Value education over athleticism

Regarding criticism being at the cross hairs of fans, James Morris (University of Iowa football player) did get two Gatorade year-end awards for his athleticism while in the Solon school system. This would have given him clout in any of the Big Ten Conference teams.

We need positives in our lives, however, not the obsession we Americans express in always being a winner in all sporting events, regardless of the consequences. Any activity produces its winners as well as its losers. Of particular importance in the academic arena, lessons are to be learned in defeat as well as victory.

Within say a four-year time frame, personnel, with regard to students and coaches, will change as well as the obvious fluctuations such as times, training methods, rules and attitudes. To all of this brings two interesting unknowns together, variables and humanity; hence the sport and the outcome.

Education should be first and foremost; athletics are part of the mix but nonsustainable over the long haul as the wear and tear on the body cannot outlast the gray matter when it comes to duration, if properly engaged.

The old No Child Left Behind attitude of the Bush years was of the same lamebrain concept as in medicine that one pill will cure the whatever without consideration that some it will and some it will not. Mixtures of students from one year to another fluctuate; some are more challenging and time consuming to educate that others. Some methods work and others don't. Amen.

Tim T. Evans

Solon