Lessons on Field Should Apply to Classrooms

We cannot waste any more critical time or taxpayers’ money on any other schemes to reform our nation’s educational system. Why don’t we just put the system in the hands of those who often get young people to produce-- and who frequently garner rip-roarin’ support from school administrators, parents, special interest groups and the community. Let’s turn the system over to our school’s athletic coaches!

Any teacher presently struggling to do the best job possible for today’s kids will tell you that good, effective coaches can establish rigorous requirements for athletic participation, which--if applied to an academic curriculum--might get a dedicated, caring classroom instructor fired or sued.

Coaches clearly articulate what they intend to achieve during a season: to win. They plan how they’ll go about it; students and parents understand that those who want a piece of athletic glory must follow the dictates of the coaching staff: Attend every practice. Be where you’re supposed to be on time. Don’t complain or invent excuses. Don’t expect special treatment.

Hopeful students who would be stars follow the rules and rise to meet good coaches’ standards. When a community wants a winning team, they don’t question a coach’s judgment after a player is dropped when his or her performance falls below expectation levels. Unfortunately, in the classroom today, teachers must often lower academic performance standards in response to demands from people who pretend to have our children’s best interests on their agenda. Too often, our kids lose because of special-interest groups.

Serious student-athletes compete fiercely to make the team, embracing whatever it takes: curfews, dress and haircut codes, weight limits and/or training, missed social events, bad weather, long bus rides, weekend tournaments and extra study halls designed to help them maintain passing grades. And, while pedagogy pundits place much emphasis on the fragility of our children’s psyches and self-perceptions, most parents enthusiastically encourage and celebrate their child’s demanding athletic commitment and accompanying discomforts.

Only a few fortunate people are born with natural athletic ability. Conversely, with occasional exceptions, all children are born with a natural ability to learn. Our kids would all be academic standouts if we applied the standards we willingly impose on them for shaping their athletic prowess to the development of their intellectual fitness.

Interestingly enough, some people believe students should advance within the system based not necessarily on standards and performance, but rather on sociological factors and demographics. Would those same people protest that the winning basketball team has too many players of one race and insist that such inequity be immediately rectified?

Why is it some parents will readily sue a school district when they believe a dedicated and demanding teacher is picking on their offspring, but they probably wouldn’t carp about a coach’s constructive, but brutally honest, criticism of their kid when the league championship hangs in the balance?

And how is it that a school district--which would never misrepresent a student’s athletic ability to a recruiter--might give students inflated grades that mask serious inadequacies in a kid’s academic-skills development, thus misrepresenting a student’s readiness for continuing education or for the world of work?

Unfortunately, few students qualify for a place on any school’s athletic team; the super-talented individuals who go on to the pros are even fewer. But there’s a wide, waiting world of endless opportunities for graduates who can read, write, think, problem-solve and effectively communicate. Can coaches show us how to make all our kids winners--with high standards, discipline, can-do attitudes, persistence and honesty, and an acceptance of the sacrifice and hard work their success requires?

We claim we want V-I-C-T-O-R-Y, and that we want it N-O-W! Can coaches convince parents to cheer on and support all our kids as they work to conquer the rigors of algebra, grammar, punctuation, geography, history and Shakespeare?

Now, of course, not all coaches are good ones--nor are all teachers effective. But most of us give big votes of confidence to outstanding athletic coaches. We believe in what they do, and we jump up and down and cheer for them and our kids.

If we won’t give deserving teachers the same backing, or allow them to start teaching with our children’s success in mind, then maybe we should just give the good coaches and their get-tough policies a chance to improve the state of education in this country.

Go, team.