Football Fumble
With all this talk about this football season, it reminds me of the sports eligibility scenario. I have watched play out time and time again. Kids that struggle with reading, play for all different types of organizations. Often times they excel on the field, enjoy the sport, and need the exercise. This is the awesome part of the scenario.
Then here comes high school and other sports organizations. They add the concept of sports eligibility. Meaning, if your child struggles to maintain a certain grade point average, then they can’t play. There are no exceptions.
What’s the problem with this? Kids, who fail shouldn’t be allowed to play sports right?
So failing, struggling, and not being allowed to do something you love, will give you the reading skills you need to pass.
Punishment or this type of motivation doesn’t always help kids who truly struggle. I have seen kids give up altogether.
There are also many different reasons why kids struggle and fail. Kids could have a general weakness and unfortunately, it grows. The academic programs did not help them enough. Sometimes the Individual Education Plan, 504, or support services failed the kid.
High school students have advanced classes. If they make mistakes, miss homework, or fail tests, it affects sports eligibility. I have never met a high school kid, that struggled for a quarter of a lifetime with reading, pass Western Civilization with flying colors. And for that matter, I never met a kid that was happy about failing.
Can you imagine if you couldn’t go to the gym, yoga or on a run if you struggled and failed? It would be a spiral that led to more struggling and failure.