Quote:
Originally Posted by ken0042
So, kick the lesson to the curb about working hard for years towards a goal? The kids who earned their letters have spent 3-4 years working hard. They have to be in great shape, make personal sacrifices in order to be at the top of their game. And several sports as well. There have been comments about "it's just a piece of clothing/ just a letter." This coming from from a fan base who salivates at the thought of our team winning a trophy that would maybe cost a couple of thousand to reproduce. What if I went into FOI and said "It's just a hunk of metal- what's the big deal."
Also, you would do anything to make the kid happy? Let him drive a car down the freeway, even if he couldn't possibly qualify for a driver's license? As long as it makes him happy, right?
The right thing would have been for the mom to approach the school and explain the situation. Then let the school and/or the varsity students decide if there should be an exception made.
What I find funny is when we were talking about a teacher who got suspended for giving failing grades (and zeros)- everybody was up in arms about how we shouldn't be giving students a free pass. Now we are saying that this student should.
The school appears to have put the student into a basketball program with other kids at his level, which is great. His mom taking that extra step on her own was wrong.
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Wow. First of all, if there was a lesson about hard work, it will not be lost when the more important lesson about including those who are not blessed with an equal playing field is given. Special needs kids playing on an extra curricular team are every bit as hard working and dedicated as "real" varsity lettermen but will likely never achieve that level of competition. Do you want a generation of kids who think it's an accomplishment to wear a letter that is not available to all participants?
Second, driving down a freeway without a license is illegal not to mention a hopelessly dumb analogy to giving equal consideration to disabled high school students. How is wearing a varsity letter a danger to anyone?
Third, not giving zero's at least has a fundamentally sound basis. It is much better to reinforce the relative best than spotlight the negative. When you make a disabled kid give back his letter, you're doing nothing but spotlighting negative.
Finally, they did leave the decision up to the school and the school got it wrong. That's why it made news headlines. It's baffling to people that grown adults would do such a thing. That's why we're reading about it. Hopefully the "real" lettermen at the school do something cool with this and scrap their own pointless apparel.