|
typically the problem is systemic and can in no way be solved by snip snip here, snip snip there.
issues have to do with tax base, real estate regulation, county and state management competency.
and its all bait and switch. quiet as kept, these things are no longer in education budgets anyway and the costs are borne by the students and their parents (PTAs, etc). which is fucked up, because it is a tax, and provides a barrier of entry for students with talent but no $$$s.
in the wealthiest school district in the state (of NC), going back 15 yrs, there were no field trips or in-school programs in school budgets -- that was entirely through your PTA. well, if your school is in a relatively lower income area, the parents damn sure don't have extra money for that, so your kids don't get to see the occasional play or have any kinds of enriching assemblies.
to play sports there's a participation fee. again, at a fairly affluent public high school, my daughter played volleyball one year, did track one year, and did band all the way throughout, inlcuding color guard. we had to pay a couple hunnid for volleyball (uniforms and such). direct cost. had to pay like $350 for color guard for just the fall semester, plus a few hundred more for spring. buck fitty for her gown for the wind ensemble concert.
my younger five homeschooled and we have to pay there to support whatever league (football or bball -- we've also done soccer before, and band, and they also have volleyball and a number of other clubs). paying the same kind of money.
way back in the flinstones era when i was in school, all that shit was baked into the school budget. you already paying a la carte.
one h.s. where my son's aau team used to practice looked like a little league field w/ all the sponsors signs hanging up. but that's cool. good hustle if your community can afford it to defray costs. i can only imagine at a really poor inner city school. there'd be signs from liquor stores and four competing funeral homes an shit.
all of these opportunities are needed and vital options for kids' social and physical and mental development. folks is playing us, tho, pitting the artsy fartsies against the jocks. i was both. plus a creative + science nerd to boot. ALL of those areas of study reach different kids and provide experiences and incentives that can help push or pull them through school.
and sports ain't about necessarily nba or nfl. some crazy percentage of female CEOs and execs played team sports. and although it can get ridiculous, you deal with situations in sports that, otherwise, you might not encounter until you are 35 working on a job. i get to work through those things w/ my kids now and help them to recognize patterns in human behavior, and different personality archetypes, and how to deal with different situations AND be self-conscious and push themselves beyond their perceived limits. and have fun and burn off some energy.
peace & blessings,
x.
www.twitter.com/poetx
=========================================
I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad
|
Printer-friendly copy 
Email this topic to a friend
General Discussion
(6 votes)
(19 votes)
(4 votes)
