What the Foo Fighters among others Teach Educators
Karen Gross, Esq. @KarenGrossEdu
@KarenGrossEdu
One of the mistakes we make in education, and in life in general, is that we see some issues as hugely important when they are not, and we see other issues as trivial when they are deeply important. This inversion allows us to be easily thrown off our game so to speak. And, there are two recent examples, both in the sports arena, of where something trivial has been blown way out of proportion with loads of attention and something serious has not been taken sufficiently seriously and has not received the attention it merits.
My message to readers: educational leaders need to step it up and avoid wimping out – on both identified issues.
Let’s start with a story that has generated considerable interest, when it deserves no interest except to reflect on the foolishness of the NCAA. Apparently, Foo Fighters, a well-known hard rock (grunge) band with aging musicians, was playing in May 2018 at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky. (I had to listen to them just to confirm their existence and their ages since they are not on my music radar screen).
Before the concert, I suspect in an effort to relax, the band members started a pick-up soccer game and invited some soccer players from the University of Kentucky (male and female) and their coaches to participate. (There actually were two games.) It happened to also be the week before exams at the University. Thus, the pick-up game occurred at a time when NCAA rules prohibit players and coaches from working together. So, an NCAA rule was violated, the university self-reported the infraction and the players were sanctioned – albeit it mildly in that they did not miss a game.
Now, here’s what I don’t get. Why would anyone spend even a nano-second thinking about this as something bad and violating an NCAA rule? Players die or get concussions or get cheated out of an education or get paid or get hooked up with hookers and the universities get off lightly. Those are real infractions. And, sure, serious practices the week before exams may be unwise unless you think, as do I, that physicality relieves the tension and stress of exam preparation.
The sin here: college DI players playing pick-up soccer with band members between ages 46 and 59? Please. So, just to be sure I wasn’t missing something, I checked on the backgrounds of the band members to make sure they were not professional soccer players in disguise, giving the Kentucky players and coaches some extraordinary advantage in conference play and requiring some serious coaching intervention. I wanted to make sure the coaches didn’t need to actually coach. OK, the band members are in good physical shape; they biked around town in Lexington but serious soccer players they are not.
Why wouldn’t we, instead of sanctions, think about making lasting memories for these students --- and this sure qualifies if you are a young person. (Notice they were going to a concert before an exam and that isn’t prohibited. Years from now, these students can tell their children and grandchildren and friends that they played soccer with the Foo Fighters.
And for the record, lest one think there is any academic connection – Foo Fighters does not stand for food fight (as in the movie Animal House); no, it stands for a military term used to refer to unidentified flying objects. And yes, the band was involved in a fracas involving AIDS, where they supported a non-believer in the disease. They weren’t angels to be clear.
Here’s the educational lesson: we need to keep our eye on the ball --- focusing on what really matters and ignoring what is trivial, even if it breaks some rule.
Now to the opposite situation, a real one in which we have not spoken up loudly enough. Everyone is familiar, more or less, with the professional football quarterback, Colin Kaepernick, who refused to stand for the National Anthem. He was protesting police violence and racial inequality. This behavior isn’t new; it dates back to 2016. Other players started to follow Kaepernick’s lead. This led, to be kind, to reverse protests, people thinking the players were disloyal to America. Unpatriotic. The President chimed in support of the team owners. Many veterans sided with Kaepernick, asserting they found for the very right he was exercising.
Then, there was the issue of Kaepernick not being offered a job by a single NFL team and the accusation that he had been, in essence, black listed. To be sure, it is seems as if at least one NFL team actually did consider a try-out (at least for a bit) but long story short, he was and still is unemployed as a football player.
But, with the help of NIKE, who made him the center of a new advertising campaign, Kaepernick has not fallen off the proverbial planet. No indeed. The campaign, a celebration of the “Just Do It” advertisements, appeared on television for the first NFL game. The wording on the ad: “Believe in something even if it means sacrificing everything.” For Kaepernick, the ad is referencing his belief in equality and need to curb police brutality. The ad has power.
Before the NIKE advertisement, some high school and college players followed the Kaepernick lead, with mixed results. Some protests were permitted while other athletes were booted from teams. We can debate the intrusion on student athlete First Amendment rights and whether institutions are making the “right” decision regarding kneeling at sporting events on their campuses.
