD thing! (they could figure that trivial stuff out on their own... self starters... ) I sure didn't 'require it', as they had bigger fish to fry (business plans / financing / cash flows...)
Can't imagine having a kid "not want to learn something hard"... off to Dairy Farm Boarding School for them. Or worse yet, I had really failed them if they didn't WANT / SEEK / DESIRE to learn.
Not necessarily. Here, sports don't make money for the school. Academics brings in grants and a better reputation. Home values are higher if the schools are better. Every time a kid or team wins some academic competition, ca-ching.
Exactly. Selling football and basketball tickets make a whole lot more money for the schools than tickets to spelling bees.
Again, depends where you are. ESPN broadcasts the nationals. When my kid was competing in an academic competition, the school raised money for the state and the national levels so that we could go, as well as the teacher, two years in a row. The schools here help fund all the kids who compete in Intell and Siemens.
The spelling bee is not a team competition. Those kids that you see on TV have been preparing since they were in prekindergarten and those parents (mostly Asian) hired tutors and language teachers. It can be expensive, but Asian parents will spend whatever is necessary so that their kids fare well in school. Kids from my local area used to win the Nationals, but as far as I know, the parents paid their own way to Washington DC.
Around here football and to some extent basketball are net positives in the dollar department. Baseball to some extent. All others, soccer, swim, track, rely on parent fees and fund raisers to put on a team with mostly volunteer coaches. Band and theater bring accolades but no money.
Actually, lots of schools are dropping football because it's too expensive.
Honestly, how much does it cost to outfit the Spelling Bee Team?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rocko20
Plenty of private schools don’t have football teams. Plenty of community colleges or junior college don’t have any sports teams at all, some do.
This discussion has not been about community colleges or junior colleges; it has been about girted programs in elementary through high school.
jtab4994's comment above was that, "lots of schools are dropping football because it's too expensive." That is what I responded to. I stated that I don't believe any schools in Western PA have dropped football because it is too expensive. PA has 31 schools playing football with boys enrollment in the top three grades of under 100. Seven of these schools are either charter, Catholic, or Christian. The smallest two with boys enrollment of 37 and 31 are Belmont Charter School and Imani Christian Academy.Many of the new schools playing football in PA are small charter or private schools.
This discussion has not been about community colleges or junior colleges; it has been about girted programs in elementary through high school.
jtab4994's comment above was that, "lots of schools are dropping football because it's too expensive." That is what I responded to. I stated that I don't believe any schools in Western PA have dropped football because it is too expensive.
Your small sample size of western PA doesn’t undermine or disprove jtab4994’s comments.
Plenty of schools around the nation private, public, K-12, small colleges, etc. have dropped football due to expenses. If you can’t turn a profit, it’s a money pit and they may get rid of it
Your personal anecdote doesn’t undermine the fact football is an expensive extracurricular activity and prone to being cut. Now soccer or basketball? Hell, every school has that
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