Skewed Perspective

I see the president and his advisors on education are working to tweek the No Child Left Behind Act because it really hasn't been all that successful. We're still behind a zillion countries in academia. Brain drain has affected us all in education. One proposal which I have seen in several places, including the NEA publication to members is that we end high school compulsory attendance after 10th grade. At that point, the college-bound student would have only other college-bound students in class so students could be ...well...learning. Technical school students would begin learning what THEY want at that point, and enter the work force with a higher degree of training in a shorter period of time. The others who really didn't want to be there anyway would then be free to go off, get a job and find out what the world is really like. While nobody is jumping on that bandwagon with both feet, I suspect there are many who are running alongside it waiting for the opportunity.
I am proposing something of a more radical plan: have schools place emphasis on academic areas and not athletics. Bold plan, I know, but here are some things recently that make me lean in that direction.
It occurred to me that our school, like many others, has at least four volunteers who help the basketball coaches. Legions of adults coach AAU teams, after-season all-star teams, etc. Just the other day, a man I know got a letter about a team being put together for 7th and 8th graders after the three-month season had ended. The letter stated that in no uncertain terms would any student be guaranteed playing time since this was a team put together for the sole purpose of winning as many sponsored tournaments as possible. His son got the message and didn't try out. Dad was somewhat mystified. Anyway, I counted the number of adult volunteers we had in my school who helped the math teachers, the science teachers, the history teachers, and, well, ANY teacher. You know how many there were, don't you? yep...none. At our high school we have sports booster clubs but no academic booster club. I read about coaches "marketing" players with skills when they have not finished grade school yet. Pages of every paper are devoted to school sports, but very few have anything to do with academics. Why? Because that's what we care about.
A private school in Milwaukee has been under the gun because six athletes transferred there prior to the beginning of the year. An investigation proved inconclusive, but the team is 12-2 and beating a lot of good teams. I guess the tipoff was that all six played together on a summer team, and, make no mistake about it, the summer teams are put together for marketing purposes only. Check out Sonny Vaccaro if you don't believe me.
Now, I read about this small school in Junction City, Kansas, that has allowed girls to play on the boys' varsity team. Believe me, this is not the latest version of the Hickory Huskers. These kids are getting killed by 80 points some nights. The thing that caught my eye was that the best player in school quit because he (or his parents or "marketers")didn't agree with the way the coach wanted to use him. Since there was a real paucity of players, two girls joined the team. How can the best player quit? What has he learned about anything? "If I can't have my way, I'll just quit, and then you can get beat by 80 every night instead of 50!"
Noting that Gilbert Arenas is still holding a grudge about the unfair Olympic treatment he feels that he got ("I'd score 80 on Coach K's Duke team") shows yet again that there MUST be an "I" in "team."
Given the number of professional or even Division 1 college athletes in this country, it would seem logical that we spend more of our energies on education and less on athletics.
Don't get me wrong. I have been deeply involved in athletics ever since my Uncles Al and John gave me a baseball or put up a hoop at Grandma's for me and my brother. I was fortunate enough to have a great deal of success in both high school and college. I've coached five or six different sports and officiated as well. But, it wasn't until I got out of active participation that my teaching quality improved to the point of getting state awards as a teacher. I am far more dedicated to my students now that I don't have practice to plan or competition to face. It just seems that we need more of a separation between the two and the focus to provide what will best serve our children and our future.
I guarantee, though, that you will see an end to compulsory education at the 10th grade level far sooner than you'll see my plan enacted. That's the problem with genius plans: few others recognize them as such!