Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Refreshing signs of returning sanity over school sport in Scotland

Waterloo may have been won on the playing fields of Eton but the battle against apathy in modern day Scotland is being lost on our school sports pitches. Jack McConnell has condemned the trend for non-competitive sport in Scottish schools, saying children should be pitched against each other to "foster aspiration and promote a sense of achievement".

The First Minister, in an exclusive interview with Scotland on Sunday, said government inspectors would only award top marks to schools which encouraged competitive sport. In what is expected to become a manifesto commitment at the next Holyrood election, McConnell wants teachers to encourage results-driven games during PE classes and outside school hours. The move is an attempt to reverse the decline in school sports since the teachers' strike of 1985 and represents a direct attack on the growth in recent years of "potted sports" with no winners or losers, and sports days without prizes.

McConnell said: "There are far too many schools across Scotland where there is a minimum amount of competitive sport or still an aversion to competitive sport. "Whether or not a school promotes competitive sport will become one of the ways by which we measure whether a school is a good school. "I want to see us having a clear set of guidelines across Scotland, a very clear direction that we expect them to take: competitive sports days, competitive activities for youngsters both in school time and out of school time. "I would want to see the inspectorate measuring that as a key part of performance ."

In recent years some schools in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, North Lanarkshire, Fife, Aberdeen and Falkirk have had non-competitive sports days which have no individual winners and losers. The move dismayed Olympic swimming champion David Wilkie who recently claimed that political correctness and "inclusivity" in sport has fuelled a culture of defeatism north of the Border.

McConnell told Scotland on Sunday: "Competitive sport does a lot to stimulate the brain and make young people more alert, while it also gives young people something to aspire to, then keeps them working hard, hopefully giving them a sense of achievement. "It's an incredibly healthy thing. Unless we challenge youngsters at an early age then we're not going to have people competing on the athletics track or the football pitch."

McConnell, a former maths teacher, went on to blame the 1980s Conservative government for eroding the "community spirit" of school sports days, as strikes prompted many to stop sacrificing their free time to organise competitive sport.

The First Minister's intervention follows high-profile incidents where competitive sport was frowned upon. In 2002, Brian Harris, the head sports officer with Edinburgh city council, provoked criticism by suggesting that children on the losing side at a football match would be spared "psychological hurt" if the referee scored a few goals on their behalf. A year later the head teacher of an English primary school ruled that parents should be banned from school sports day because children would be "embarrassed" if they lost a race in front of them.

Fiona Hyslop, the SNP's education spokeswoman, said there was nothing wrong with backing competitive sports but "McConnell should get back to basics". She said: "The Executive, under his leadership, has failed to recruit enough PE teachers to replace those who are retiring. Nor has he delivered the two hours of PE that every pupil should receive at school."

Jamie McGrigor, the Scottish Conservatives' culture and sport spokesman, denies claims that the past Tory government was to blame. McGrigor said: "The Conservatives have always encouraged competitive sport. It has been Labour's socialist dogma of preferring dumbing down to excellence that is to blame. They see winning as elitist and the fact that some people are born to run faster than others as something to be ashamed of. I am delighted Jack McConnell wants to see far more competitive sport but he should remember that it was Labour that caused this problem in the first place."

Teachers and unions were also split on whether more competitive sport is needed. Ronnie Hamilton, principal teacher of PE at St Augustine's High School, in Edinburgh, which has 18 sports teams, including three girls' football sides, said: "I am more convinced than ever that competitive sport is a positive thing for everyone. In 39 years of teaching I cannot think of one instance where being included in healthy competition did not benefit a pupil."

However, David Eaglesham of the Scottish Secondary Teachers Association (SSTA) dismissed the plans and accused McConnell of electioneering. He said: "League tables of which schools do the most competitive sport are exactly what we don't need. This would have to be something the First Minister negotiates with us. Teachers already devote a great deal of goodwill to assist competitive sport but goodwill is no way to operate a system that will later be assessed by government inspectors. I can't avoid thinking that there is an election coming up and that this influenced these comments."

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HATRED OF THE MILITARY AGAIN

The sad thing is that the military felt any need to be defensive about what they were doing

The Maine National Guard is facing criticism from an anti-war group about a program that sends uniformed military officers into seventh-grade classrooms around Maine. The group, Maine Veterans for Peace, says the six-week program, which discourages children at 37 schools from using drugs and often culminates in a trip to an outdoor training base, also serves as a military recruiting device. "I think it is strictly a recruiting tool," said Jack Bussell, a member of the anti-war group's board. "Military personnel have no business being in middle schools."

