Blair Puts Money to Sports
BBC reports that PM Tony Blair wants to put £ 500 M to providing sports programs for all students.
Currently 62% of students get at least 2 hours of activity a week. Blair wants that percentage to be 75% by 2006, 85% by 2008, and 100% by 2010.
Blair plans to enable this agenda through three main areas: teacher training, building specialist sports schools, and by encouraging partnership activities such as inter-school competition. Blair is also focusing on a diversity of activities--such as yoga and tai chi--a focus that his detractors call an "anti-competitive sporting agenda." These critics want sports to be the domain of competitive sports clubs--where the "real passion for sport exists."
I think this is a fantastic program to implement: physical activity for all. I have always believed that sports education is essential in learning, to have structured physical activity, if not just to get out of the classroom and move around. There's a lot to learn about your own capacity, about teamwork, and about seeing other sides of your classmates.
In response to Blair's opponents, I'm not sure that competition is an answer, or should ever be a goal--that can go on outside of the classroom. Somewhat relatedly, I think that competitive sports are destroying a lot of schools in the US, and the whole cultural goal of sports stardom is a false method to false dreams.
Currently 62% of students get at least 2 hours of activity a week. Blair wants that percentage to be 75% by 2006, 85% by 2008, and 100% by 2010.
Blair plans to enable this agenda through three main areas: teacher training, building specialist sports schools, and by encouraging partnership activities such as inter-school competition. Blair is also focusing on a diversity of activities--such as yoga and tai chi--a focus that his detractors call an "anti-competitive sporting agenda." These critics want sports to be the domain of competitive sports clubs--where the "real passion for sport exists."
I think this is a fantastic program to implement: physical activity for all. I have always believed that sports education is essential in learning, to have structured physical activity, if not just to get out of the classroom and move around. There's a lot to learn about your own capacity, about teamwork, and about seeing other sides of your classmates.
In response to Blair's opponents, I'm not sure that competition is an answer, or should ever be a goal--that can go on outside of the classroom. Somewhat relatedly, I think that competitive sports are destroying a lot of schools in the US, and the whole cultural goal of sports stardom is a false method to false dreams.
posted by paul at
9:27 AM
2 Comments:
Are competitive sports really destroying a lot of schools in the US? There is nothing wrong with the concept of competition; it forces all players to improve theirselves. What is wrong is student players competing off the field, rink, or what-have-you. Sports coaches should always remind players that self-improvement and self-learning are the true purposes of sports. Professional sports players compete for the entertainment of others, but student players should only play sports for theirselves. Not that there's anything wrong with enertaining others...
It is good that Blair's agenda will increase teacher training. Competitive sports are not destructive unless wrongly instructed.
By
Anonymous, at 1:33 AM, December 15, 2004
I completely agree that sports are crucial in developing teamwork, discipline, and self-esteem, but I see a destructive element in urban schools regarding the false hope created by a distorted dream of professional sports as a goal.
You are absolutely right that sports-coaches should concentrate on self-improvement and self-learning, but I'm not convinced that they are actually doing so. Policy just has to make sure that teachers are trained properly to educate for learning and improvement, and not for their or the school's egos.
I was remarking on my own observations of a school in Charlestown, MA (a city next to Boston), where the principal focuses on the basketball team as the pride and joy of the school.
I also see kids upholding the dream of professional sports as a route to achieve... But they lack the discipline, drive, and talent to achieve them, but they see it like a lottery as a way of catapulting them into stratospheric financial and social success. I feel that it fuels false dreams.
By
paul, at 12:36 AM, December 16, 2004
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