tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16538424.post4500497575558897375..comments2024-02-29T23:31:03.341-05:00Comments on Out Of Left Field: Nothing but Net Geners: Black and white and misread all oversagerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08757652892056684490noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16538424.post-12537428810365998132008-11-05T22:12:00.000-05:002008-11-05T22:12:00.000-05:00AshishJust one thing? How does the ski club, baseb...Ashish<BR/><BR/>Just one thing? How does the ski club, baseball argument seem week? That very statement made by our principal and atheletics director is what got us all angry.<BR/><BR/>Why is it that we are allowed to play for others teams when we are (supposedly) skipping and have behavioral issues? It does not make any sense. If you are going to can the basketball team for that reason, can all other teams for that reason. There is no sense of logic here.<BR/><BR/>And Mikey, I don't think you understand, there were 13 players willing to change everything, and i mean EVERYTHING for us to have a team this year. Even though if some of the players haven't done anything wrong, they've accepted that fact and said that, alright, what do you want us to do and how shall we do it?<BR/><BR/>I doubt any other team in all of ottawa would have gone through this much trouble and hassle to get their team back, and I think it's this determination we have is what lead us to win last year, and possibly would have even this year.<BR/><BR/>ThanksAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15815159367483424842noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16538424.post-68178630137690890542008-11-05T02:45:00.000-05:002008-11-05T02:45:00.000-05:00I would hope it helped ... you saw a group of youn...I would hope it helped ... you saw a group of young men, some black, some brown, some Caucasian, who did not look happy. People are going to believe what they want to believe.<BR/><BR/>(And I went to high school in Odessa, not Gananoque ... six of one, half-dozen of the other.)sagerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08757652892056684490noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16538424.post-75776825173256612842008-11-05T02:30:00.000-05:002008-11-05T02:30:00.000-05:00Really? I thought the Tracey Flick types just ran ...Really? I thought the Tracey Flick types just ran for President. Of both parties. My experience knowing people in education is the exact opposite.<BR/><BR/>Here is a question that I previously did not ask now out of politeness, but hey, we're in a new era tonight after events in the States. I am not expecting a response from the writer, although his choice of words in describing his schooling in Gan leads me to wonder.<BR/><BR/>Did the front page photo that ran in the Sun that accompanied the AY story help or continue the problem of stereotyping of minorities in our schools?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16538424.post-74424290688940649192008-11-04T16:24:00.000-05:002008-11-04T16:24:00.000-05:00No, I would say the whole public education has to ...No, I would say the whole public education has to be torn apart. It has been one-size-fits-all for 100-some years and clearly, we have outgrown that model, culturally and intellectually. <BR/><BR/>It's more about one-size-fits-one. That's a real problem, when people are 14 and 15 years old and they're already feeling like a number, like no ones care about them. That's why they get bored and drop out. <BR/><BR/>Schools are limited insofar as "the art of the possible" due to funding formula in Ontario. (<BR/><BR/>A simple solution is to encourage collaboration among the kids and the teachers. The students should learn from each other and the teachers should learn from the students. The big illusion is that teachers have all the answers adn they don't (remember that <I>Simpsons</I> when Lisa stole all the teachers' editions of the school textbooks?).<BR/><BR/>As for the demographics of educators, I would say, affirmative action, at first knee jerk, no ... however, when any profession becomes too dominated by one demographic, problems and blind spots can creep up. <BR/><BR/>When you're selecting a class for a post-grad program, you want the oddballs who will make up for a well-rounded group ... definitely the admissions people have to sit there and not look at marks, but sit there and say, "Would this person be a good teacher and how would he/she learn from students? How do they relate?" <BR/><BR/>In my experience, that was in absentia among the typical future teacher types I knew at university. Some came off as grade-grubbing Tracy Flick types and you'd wonder how in hell they could be teachers -- until you remembered their parents were probably teachers.sagerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08757652892056684490noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16538424.post-88591022826278088182008-11-04T15:33:00.000-05:002008-11-04T15:33:00.000-05:00I knew you well aware, it's just one of those opti...I knew you well aware, it's just one of those optics/added wrinkles to this story that hasn't been discussed enough as it relates to this case.