The Kardia Remark
“Awake, O north wind, And come, O south!”Archive for education
Unenthusiasm on legs
There was a cross-country event I went to today. At least, that’s what we call it – other names are ‘fun run’ and ’foot race’ if you don’t get what I’m talking about.
Most people know the drill – you’re dragged off from school by a bus, dropped off at some circuit-shaped and utterly public place, divided into your ‘house colours’ that only a fraction of the students have bothered to adhere to in their clothing choice, and given a little tag thing that’s used to mark what rank you got at the end.
The school have taken the embarrassing energy to show off the ’house flags’ around the main area, along with providing fluorescent-yellow jackets just in case we can’t distinguish between our school teachers and complete strangers. How uninformed we’d be of the points no one cares about if we didn’t have that handy megaphone to overemphasize them!
And then there’s the actual run – or, more accurately, walk. The only runners seem to be those already physically fit, and make up a small proportion of the participants. The rest of us sort of stroll along and talk, paying no heed to the actual race that the event is. Some people even manage to get out of doing anything, bringing a (often faked) note from home.
And finally, there’s the long wait in the usually freezing weather until the teachers decide its time to finally head back to school.
I know – I’m very cynical and exaggerative about all this. But I don’t want to leave this as purely a derogatory rant. There is a point here.
School cross countries don’t work. At least, compulsorily run cross countries don’t. Not for the purpose they serve – to encourage healthiness in young students. In fact, I’d argue they could have a negative effect. Some students who lag behind, who try their hardest but just can’t win, could become increasingly depressed by their lack of success. Similarly, students may believe a run a year makes them healthy.
It also may teach some students that their school only cares about their health once or twice a year. Students are encouraged to run, yet in a few days time, teachers don’t so much as ask about students’ health. I know there are certain limitations to what a teacher is allowed to ask a student about, but if the student knows they have the right to refuse to answer, surely this isn’t such a bad thing?
Another point is that not all students enjoy running. The compulsory participation of students indirectly tells tennis-players, swimmers, gymnasts, cheerleaders, and other sportspeople that regardless of their passions, they must enjoy running. It takes no account for the individuality God has crafted us with (not even in secular language), and is yet another example of the cookie-cutter education system of the West.
So my point is that the sensationalism and competition schools try to throw into school sporting doesn’t make up for the lack of consideration of human uniqueness, the inconsistency of ‘one-or-two-day’ health programs, and other holes in its programs. Western governments need to search for a better school sports initiative rather than forcing students to participate in an annual run.
Please don’t interpret me as saying running is bad or unenjoyable to all. Running can be a good form of physical exercise and is an enjoyable sport to some. However, I am speaking out against generalizing a passion over the entire student cohort.
Cross country running is a sport in which runners compete to complete a course over open or rough terrain.