What I want to address here is the recent effort of a few universities to ban or consider banning NIKE products for their athletes, in essence terminating their relationship with the company. I assume they are not banning students who are not athletes, or who are athletes and not on a field, from wearing NIKE.
I can’t think of a protest that makes less sense. Why do that? Why aren’t the administrators not listening to student voice, assuming of course that students favor retaining NIKE as a provider of athletic clothing and as a sponsor? And, where is the outrage among other college leaders when their peers seek to ban NIKE? Missing.
College and University presidents have an opportunity to use their bully pulpit although many seem too scared to do so. Here is a chance to speak up and out on issues that matter: finding a passion and believing in something bigger than oneself and sticking by principle even though the risks are high. One would think religious colleges could get on this bandwagon.
Aren’t these precisely promoting what are among the essential purposes of education: helping students find their passion, establishing a set of beliefs worth fighting for like the greater good and becoming leaders?
Whether institutions can ditch NIKE with impunity and without penalty is a legal issue but that is not my point here. To be sure, if the school had no contract, that’s a different issue altogether.
An (as in one) article in InsideHigherEd, one of the key media outlets in education, had 39 comments on this topic as of the date of this piece – and I read every one.
Where are the educators, especially presidents, speaking out loudly about standing up for principle? Where are the educators speaking out loudly about the difficulty of holding to ideals in the midst of controversy? Where are the educators talking about what we value and why?
For me, the latter issue makes the Foo Fighter incident pale. And it leaves me wondering why leaders are so reluctant to fight hard publicly. Leaders are missing an opportunity – a vastly greater one than punishing students in a pick-up game.
Apropos of that, don’t get me started on Serena and people who think she overreacted to losing a game in a Grand Slam Final. Just for the record, start by looking at changes made to Michigan State Alumni Magazine to avoid too much “negativity” surrounding sexual assault. We have teachable lessons coming at us in all directions.
We are, to use a phrase from the name of a Foo Fighter album, wasting light.
Karen Gross
I am an author and educator. I write adult and children's books and specialize in student success and the impact of trauma on learning and psychosocial development. My newest adult book is Trauma Doesn't Stop at the School Door; my newest children's book is titled Tongue Twisters and Beyond.
My message to readers: educational leaders need to step it up and avoid wimping out – on both identified issues.
Let’s start with a story that has generated considerable interest, when it deserves no interest except to reflect on the foolishness of the NCAA. Apparently, Foo Fighters, a well-known hard rock (grunge) band with aging musicians, was playing in May 2018 at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky. (I had to listen to them just to confirm their existence and their ages since they are not on my music radar screen).
Before the concert, I suspect in an effort to relax, the band members started a pick-up soccer game and invited some soccer players from the University of Kentucky (male and female) and their coaches to participate. (There actually were two games.) It happened to also be the week before exams at the University. Thus, the pick-up game occurred at a time when NCAA rules prohibit players and coaches from working together. So, an NCAA rule was violated, the university self-reported the infraction and the players were sanctioned – albeit it mildly in that they did not miss a game.
Now, here’s what I don’t get. Why would anyone spend even a nano-second thinking about this as something bad and violating an NCAA rule? Players die or get concussions or get cheated out of an education or get paid or get hooked up with hookers and the universities get off lightly. Those are real infractions. And, sure, serious practices the week before exams may be unwise unless you think, as do I, that physicality relieves the tension and stress of exam preparation.
The sin here: college DI players playing pick-up soccer with band members between ages 46 and 59? Please. So, just to be sure I wasn’t missing something, I checked on the backgrounds of the band members to make sure they were not professional soccer players in disguise, giving the Kentucky players and coaches some extraordinary advantage in conference play and requiring some serious coaching intervention. I wanted to make sure the coaches didn’t need to actually coach. OK, the band members are in good physical shape; they biked around town in Lexington but serious soccer players they are not.
Why wouldn’t we, instead of sanctions, think about making lasting memories for these students --- and this sure qualifies if you are a young person. (Notice they were going to a concert before an exam and that isn’t prohibited. Years from now, these students can tell their children and grandchildren and friends that they played soccer with the Foo Fighters.