<BR/><BR/>The ski club/baseball team-talk plain silly and doesn't reflect well. But back to the folding of the team. <BR/><BR/>Does having an administrator being their coach also make him/her more aware of the realities of the daily lives of students? Things must have been bad to make that severe consequence go on the table, and then enforced. Either that or the trouble-makers were less than intelligent calling the bluff of their VP.<BR/><BR/>I can dance with philosophy NS, but you've articulated a position about how the teaching profession needs to play catch-up.<BR/><BR/>What things does the education system, and especially the administration of schools, need to do to better guide the youth of today? Affirmative action for visible minority teachers and preferential hiring of males in elementary schools perhaps?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16538424.post-67330615354882873472008-11-04T14:27:00.000-05:002008-11-04T14:27:00.000-05:00Mikey,As I said, if people still want to side with...Mikey,<BR/><BR/>As I said, if people still want to side with the school and commend them for biting the bullet, that's fine. It seems only fair to do so seeing as educators have so much on their plates these days. They don't have time for the weighty philosophical stuff.<BR/><BR/>At the same time, though, institutions are behind the curve and must play catch-up. We saw that this week.<BR/><BR/>I'm well-aware the coach was also the VP, since I wrote about the team during its champinship run ... I will say that in my high school days (1991-96), I don't recall principals and vice-principals ever coaching. <BR/><BR/>That's part of life in post-Mike Harris Ontario, however.sagerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08757652892056684490noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16538424.post-91204528225658536162008-11-04T14:19:00.000-05:002008-11-04T14:19:00.000-05:00While certainly kids in this digital age live in a...While certainly kids in this digital age live in a "culture of enablement", the line between enablement and *entitlement* is a thin one. <BR/><BR/>One thing seems to be lost in this discussion: Their coach was the *vice principal*.<BR/><BR/>Extra-curriculars in Canada are made possible by educators giving their unpaid time and energy to give students an experience that would not be possible in the classroom. High school coaches, such as myself, face a difficult task in schools with various socio-economic and racial/religious diversity. <BR/><BR/>I too have coached a ball team that had attendence and discipline issues. There were two games during the season where we finished with 4 on the court. <BR/><BR/>In this case, the coach as an administrator, directly responsbile to the entire student body, parents, and province of Ontario for discipline. He, along with his principal, decided that on the balance of the transgressions, second chances and promised consequences to students, to fold the team.<BR/><BR/>Was it too harsh? Perhaps. But I'm not the coach. We do not, and for privacy reasons, will not know exactly what transpired with each and every student.<BR/><BR/>Was it unreasonable to expect that when the students were warned by their VP, he might actually follow though? I don't think so.<BR/><BR/>I know Sager doesn't like it when kids are spoken down to, treated like little kids, or told what to do and when. I do not either. Schools *are* changing. Slowly. Much like journalists or any of the other Canadian instutions dominated by white anglophones. I took us until this year to actually have a government apologize for our residential school system for goodness sakes.<BR/><BR/>Administrators and coaches make difficult discipline decisions daily because a school is sometimes more dictatorship than democracy at times. Should it always be a dictorship? No. Does it have to be sometimes? In my experience, yes.<BR/><BR/>Tradition and lack of diversity has made it top down, but so has the Safe Schools Act, parent councils, and our culture's obsession with 'accountability' and test results. But so has human nature and young people's desire to often do what's best for them and them alone. <BR/><BR/>It is the conflict between that inclination, manifest in lates, skipping, not working, being suspended and dropping credits and still feeling entitled to play ball wearing the school's jersey where I have to side with the trained professional administrator and coach and what he thought was best. Even if he might be white.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16538424.post-12584627919443069162008-11-03T19:43:00.000-05:002008-11-03T19:43:00.000-05:00Good post. It's a tough balance to strike: I would...Good post. It's a tough balance to strike: I wouldn't want to see our high schools turn into a situation where athletes can get away with anything thanks to what they do on the court, but getting rid of the team doesn't seem to be much of a solution. There must have been some middle ground where they could exact other disciplinary penalties without taking away these athletes' chance to play basketball.Andrew Bucholtzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14156615450275929751noreply@blogger.com