Let's Have a Parade

Let's Have a Parade

The University of Idaho recently won the Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl, defeating Bowling Green 43-42 and ending the season with an 8-5 record.
In honor of that, the Idaho football team will lead a parade down Main Street in Moscow on the afternoon of Saturday, Jan. 23.
My question: Why do the Moscow Chamber of Commerce, Gov. Butch Otter, and the University of Idaho President Duane Nellis see extraordinary value in drawing even greater public attention to the football team's efforts of 2009? Parades are events staged to draw public eyes to those who made great achievements. Historically, we think of ticker-tape parades for astronauts and presidents. We expect to see many parents and young people watching, and that the subjects of the parade will be held up as role models.
The record of 8-5 was the Vandals only winning season of the decade, and represents a winning record of about 62 percent. Would similar performance by a business win the Chamber’s praise? Would a politician deserve a parade if he or she won 62 percent of his or her races? Would you praise a student who scored 62 percent in class? There are differences, but what are they, and what do they say about our societal values?
If the parade is a celebration of a rare achievement, why was Olympic gold medalist Dan O'Brien honored in a much different manner. O’Brien’s coach Michael Keller said, “No parade though they did have a get together in the park up on 6th and Hayes. Yes, if a football team goes 50 percent in loss/win they think that the group is god-led and that the coach is fantastic.”
James Wharton observed that honors vary with the individual: “No, there was not a parade for Dan, but they did name the Track and Field Complex after him. And, as I reminded Mike Keller after his 29 years as track coach and service to the U of I, they named the 'Old Block House Restroom' at the complex which were converted into the new U of I Track and Field Office — after a janitor!”
Is the parade a reflection of the value of one sport over another? Is it a reflection of the attention the team drew by winning an exciting game in a nationally televised bowl? Or is it a reflection of the economic value of football to the city, as Moscow Chamber of Commerce President Steve Hacker suggested? "The University of Idaho's success on the football field has meant more than just numbers in the win column," he said in a press release. "There is a financial impact in merchandise sales, full hotels and restaurants on game days.”
Our point is not that we're against honoring the football team with a parade; rather, we're asking that we clarify the values we celebrate with special honors such as these. As you stand with your children watching the athletes go by, what will you tell your kids when they ask the hidden question: What can I do to be more like these athletes and deserve a parade of my own?
Will you tell your kids to go 8-5? Will you tell them to win a close game on national television? Will you tell them to play football instead of track and field? Or can you find a more valuable lesson here?

Tom Grant, Doctoral Student
Center for ETHICS*

Are you dumber than other generations - and is sport part of the culprit

Thomas Benton, in a recent article, argues that your generation is dumber than generations of the past. He makes the argument based on his own experience as well as from the content of several new books - (Of which, I have read a few) - Below find his text from the Chronicle of Higher Education, August 1, 2008. I have deleted text marked by .... at the end, I have a question for you.

The Anti-Intellectual Presidency: The Decline of Presidential Rhetoric From George Washington to George W. Bush (2008), by Elvin T. Lim, examines speeches and public papers — noting shortened sentences, simplified diction, the proliferation of platitudes — to show a pattern of increased pandering to the lowest common intellectual denominator, combined with a mockery of complexity and analysis.....

Just How Stupid Are We?: Facing the Truth About the American Voter (2008), by Richard Shenkman, argues that the dumbing down of our political culture is linked to the decline of organized labor and local party politics, which kept members informed on matters of substance.

What's the Matter With Kansas?: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America (2004), by Thomas Frank, Shenkman shows how the political right has been able to don the populist mantle even as it pursues policies that thwart the economic and social interests of the average voter......

Former Vice President Al Gore obviously has a dog in this hunt, and his book The Assault on Reason (2007) argues that the fundamental principles of American freedom — descended from the Enlightenment — are being corrupted by the politics of fear, the abuse of faith, the power of an increasingly centralized media culture, and degradation of political checks and balances favoring an imperial presidency.

Always On: Language in an Online and Mobile World (2008), by Naomi S. Baron, shows how the proliferation of electronic communication has impaired students' ability to write formal prose; moreover, it discourages direct communication, leading to isolation, self-absorption, and damaged relationships.

Worst of all, the prevalence of multi-tasking — of always being partly distracted, doing several things at once — has diminished the quality of our thought, reflection, self-expression, and even, surprisingly, our productivity. Baron's solution is to turn off the distractions and focus on the task and people at hand.....

Her conclusions are largely affirmed by Nicholas Carr's cover story in the July/August 2008 issue of The Atlantic: "Is Google Making Us Stoopid?"

Carr, author of The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, From Edison to Google (2008), argues that daily use of the Internet may be rewiring our brains for skimming rather than for the sustained concentration that is required for reading books, listening to lectures, and writing long essays. Obviously, such rewiring is going to have the biggest impact on the rising generation appearing in our college classrooms: the "digital natives.".....

The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (2008), by Mark Bauerlein, provides alarming statistical support for the suspicion — widespread among professors (including me) — that young Americans are arriving at college with diminished verbal skills, an impaired work ethic, an inability to concentrate, and a lack of knowledge even as more and more money is spent on education......

Okay, you get the idea. Here's my question - is our love and passion for sport also a part of the problem - not only the digital nature of the generation - but also the passion for sport and the being tuned into hours of viewing of espn, sportcenter, and so forth - in which we do little active thought but much passive thought - we listen, we mimic, ...we hardly argue, question, or think for ourselves. What do you think?