Varsity Letters

[HeySeuss]

Source
Obligatory Reddit Link
Synopsis:

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?

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.

[HeySeuss]

Two of my favorite quotes:

"I got a letter for bowling. I guarantee that kid is putting forth a more varsity level effort than I ever did.
And other parents complained? That's just sad. I'd like to hear the students' opinions."

"Maybe as a self-serving, selfish high school brat I could understand being pissed off anyone wearing a letterman's jacket that didn't earn it. Effort really doesn't mean much, I'd bet that the worst player on the JV squad if probably working as hard as some of the best players on the varsity, sometimes its easy for some people and others work their asses off - at the end of the day they both get a stupid letter on a cheap jacket.

As an adult, my first thought was that this is stupid and I hope someone for KU sends him a real varsity jacket. The principle is being a dick and should know better and if any parents or athletes were upset they need to grow up."

[Dinh AaronMk]

Ultimately the ventures of AMERIKA HIGHSKOOL is pretty irrelevant on the whole of your life except for local bragging rights if you're ever going to end up being the Highschool star QB that ends up staying behind trying to work blue collar because you somehow suffered too many concussions playing futy-bul. And even then you're likely to outgrow the varsity jacket all the while, I know guys who've managed to outgrow the service uniform or whatever they got for serving the military twenty years ago. Chances are as a whole it's not going to fit.

But at the same time I can understand a sort of emotional want to have one, it's a good thing to show off while it's a culturally significant thing to have.

That said, I'd say just give the jacket to the kid. Saying no in mind just really sort of paints an un-pretty picture of the faculty as a whole. Even if he's doing some extra curricular activity. So he's going beyond his handicaps as sports or band kids go beyond what's expected to be average.

[Revans Exile]

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.

If you are not on a varsity team, you do not deserve it and should be treated as a fraud.

Expanding to include artists and band members comes off to me as giving participation trophies to every loser who bothers to show up and put in the absolutely tinniest amount of effort. Also reminds of the rules where the winning team loses because they score a great deal more than the other team or the games where they don't keep score. All it is done to keep from hurting some poor loser's feelings.