Get your Turf Here!
I thought this recent story in the Akron Beacon Journal was one of the most depressing education stories I've read in a long time. It's about the current trend for private citizens to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for schools, on their own time, and for no compensation. What's bad about that, you ask? They're raising money so the school can buy artificial turf for the school football field. Of course, we educators have to accept some of the blame, as our school day has become filled with so many irrelevancies and so much tedium--hours to count down as the price to pay for being involved in a team or the band or the high school musical. It reminds me of this classic article: Seventeen Reasons Why Football is Better Than High School by Herb Childress. How can we educators make the school day so compelling that total strangers will raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to support its endeavors?
posted by William Kist @ 10:06 PM >1 Comments 
1 Comments:
Boy would I like to respond to this one! I happen to live in a district that is actively raising funds for turf in our state-of-the-art football stadium. It is beautiful (much different than when I played)! What a great place for the community to come together on a Friday night and show their school spirit. I do not think however that it should be either/or when it comes to community support for schools. Many in the community would argue that they are already supporting the schools with their property taxes. I would agree. Would I like to see group/organizations trying to raise funds for education? Yes. Maybe we in education should do more to promote education outside of the four walls of our classrooms. What about educational pep assemblies on Fridays? What about honoring the athletes that obtain high grades before the game on Friday night? I think we need to bridge the gap between athletics and academics in our schools. Let's take some lessons from the band and football organizations and start promoting the excellent educational opportunities in our schools.
By the way, I have donated to the "turf" fund. I can't wait for the next football game. And as I watch those athletes on the field and the students in the stands I know great things are happening in our school district because my wife and I are involved there as well.
Thanks for reading!
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