Unclaimed Interest

Ok, here's the thing. Last Friday, there was an interesting conversation in my literature class. You can say that the teacher kind of bumped heads with a couple of the students.





We were discussing a poem in the literature book entitled "Suicide Note". This poem is about and Asian American college student who left a note for her parents telling them that she had committed suicide because she didn't receive a perfect 4.0 GPA. The girl tried hard to acheive her goals and she soon felt that her not getting the 4.0 would not make her parents proud. In the poem, the girl kept thinking to herself, "Not smart enough. Not pretty enough. Not strong enough." She always compared herself to a bird with snow on it's wings (the bird cannot fly). Seeing that she didn't get the 4.0, her choices were as thin as shaved ice, she felt.





Moving on, the teacher later asked if we knew anyone who stived to make very good grades, such as a 4.0. She asked if we knew anyone who would think about hurting themselves if they did not make their parents proud. At this point, there were a couple of responses. Here is what happened next.....





Teacher: My son attends Michigan State University, and in high school he played basketball and football. We (the parents) wouldn't let him play these sports in college.





Student 1 (female): Why not?





Teacher: When you go to college, it should be all about academia. We did allow him to play tennis and golf though.





Student 1: So you are saying that students shouldn't go to college and participate in athletics?





Teacher: No, I'm not saying that, but a student should be in college and be focused on getting a degree. My son plans on going to medical school and he doesn't need all of these sports holding him back. Why do sport have to be so competitive? Why can't people just go to a game just for fun?





Student 2 (female): Life is competitive. Why can't a person go to school and play a sport? They can be competitive in playing their sport as well as getting their school work done and achieving their goals. There's nothing wrong with that.





Student 3 (male): What wrong with someone going to college and playing sports just because it's something that they like to do. Something that is very interesting to them. Maybe they played a sport in high school and they want to continue through college so they can become more skillful in the sport.





Teacher (stumbling over her words): Well, that's fine. As long as it's not one-sided where the athletic part is getting all of the attention.





This conversation started to get heated, but the teacher ended the conversation just in time. Student 1 plays volleyball and student 2 plays softball. I can understand why they got so offended. If a person likes to do something, they are going to do it to help keep them busy and entertained.





What do you think about this scenario?
Did you play any sports in school?
Do you agree with the students or the teacher?





I call this...."The Battle of the Unclaimed Interest"