So we come to the end of a week of state mandated high stakes testing and it seems appropriate that we are in the throws of March Madness.
It's impossible to avoid the spirit of the NCAA tournament. It has permeated the building. People that I seldom hear a peep from around the school are passionate and animated in their discussion of basketball programs both storied and unknown (at least to me.) And it got me thinking about two things.
1) Why are we, as a people, so passionate about sports, which are (believe it or not) inconsequential.
2) What can we, as educators, learn from this?
I don't have the answers, and that's why I decided to create a blog instead of using my usual Tumblr page. I know that sports matter to people, I sacrifice hundreds upon hundreds of hours each year training on my bike to achieve mediocre results in events that very few people beyond the participants care about, or even know exist. But what is it about certain sports that draw even the most ardent couch surfer into a fervor? I imagine it appeals to some sort of sense of being part of something larger, when we all cheer together, we feel connected. But by what? Of course there is also the other side of that coin, the appeal of cheering for the underdog
And that brings me to the first thing we can learn as educators. I am amazed to hear some people in the halls cheering for the underdog with an almost snobbish attitude (imagine any small school that Duke is playing here.) But those very people are the ones that speak with foul tones about the student who is constantly getting in trouble or late to school or failing assignments. Where is the hyperbolic fervor in wanting that underdog to overcome everything that society is putting in his/her way?
We need to figure out how to make people care as much about our students, and by extension each other, as they do about abstract concepts like teams. We need to create conditions where an underdog can make a run. We need to figure out how to create collective ownership of individual and collaborative accomplishment in things that matter infinitely more than a leather ball passing through a metal ring.
Maybe then, when we are showing genuine enthusiasm, passion and empathy towards our students (and I mean we as a society, not just teachers) they will feel empowered and begin to infuse the educational environment with the kind of energy and commitment that we see from the athletes. If we can find that, we will something even more amazing than a cinderella story in a meaningless tournament. We will see the world change.