And for the record, lest one think there is any academic connection – Foo Fighters does not stand for food fight (as in the movie Animal House); no, it stands for a military term used to refer to unidentified flying objects. And yes, the band was involved in a fracas involving AIDS, where they supported a non-believer in the disease. They weren’t angels to be clear.
Here’s the educational lesson: we need to keep our eye on the ball --- focusing on what really matters and ignoring what is trivial, even if it breaks some rule.
Now to the opposite situation, a real one in which we have not spoken up loudly enough. Everyone is familiar, more or less, with the professional football quarterback, Colin Kaepernick, who refused to stand for the National Anthem. He was protesting police violence and racial inequality. This behavior isn’t new; it dates back to 2016. Other players started to follow Kaepernick’s lead. This led, to be kind, to reverse protests, people thinking the players were disloyal to America. Unpatriotic. The President chimed in support of the team owners. Many veterans sided with Kaepernick, asserting they found for the very right he was exercising.
Then, there was the issue of Kaepernick not being offered a job by a single NFL team and the accusation that he had been, in essence, black listed. To be sure, it is seems as if at least one NFL team actually did consider a try-out (at least for a bit) but long story short, he was and still is unemployed as a football player.
But, with the help of NIKE, who made him the center of a new advertising campaign, Kaepernick has not fallen off the proverbial planet. No indeed. The campaign, a celebration of the “Just Do It” advertisements, appeared on television for the first NFL game. The wording on the ad: “Believe in something even if it means sacrificing everything.” For Kaepernick, the ad is referencing his belief in equality and need to curb police brutality. The ad has power.
Before the NIKE advertisement, some high school and college players followed the Kaepernick lead, with mixed results. Some protests were permitted while other athletes were booted from teams. We can debate the intrusion on student athlete First Amendment rights and whether institutions are making the “right” decision regarding kneeling at sporting events on their campuses.
What I want to address here is the recent effort of a few universities to ban or consider banning NIKE products for their athletes, in essence terminating their relationship with the company. I assume they are not banning students who are not athletes, or who are athletes and not on a field, from wearing NIKE.
I can’t think of a protest that makes less sense. Why do that? Why aren’t the administrators not listening to student voice, assuming of course that students favor retaining NIKE as a provider of athletic clothing and as a sponsor? And, where is the outrage among other college leaders when their peers seek to ban NIKE? Missing.
College and University presidents have an opportunity to use their bully pulpit although many seem too scared to do so. Here is a chance to speak up and out on issues that matter: finding a passion and believing in something bigger than oneself and sticking by principle even though the risks are high. One would think religious colleges could get on this bandwagon.
Aren’t these precisely promoting what are among the essential purposes of education: helping students find their passion, establishing a set of beliefs worth fighting for like the greater good and becoming leaders?
Whether institutions can ditch NIKE with impunity and without penalty is a legal issue but that is not my point here. To be sure, if the school had no contract, that’s a different issue altogether.
An (as in one) article in InsideHigherEd, one of the key media outlets in education, had 39 comments on this topic as of the date of this piece – and I read every one.
Where are the educators, especially presidents, speaking out loudly about standing up for principle? Where are the educators speaking out loudly about the difficulty of holding to ideals in the midst of controversy? Where are the educators talking about what we value and why?
For me, the latter issue makes the Foo Fighter incident pale. And it leaves me wondering why leaders are so reluctant to fight hard publicly. Leaders are missing an opportunity – a vastly greater one than punishing students in a pick-up game.
Apropos of that, don’t get me started on Serena and people who think she overreacted to losing a game in a Grand Slam Final. Just for the record, start by looking at changes made to Michigan State Alumni Magazine to avoid too much “negativity” surrounding sexual assault. We have teachable lessons coming at us in all directions.
We are, to use a phrase from the name of a Foo Fighter album, wasting light.
Karen Gross
I am an author and educator. I write adult and children's books and specialize in student success and the impact of trauma on learning and psychosocial development. My newest adult book is Trauma Doesn't Stop at the School Door; my newest children's book is titled Tongue Twisters and Beyond.