Hard to Herd

[Valin]

Fraters Libertas:

Chad The Elder
7/25/11

I've been thoroughly enjoying reading Anthony Esolen's TEN WAYS TO DESTROY THE IMAGINATION OF YOUR CHILD. It's a satirical guidebook for how parents can take full advantage of all the technological and cultural progress we've made in the last forty years to ensure that their children's minds are barren wastelands when it comes to intellectual and spiritual curiosity. Here’s a wonderful section on the power of play:

Here again we see the wonders of organizing every waking non-electronic moment of a child’s life. When adults are in charge, they will settle the dispute. Sometimes they do so preventively, by making sure disputes cannot occur. That’s what schools in Massachusetts did a few years ago, decreeing that for elementary school soccer matches, no one should keep score. What a remarkable teaching device that was! It prevented the children from using their wits to separate right from wrong. It shut off the opportunity for real appreciation of an opponent’s case. It delivered the message, instead, that one’s own feelings are paramount, and anyway, what difference does the score make, as long as everyone is having fun? Buried beneath the beneficence was the knowledge that the best of fun depends upon the pretense that a run or goal actually means something; otherwise there is no real game at all.

(Snip)

We should always remember that such a scene as I have described is the last thing we want. People who can organize themselves and accomplish something as devilishly complicated as a good ballgame are hard to herd around. They can form societies on their own. They become men and women, hot human resources. They can be free.

[nickydog]

I noticed with amusement when my grandson was playing soccer with a league sponsored by the Y and it had been decreed by the adults that at their young age (6-8 years old) keeping track of the score could damage their still developing psyches, that the boys kept score anyway, in their heads. They wanted to know who was winning!

[righteousmomma]

Buried beneath the beneficence was the knowledge that the best of fun depends upon the pretense that a run or goal actually means something; otherwise there is no real game at all.

 

In our home schooled group of kids (ages 6-13) at Bible Study we noticed right away how kids thrive on competition. They LOVE it. Greatest motivation is to be the winner whether in a game or a "quiz".

[Valin]

I noticed with amusement when my grandson was playing soccer with a league sponsored by the Y and it had been decreed by the adults that at their young age (6-8 years old) keeping track of the score could damage their still developing psyches, that the boys kept score anyway, in their heads. They wanted to know who was winning!

 

 

Well this would explain quite a bit about how I turned out! We always kept score, and worse celebrated winning. Suddenly it's all so clear, I blame Mom and Dad for not putting a stop to this score keeping.