bouncin' back
Amazing what three days rest can do. I'm still not 100%, but 90 will do. I think my downfall was not feeling good the weekend before and giving blood on Monday, leaving my depleated body wide open for a relapse. I have a feeling, in retrospect, that wasn't such a bright thing to do. Do'h! Then again, what do I know? I'm not a doctor, but I played one when I was twelve.
Having all that couch time, I got a chance to see HBO Real Sports last week, which had a segment on something I hadn't given a lot of thought to - home schooled children and high school sports. We have someone in this area that was showcased this weekend on ESPN who sort-of fits the category. If you watched the nationally televised game between Nease High School from northeast Florida and Hoover High School in Alabama, you saw quarterback Tim Tebow. He isn't any longer, but he was home schooled for part of his high school years and plays quarterback for a public school. He's also one of the biggest college football prospects in the country. I wouldn't be surprised if the Nease coach took one look at Tim and said, "Sure, you can play for us!" That's a callous view, and maybe not entirely correct, but it illustrates one of the issues.
(A side note: Nease got hammered in the 4th quarter, and wouldn't have won even if there were no questionable calls, but it was noted by many people here that the home field advantage extended to the view of the zebras, and that the head zebra and the head coach of the Hoover team shared the same last name. "When the Nease player is on his knees and the Hoover player puts his helmet in the guy's chest, here they call that unnecessary roughness." I know - waaaah! Like I said, Nease wasn't going to win that game anyway. Tebow is very talented, but he can't even carry that team to a city championship, let alone beat the perennial Alabama state power.)
The question is, should home schooled kids be allowed to play public school sports? For me, the answer is no. If you're going to put your child in public school, you go all the way or you don't go at all. I realize home school families pay taxes and therefore have just as much access to public schools as anyone else, but those teams represent the schools and are an extra cirricular activity of those schools. It is a privelege to play on those teams, not a right, and it's a privelege for those people gifted enough to play and who attain the proper grades at that school, to represent their school in sport. I realize most home schooled kids do attain those academic standards, but that isn't the point. What happens when a child is a great athlete and doesn't meet those standards, and he or she is in the public school? What's to stop mom and pop from pulling the kid and 'home schooling' them so they can play football, or soccer or whatever? The academic abuse possibilities are amazing, as is the possible case with athletes with a lot of talent...team stacking. What's the difference between this and a home schooled child showing up at tryouts for a school play, saying, I don't attend this school, but I want in on the extra cirricular stuff? Or better, I hear you have a great math program, and I suck at math, so I want my kid to take your math class, but nothing else.
In my case, I send my child to a private school. Should I be able to have him show up for football tryouts at the public school where he would attend? I don't think so. Yes, our schools have cafeterias, but paying taxes doesn't entitle you to treat their cirriculum like your personal cafeteria. No pickin' and choosin' the pieces you like. You either do the public school thing and all that comes with it, or you don't.
Last but certainly not least, please pray for those people in Louisiana and the rest of the gulf coast. They're going to need every one of our voices and hearts and help to get through Katrina.
Having all that couch time, I got a chance to see HBO Real Sports last week, which had a segment on something I hadn't given a lot of thought to - home schooled children and high school sports. We have someone in this area that was showcased this weekend on ESPN who sort-of fits the category. If you watched the nationally televised game between Nease High School from northeast Florida and Hoover High School in Alabama, you saw quarterback Tim Tebow. He isn't any longer, but he was home schooled for part of his high school years and plays quarterback for a public school. He's also one of the biggest college football prospects in the country. I wouldn't be surprised if the Nease coach took one look at Tim and said, "Sure, you can play for us!" That's a callous view, and maybe not entirely correct, but it illustrates one of the issues.
(A side note: Nease got hammered in the 4th quarter, and wouldn't have won even if there were no questionable calls, but it was noted by many people here that the home field advantage extended to the view of the zebras, and that the head zebra and the head coach of the Hoover team shared the same last name. "When the Nease player is on his knees and the Hoover player puts his helmet in the guy's chest, here they call that unnecessary roughness." I know - waaaah! Like I said, Nease wasn't going to win that game anyway. Tebow is very talented, but he can't even carry that team to a city championship, let alone beat the perennial Alabama state power.)
The question is, should home schooled kids be allowed to play public school sports? For me, the answer is no. If you're going to put your child in public school, you go all the way or you don't go at all. I realize home school families pay taxes and therefore have just as much access to public schools as anyone else, but those teams represent the schools and are an extra cirricular activity of those schools. It is a privelege to play on those teams, not a right, and it's a privelege for those people gifted enough to play and who attain the proper grades at that school, to represent their school in sport. I realize most home schooled kids do attain those academic standards, but that isn't the point. What happens when a child is a great athlete and doesn't meet those standards, and he or she is in the public school? What's to stop mom and pop from pulling the kid and 'home schooling' them so they can play football, or soccer or whatever? The academic abuse possibilities are amazing, as is the possible case with athletes with a lot of talent...team stacking. What's the difference between this and a home schooled child showing up at tryouts for a school play, saying, I don't attend this school, but I want in on the extra cirricular stuff? Or better, I hear you have a great math program, and I suck at math, so I want my kid to take your math class, but nothing else.
In my case, I send my child to a private school. Should I be able to have him show up for football tryouts at the public school where he would attend? I don't think so. Yes, our schools have cafeterias, but paying taxes doesn't entitle you to treat their cirriculum like your personal cafeteria. No pickin' and choosin' the pieces you like. You either do the public school thing and all that comes with it, or you don't.
Last but certainly not least, please pray for those people in Louisiana and the rest of the gulf coast. They're going to need every one of our voices and hearts and help to get through Katrina.
John put this out here at 7:36 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home