The Singing Football Player: The Untold Story

Although this topic has nothing to do with what we have talked about so far in Paideia 2 so far, I think it is a topic that needs to be addressed in U.S schools. The issue is sports versus music and why schools are forcing students to choose one or the other. Yet, colleges want students to be well rounded in their education and extra-curricular activities. Students are either in the music/art department or they are in the athletics, never setting foot in a band or choir room. Is this okay? It seems to be with school administration who set up the schedules at school, usually overlapping musical practices with athletic ones. In my own high school, there was a huge divide between the two programs and even the school was set up so that students involved in either could go a whole day without seeing one another.
We need to start emphasizing that students don't have to choose one identity or the other. They should be allowed to both if that is what they really want. Administrators and Activities Directors should schedule things that allow students to participate in a variety of extra-curricular areas. Schools need to stop de-emphasizing athletics and teach kids that music, and arts are just as "cool."

Just playing with blocks....?

Preschool seems to be the hot button item right now. There is talk of making preschools mandatory for all, but is this completely necessary. Many of my friends went to preschool for a year or two before entering kindergarten. however, I also have several friends that didn't go to preschool as well, and they don't seem any worse for the wear. Although I think that preschool provides a good way to get kids socialized, I think that is the only benefit it really offers. Kids at that age (3-4 year olds) really don't need to be learning the skills they will be learning in kindergarten. This causes repetition within the classroom, the teachers have to reteach those skills to everyone because not everyone has gone to preschool. So this then calls into question, whether we make preschool mandatory, or we just get rid of it completely. I propose that we don't have preschool at all, we need to give kids a childhood instead. Let kids be kids a little longer and let the kindergarten be the place where they learn the basic skills they need. This is not to say that kids should just be at home until kindergarten, kids still need to be socialized but this could be done through daycare, play groups or just in the neighborhoods.

Milk

I thought that the chocolate milk drinking competition that Decorah High School took part in was utterly ridiculous. After doing the math, the nutritional benefits (which are still up for debate) do not outweigh the cost on both monetarily and nutritionally. The amount of milk the students were drinking caused them to intake more fat and sugar than they usually do on a daily basis before the competition. The students also spent more more than they actually won on buying the milk to drink for the competition. The prizes that were given were not ones that taught kids about good nutrition, awarding students with closer parking spaces and pizza lunches.

I am in no way a hater of Decorah High School spirit, but I think that the school backing this competition was the wrong choice. The school needs to promote good nutrition, maybe endorsing a white milk drinking challenge instead. White milk has better benefits for student health, and tastes just as good :). I think that the school rallying together to win is awesome and shows that the Vikings have tons of school spirit. Although school spirit is important, I think that rallying around a sugary and fattening cause, really demotes overall effect. Maybe students should pull together for a walk or run in the honor of a beloved teacher, or enter into a corn eating contest!

It is very exciting that Decorah completely demolished the competition in this milk drinking competition. However, the school needs to think harder about the competitions and promotions that they choose to endorse, and the effects it may have on the lives of their students.

The issue with the pledge...

We talked about the issues that people have with the pledge today, but it seemed to me that we are missing the big issue. In class the ideas we talked about were issues with the "under God" phrase and how that can offend people of other non-Christian religions here in America. We also talked about the issue with "justice and liberty for all." What I was thinking about while this discussion was taking place was, whether there was a the need to say it. I really didn't know much about where or how the pledge came to be...so I googled it. According to Wikipedia, the pledge was written in 1892 for a celebration for Columbus Day (actually the 400th anniversary of Columbus's discovery of America). So, the song was written in celebration of a day, no one celebrates anymore, nor does anyone get the day off of work. It seems that we say it because that is what we have always done, not because we actually celebrate the discovery of America. I am all for promoting patriotism, and loyalty to country, however, a monotonous recitation of something that has lost its true meaning doesn't seem like the best way to inspire nationalism!

White person say what?

I found the articles in the reader pertaining to the education of the Native Americans particularly interesting. As interesting as it was, it also sadden and frustrated me. I am taking an American Diversity class right now and we are just finishing up a unit on the Native Americans and the treatment they have received thus far from "white society." I was able to make connections between what I am learning in both classes, but it makes me even more frustrated. We attempted to assimilate the children by taking away everything they had ever known, including their families. We pushed our religion, values and traditions on the children to make them fit into "white society." Yet, even after all that work, we still held them back because of the racism that existed and still exists today.

The lost of culture has been regained some by the older people teaching the younger ones the traditional ways. However, the assimilation has taken root and the children really don't want to take to those ways anymore. It is sad because the Indian culture is really beautiful, and the people can teach us a lot if we are willing to listen.

Hmmm....where to live?

This week was really eye opening in terms of looking at the segregation that is happening in schools in America. On Wednesday, we watched a clip from Oprah about two schools in the Chicago area that were completely different. One was an inner city school that was lacking many necessary resources, and the other was a fancy suburban school about 35 minutes away. It was shocking to see the apparent differences among the schools. The difference in graduation rates between the schools was also slightly disturbing. The inner city school had a rate of 40% while the suburban school was at 99% graduation rate. It is hard to imagine that this type of inequality is happening in our public schools today. It is atrocious and unfair. The kids in the inner city need and deserve the resources and facilities that the suburban kids have. Especially in inner city schools, alot of the students are up against difficult living situations and are making critical life choices. Without the resources and materials, these kids are making choices with out the skills and options that are afforded to those in the suburban schools.