Looking for a way to reignite your students' interest in learning after spring break? How about a debate about whether or not college athletes should be paid?
March Madness will end Monday evening. Many of our students will be engaged in the game in one way or another - why not take advantage of their awareness of March Madness with a little thinking/debating activity? Who knows, they may even take the ideas home with them for some pre-game dinner time talk.
This exercise, The Value of an Athlete has students deciding whether or not college
athletes should be paid (on one hand, the athletes do put in a huge amount of
time and effort for our entertainment and for the profits of the school... on
the other hand, do you think college sports can survive contract negotiations,
hold-outs, and a complete loss of innocence?).
Looking for other Problem-Based Learning ideas or topics? Check out the many lessons/conversation starts on The PBL Project.
Thanks to Karen Spillman for sharing this resource!
Over the course of this March Madness, television has brought us the highs and lows of the student-athletes, their schools, their fans, the thrill of competition and the agony of defeat. These student-athletes have poured their time, enhanced their talents, for the opportunity to represent themselves, their schools, and bond with teammates and coaches. An extremely low percentage of them will make it to the professional level to make great livings for themselves and their families; some estimates are as low as 1%. The students in these schools also pour their time to enhance their talents to become doctors, teachers, nurses, lawyers, businessman, you name the profession. What I have seen on March Madness? The student-athlete from a poor neighborhood get the chance to play basketball at a high level, with a scholarship and a schedule that permits around the country travel and in some cases, abroad. I have witnessed upsets where teams have played above their ability, with a common belief that together, they can win with the state of mind of a winner. I have witnessed a father-son tandem at Georgia State capture the admiration of the country, with an upset victory and tears on the podium after their dream came to an end. “I love my son and this has been the best week of my life,” was the coach’s sentiment as he battled the pain of blowing out his Achilles while celebrating a conference title victory a week earlier. I’ve seen fifty year old men squeezed into a jersey that fits them like a sausage link, with face paint, going crazy rooting for their team and alma mater I’ve seen young kids going wild and some heartbroken after a lost. I recall a woman in the band, playing her piccolo, crying her eyes out at the end as her school succumbed to defeat. I have seen the strength of the human spirit in a player from Albany who lost his mother to cancer in the middle of the season, only to come back and win the conference tournament on a last second three-pointer and send his team to the Big Dance. Don’t diminish the experience of the student-athlete by paying them. The joy and heartache of athletics brings people together to play, root, and cheer for a common cause, and forget about life’s woes (and your bracket pool). John Wooden once said “Sports does not build character, it reveals it.” We need positive displays of character. "You play for the name on the front of the jersey," not for a stipend. Is it just basketball? I think not. It’s learning that sometimes your best wasn't good enough, but, the belief that someday it will be. And that makes you undefeatable.
ReplyDelete