Model Education
December 13, 2013
The athletic classroom is at least as pregnant with teachable moments as any other classroom of our comprehensive secondary schools.
I believe this so strongly that there is a tendency to overstate this truth; but if we include non-athletic activities like speech, music, debate and drama, I am even more certain it is true.
It is true in large part because nowhere in education will one find it to the degree we do in school activities that teachers are teaching what they want to teach to students who are learning what they want to learn, and both teachers and learners are willing to work hour after hour on their own time, even after the so-called “school day,” to make sure that everything that can be taught is taught and everything that can be learned is learned.
This is not a distraction from the educational mission of schools. It is a model of what more of education should be. And we shouldn’t hesitate to say so. Nor should we hesitate any longer to provide these model programs for younger grade levels.
Yin and Yang
November 15, 2016
The essential skill in the ancient yet still practiced art of paper cutting is to be able to make a single cut that will remove what is unwanted and retain what is needed. The Chinese phrase "yin and yang" captures the meaning ... that which is simultaneously disconnected and connected.
There is a similar art to leading modern day interscholastic athletics, where the top task is simultaneously to protect and promote school sports. Preventing what will damage the pure essence of the interscholastic brand while at the same time promoting the experience for players and spectators.
As the Michigan High School Athletic Association steps up efforts to promote attendance and enhance the spectator experience at local and statewide school-sponsored athletic events, the MHSAA must also be intentional to avoid or discard that which will poison the underlying educational purpose of the events.
As the National Federation of State High School Associations launches its #MyReasonWhy campaign, it must do the same. What we believe and what we do must remain connected.