So in Wichita East High School, the mother of a special needs kid went and bought her kid a letter jacket, which I know is a violation of protocol, because he's been putting in the time on the Special Needs team. The kid has Down's and can't do varsity athletics for a variety of reasons.
There was an uproar from 'the teachers' according to the principal who demanded the jacket not be worn. Okay, fair enough, but then the superintendent of schools says there is no prohibition on the award and that he gave them when he was a principal to the special needs students that he felt qualified.
The whole point of the varsity letter is generally conceded to be that you perform in an athletic competition, but it's been expanded to include band, the arts and other pursuits that do the school proud. There isn't much there, objectively, for a special needs team to achieve, except that we do live in an era where we recognize the amount of work that special needs people put in, what a struggle it is, to find a place in a society that often tries to minimize them or exclude them.
So, how do you feel about it? Are you personally a letterman/woman? What in?
There was an uproar from 'the teachers' according to the principal who demanded the jacket not be worn. Okay, fair enough, but then the superintendent of schools says there is no prohibition on the award and that he gave them when he was a principal to the special needs students that he felt qualified.
The whole point of the varsity letter is generally conceded to be that you perform in an athletic competition, but it's been expanded to include band, the arts and other pursuits that do the school proud. There isn't much there, objectively, for a special needs team to achieve, except that we do live in an era where we recognize the amount of work that special needs people put in, what a struggle it is, to find a place in a society that often tries to minimize them or exclude them.
So, how do you feel about it? Are you personally a letterman/woman? What in?
Note: I went to three different high schools, so no, I didn't letter. I also didn't really give a damn, but this kid does. The only reason I wish I'd actually had done so is so I could mail that fucker to this kid. Alas, all I have is University of Maryland stuff.
