Middle school or Jr. High as it were is brutal. These can be the suckiest years of one’s life. It's not enough that we are living in hormonic hell, but we have some real challenges with a few of those leading the way. Teacher is the title, but what are they teaching? I want to clarify right here that there are Saints in the system. Then there are those (teachers) who I want to ask, "what do you want to be when you grow up?"
I read a post this past weekend by Chris Garret called Just Like Breathing. The challenge is for us discover what is so natural for us that it is like breathing. Unless you suffer from severe chronic asthma or emphysema this is a simple proposition but requires deep and purposeful thought in order to provoke an answer. This is not suggesting one take the path of least resistance but rather discover what moves oneself in a way that they don't even know that they are working, and working diligently at it?
Tonight I attended my son's middle school athletic (I use that word loosely) awards banquet and I couldn't believe my ears! Yes, there were athletes in the room. There were many and many hopefuls as well as could-be's. But the coaches stole the show! The worst part is that so many of the parents were admittedly shocked and buzzing about it afterwards but no one wanted to address it on the next level. One parent even said, "this is how it was two years ago, that is just how they are, pathetic and sad, " and his son won an award! The sad part is that our tender and vulnerable young teens are exposed to some real...crappy leadership!
Football, track, cross country, basketball, volleyball and tennis. These are the schools offered sports and some of these kids are doing good to just be in the program at any level. However those fortunate enough to earn the recognition and honor of an award might just get it served with a backhanded compliment. Case in point: the MVP for the basketball team...a huge honor usually bestowed upon the cream of the crop that sport season was exposed as being lazy. LAZY? And this is the MVP...how does that happen? Then the coach basically wrapped some kind words in there (but I can’t remember because I was so stumped) and said he hoped he would see better the next year. Geeze, am I missing something?
This went on and on from one to the next, it was just awful. Long and awful for all the wrong reasons. Then in the end, the top award was given to the queen and king (for lack of a better word to disguise the actual title) of all things athletic. Insults came out like sugar coated arsenic. The female recipient was praised for being so good that she could have received the MVP in all the programs in which she participated...which was all of them. Uh, so what about the girls you just awarded, the ones holding the plaques, certificates and medals...the actual MVP's? Does that make them Silver MVP's and did you have to take any of their thunder? Could you not have just said how fantabulous this little girl was across the board that she earned herself the Platinum MVP? Was it really necessary to overshadow all the other girls who had just sat down with their prized honors that way? Call me stupid, but it was weird.
Finally, the boy who won the "king" of all sports was praised by each coach and teacher on stage. No doubt he deserves all the accolades and everyone knows he is the 'one', but the little girl who was his counterpart in winning just stood there as the clock ran over while each coach/teacher had to say their piece on this amazing child with a 'pedigree' as they called it. Okay, great... but she is standing there and whatever they said about her was soon forgotten because the teachers disproportionately honored him. He deserves it I agree, I wouldn't even suggest that they even it up, but close the gap a little because it was too obvious and ultimately uncomfortable for many as I bet it was for the boy. If he is as bright as they say, he had to be embarrassed...after all he is one of those hormonic teenage boys.
No wonder Middle School or Jr. High as it were can be so sucky. The good news is these kids will be out of middle school in one year but those teachers will remain (most of them anyway) in a perpetual state of something or another. I wonder if they do what they do because it's as natural to them as breathing. It's hard to tell.
Special praise: There was one coach/teacher that it was obvious she was in her calling as a leader to these kids. She was flawless in her adoration and respect. Her ability to articulate to the masses was spot on and she never once handed down a negative comment on one student. This is as natural to her as breathing....no doubt about it, and it didn't go unnoticed.
2 comments:
Thanks for saying this, Biz. This BS occurs in every kind of achievement recognition events.
Well, I am so mad I could bite nails.
I would have thought that by now the teachers and coaches would have figured out that men and women should be recognized EQUALLY. Back in ancient times (when I was a girl in school) all our heroes were men, and we didn't even think about trying to shine on our own because that was for the male of the species. It really burns me that the young lady who won "queen" got a few minutes of accolades and the rest of the praise was lavished on the young man. What's the message here? It's OK for a girl to succeed, but hey, the real excitement is reserved for him. He's way more important than she could ever hope to be. Got it? This is the Twenty-first Century. Isn't it time to change those Nineteenth Century attitudes?
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