The Guard disputes the notion that it's planting the seeds of military service in young minds. "This is just another way to serve the citizens of the state by putting on a program that's congressionally approved and funded that helps junior-high kids make good choices," said Gen. John Libby, Maine's top military official.

The Guard's program is five years old, but at a time of increased dissatisfaction with the Iraq war and efforts to limit military recruitment in high schools, it's facing close scrutiny. Maine Veterans for Peace began making inquiries earlier this year after learning about the program from a parent in Woolwich. Though some parents have voiced complaints, officials at a few schools contacted for this article said the Guard program has been positive and free of controversy. "There's never been any concern whatsoever," said Sharon Burnell, principal of Molly Ockett Middle School in Fryeburg. "There's no recruiting going on. There's no mention of that."

The Adventure Program is just one of several drug initiatives run by the Maine National Guard, according to Lt. Cindy Pantalone, who oversees the program. During six sessions that are free to schools, students learn about making good decisions, building a team and becoming more confident, she said. "Yes, it's done in uniform," Pantalone said. "It's what we wear to work." Gen. Libby added: "Just as the DARE Program is conducted by police officers who wear police uniforms because that's who they are, our program is conducted by uniformed officers because that's who they are."

Activities listed on the Guard's Web site include wearing goggles to simulate the impairment caused by alcohol and a version of the TV game show "Jeopardy." When Army National Guard and Air National Guard members first arrive in the classroom, students often ask about why they joined the military and whether they've been to Iraq, Pantalone said. "I answer questions," she said. "The intent to join the military doesn't even come into play."

Educators generally learn about the Adventure Program through word of mouth, but the Guard approached some schools when it was looking to expand into Aroostook and Washington counties, Pantalone said. She also noted that participating schools, most of which are public, are supposed to send a letter home to parents before the program begins. She acknowledged that the Guard has learned of a few cases in which that did not happen. The program culminates with a trip - usually during the school day, but occasionally overnight - to a military-operated training base. One of the bases is in Gardiner, and the other is in western Maine near the New Hampshire border. Students climb a 10-foot wall, ride tire swings and shimmy across a rope bridge.

Mary Martin, principal of Elm Street School in Mechanic Falls, said she participated in last year's trip, which was made in cold, wet weather. "And not one kid complained," she said. "They were really into the activities. It was a beneficial day." Frank Hayward, principal of the private Chop Point School in Woolwich, said the program has been popular with students and teachers alike. "And we didn't have any ill side effects to all of this," he added. "None of our parents got concerned or anxious."

But elsewhere, some parents have raised objections. Amy Brown, whose has a son in eighth grade at Lake Region Middle School in Naples, said she learned about the National Guard program after her son already had participated. An informational session at the school failed to allay her concerns. She'd like to see the program become an optional after-school activity. "It's not active recruiting. It's sort of laying the groundwork for kids," she said. "To me, it's just an impressionable age. And it just doesn't strike me as an appropriate school activity." Lisa Savage, who until this year worked as literacy coordinator at Messalonskee Middle School in Oakland, expressed the same concern. "What you're basically trying to get is brand recognition," she said. "No one's going to buy your product unless they know your brand."

Last month, Maine Veterans for Peace expressed its objection to the program in letters to the participating Maine schools. Bussell, who wrote the letters for the anti-war group, said he feels the program's fun activities will give children a false impression of what the National Guard does. One of the questions posed in the 37 letters is whether the schools allow parents to opt out of the program. Most of the schools have not written back, Bussell said.

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POLITICALLY CORRECT GEOGRAPHY IN AUSTRALIAN SCHOOLS

Political correctness had hijacked another core school subject - this time geography - lamented Education Strategies director Kevin Donnelly. Instead of teaching students about the water cycle, topography and different types of land use, creators of the Queensland curriculum believed students should deal with sentiments such as "active participation and stewardship by applying the values of democratic process, social justice, ecological and economic sustainability and peace". Geography had been captured by the cultural Left and those committed to the much-maligned outcomes-based approach to curriculum. "Geography once existed as a discrete subject and focused on teaching students about the world's physical features. As a result of outcomes-based education, however, the subject disappears to be replaced by 'place and space'."

When students in Western Australia were asked to write about sustainable development, they were given the usual doomsday scenario of global warming, acid rain and pollution from an over-reliance on fossil fuels caused by the "powerful position of large companies that produce fossil fuels and motor vehicles". Not to be outdone, the South Australian "place, space and environment" strand went one step further and suggested that middle school students in geography classes should be taught to be "critical of others, curriculum, school environments and society in general" and that they also should be involved in "decision-making, often challenging authority". Education should promote scepticism and encourage independent thought. "But the reality is the cultural Left's commitment to students being autonomous is simply code for imposing its politically correct view of the world on the classroom."

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