Still Don't Understand Band Hazing

I was shocked to hear about the drum major from Florida A&M's marching dying, apparently after a hazing incident.  The video above is what we talked about in class.

In one of the sociology courses I took in college, we studied hazing.  I understand the basic theory behind it: hazing is something that makes people think that the group is worth joining and it also builds camaraderie.  Lots of organizations do it--the military, fraternities and sororities, sports teams, etc.   What I don't understand is how hazing made its way to marching bands.  Aren't these kids, on average, smarter and more well-behaved than the average college kid?

I hope that FAMU can get the band back together and put the hazing in the past, but I'm not sure that's possible, especially since the video showed that 30 out of the 100 band members were involved in some kind of hazing in the group.

I Hate You

Sadly, nearly all of my students don't understand the passion of college sports.  It's hard to be passionate for a team, and against a rival, when your "favorite" team is located 500-3000 miles from where you live.  Even my Duke-Carolina fans don't really seem to get it, although they're close.

This lack of passion inspired me to play the above video, ESPN Film's "Roll Tide/War Eagle" right before all of the in-state rivalry games.  I, of course, hate my in-state rival, but even my passion can't match the intensity of the entire state of Alabama.  I guess if the whole state of Virginia was as crazy as my friends and me, maybe we'd be the subject of an ESPN documentary...but I doubt it.

Does It Really Take This To Be An Agent?

 From:  pastor2pastor.org

There are lots of stories about sleazy agents out there, like the Black Santa case at UNC or the Sports Illustrated cover story on the agent who admitted to giving money to college football players, or the story about USC's own Reggie Bush and OJ Mayo scandals.  But this story from Deadspin about Albert Pujols' agent takes the cake.

It's one thing to give money to players, but Dan Lozano took it to a new level.   Too nasty for me to write about, but trust me--it's nasty.

Funny, I Don't Feel Like a Better Teacher

From: cartoonclipartworld.com


Well, after nearly a 48 hour delay of getting results from when they were promised, I found out that I'm a National Board Certified Teacher.  Funny, I don't feel like a better teacher now that I have that distinction.

I'm happy, of course, to have obtained certification, because a) it's hard and b) it's the only way to get a pay raise any more.  I do take the certification with a grain of salt, however.  I've seen really good teachers struggle to pass National Boards, and very average teachers ace it on the first try.  It seems similar to the SAT:  really good students can struggle with that test, while some very poor students do well on it.  What does it really tell us? 

How NOT to do PR

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I showed the video above to my class this week. If anyone ever needed to not go on the air with Bob Costas, it's Jerry Sandusky.  The stuttering answer to the question about being sexually attracted to boys was stunning.  I hope for his sake he has a good lawyer--although would a good lawyer let him go on TV like this?

The Waiting Game

 From:  fightingandwriting.wordpress.com

I was going to post a blog yesterday about getting my scores from the National Board people, but...their server's been down for almost a day and a half. I'll be lucky if I find out the results before school on Monday, apparently. 

Good thing I didn't plan any parties or anything like that.

RIP, Champ

I've never been the biggest boxing fan, but it was sad to hear the news about Joe Frazier's death.  Best remembered for his three bouts against Muhammad Ali, Frazier was far less visible (and less memorable) to casual boxing fans.

Anyway, this story was a good jumping off point of why boxing is less popular than MMA.  My students had some interesting answers as to why this was the case.

Disgusting

From:  zeiza.com

I love college football, more than any other sport, but some of these scandals are getting out of hand. It's bad enough to hear about what's been going on at Ohio State, UNC and Miami--at least those schools were doing what they were doing in pursuit of winning. But the allegations coming out of Pennsylvania concerning Joe Paterno's long-time former assistant assaulting young boys for decades are enough to make anyone's stomach curl.

There are already calls for Joe Paterno's head.  Hey, why not?  People think he doesn't coach anymore anyway, and there have been calls for his retirement for over 10 years.  But based on this incident?  I'm not sure.  According to the allegations, a graduate assistant told Paterno he saw the coach in question, Jerry Sandusky, performing sexual acts with a youngster.  Paterno reported the allegations to his boss.  After that, what was he supposed to do?

People may think that's a cop out, but I'm wondering what would happen if I reported a similar incident to the appropriate people...and nothing happened.  Am I responsible for the ultimate disposition of the case?

Just Say No

Wow.  I don't remember Chris Herren, even though he was in college the same time about the same time I was.  Herren was an all-world prep star who went to BC and then transferred to Fresno State and even played a little in the NBA.  Drugs wrecked his career--there are candid scenes in the ESPN documentary Unguarded where he explains his downward spiral to groups of students.

This is definitely a video I'll be showing my students in class.

Funny, I Don't Feel Overpaid

 From: jimvesting.com

I've been a big Rush Limbaugh fan for 20 years, and I seem to agree with him 99% of the time, but when it comes to teaching and public education, he's way off-base...again.

Earlier in the year I posted about a previous segment of his I thought contained serious errors, and when I went to check his web site today (as I do every day), there was a story on how teachers are overpaid.  Rush quotes from a study from the Heritage Foundation regarding their findings:

We're supposed to thank all of these public sector teachers. We're supposed to thank these people for the hard work they're doing educating our students -- and we're expected to say that we wish they were paid more. We are expected to say that they are being taken advantage of by the rich, evil 1% who aren't paying their fair share. That's the accepted narrative: "Teachers, principals, administrators rebuke are underpaid, underappreciated; we don't say thanks enough for all the hard work they do. Instead we're overpaying athletes and bankers and everybody else." When in fact the takers and losers that make up the Democrat Party base never say thanks for anything. All they ever say is, "It's not enough," and that's what these guys, Richwine and Biggs, have done at AEI and Heritage.

 C'mon Rush: I feel plenty appreciated.  Lots of people tell me thank you for what I'm doing.  I didn't get those comments when I worked in television, or even when I was in the military.  And I'm not demanding a raise, even though you can compare what recent graduates from business and engineering schools make versus first-year teachers and tell me who you think is underpaid.  And please, please substitute teach just one day, and then tell me what you think about teachers.

Fortunately, I'm not alone.  One of my favorite education writers, Valerie Strauss, wrote an article about the same study.  I'm not sure she ever taught, but she at least "gets it" when it comes to this issue.