Cash for Goals

The following is an exchange between my son's soccer coach and myself. 

Thu, November 17, 2011 3:36:59 PM

Dan,

So the tournament is Saturday first game at 9:00 AM. I have been told that there is somethng else going on at the church so parking is going to be crazy. Please arrive early.

I really want to win this first game. I don`t want to do something any of you are against so let me know if you have a problem with this but I am going to offer financial incentives to the kids (of course unless you say not to for you child.) The deal is as follows:

$3 per kid for a win
$3 per goal
$2 per assist

Here is why. On Saturday I was at an indoor game for 3rd graders. The coach for the team we were playing was within ear shot of me. Another parent walked up and the coach said "hey nice draw on the first round of the tournament." The guy answered "yeah. St. Roch." I recognized the guy who answered since we just played the team he coaches the week before. We only lost by one and had no subs. But the way he answered was as if we were the most terrible team ever. Well I disagree. I think we have a very solid team as evidenced by our last game. I think with a full roster at every game there are several we would have won. I know it is not feasible for everyone to make every game and I do not expect that. I am merely pointing out that we are better than our record. So I want to win this game badly to put this guy in his place!

If you have a problem with this let me know and I will make sure I shield your kid from my incentives! This only counts for the first game.

I took a moment to respond. I wrote the email that night, but did not decide to send it until the next day.

Fri, November 18, 2011 5:22:45 AM

Kyle,

I am speaking as a parent and as the coach of both the baseball and basketball team, and as such I am concerned by the precedent that this will set. This does not conform to my philosophy of sports.

Financial incentives have no place in youth sports, particularly team sports. I am not just saying this because the salary structure would preclude Evan and any other defensive minded players from being compensated. Our players are motivated because they want to do their best. Your proposal would only encourage players to keep the ball and score goals instead of passing or defending. Furthermore, it will create a rift between the players that have had additional training and those that have not. Our boys are a team and as such support each other in there efforts. There is no need to upset the team chemistry.

The goal of sports is to build better young men that have not only the physical skills that may later result in a compensation, but the social and mental skills to deal with both winning and losing. Introducing an arbitrary reward system will undermine both of these goals. Youth sports are a learning experience and winning is the reward for hard work and team play. Intrinsic motivation is infinitely better than a financial reward.

There are other leagues in which winning is the primary goal, but even in Evan's USA swim team the emphasis is on self-improvement, team work, and dedication. The winning comes as a result of the mastery of these skills and personality traits. We all enjoy winning, but we have to decide if it should be done at all cost especially in the CYC league.

With that said if you want to form a team of parents to totally go and kick this other guy's ass on a soccer field, basketball court, baseball diamond, or Trivial Pursuit board, then I will be there with my game face and a case of beer.

Dan

Apparently I wasn't the only one to respond.

Fri, November 18, 2011 8:42:36 AM

Dan,

I got various feedback on the proposal I laid out. IN a busy moment I may not have thought through it all the way. A great suggestion was to change the amounts to reward an assist higher than the goal. Makes sense since passing is the key to the game. Another was to reward goals as a pot to split for the team. Another was to remove it all together.

So here is what I suggest. I certainly do not think this is the most appropriate thing for this age, I just want to beat this team.  So rather then compromise the spirit of what we are doing here I will tell the boys that if they win I will have a pizza party for them to which I will most definitely pay for it myself as the victory will be worth it for me. I certainly want them to play the way they have been since the teamwork has come a long way this year and I do not want to disrupt that as it could actually backfire.

Remember, be there early since parking is going to be an issue. Remember, if we cannot field a team we get fined $100. Have a great breakfast and come ready to play soccer!

We Need To Moneyball This Thing



Scientist have been sciencing education for years, yet there still seems to be a myriad of unanswered questions, answers that are abused by those with an agenda, and queries that have not been adequately pondered. Before we can begin to discuss the answers to any of these questions, we must decide on a common goal. The main issues seems to be educators and political leaders desire a different product from education and we use one instrument to measure both.

I'm not sure what these are, but I don't think they will test well.

Since Thomas Jefferson said that democracy needed an educated populace to function, it has been the goal of free public education to produce well informed citizens/white, male land-owners able to make intelligent decisions about how to best govern the country. The conflict arises when we are being measured by government entities that don't seem particularly interested in good citizenship. Our students are pitted against students from all over the world, and I am willing wager that Chinese and Finnish schools are not overly interested in producing U.S. citizens. I am forced to conclude that we are supposed to be produce engines, not for Ford trucks, but for the economy.


"We love the electoral college!"



We need to Moneyball education. Teachers need to realize we are not be asked to create fine young people, life-long learners, or model citizens. We deal in human capitol. Our client is corporate America, and they demand good workers. Not drones and automata, but workers that will help them turn a profit.

Now before you chuck your iPad across the room (into the appropriately cushioned iPad chucking area) and start calling me an idiot, I would like to suggest that this is not a bad thing. Wealth is an accurate gauge of success. Our puritanical forefathers thought wealth indicate God's grace, which is exactly right if by grace you mean intelligence, ingenuity, and endurance. Given the nature and history of this country we would have to figure "park effect." When such things as parent education and social class, gender, and psychological makeup are factored out we should be able to figure how much value a person has. Insurance companies do it all the time.

Once we figure each students value to society, then society should pay back a certain percentage, say 60%. So if Microsoft hires one of our graduates then that school should get a signing bonus equal to 60% of the profit that human will produce. (I'm not entirely sure what to do if the product becomes a burden on society.)

"One data processor please."

This goal would also align with student desires. Very few of them desire knowledge for knowledge's sake. They go to school so that they can get a job. This is so import that it often has to be spelled out J-O-B. We need to all agree on a goal. The reason Moneyball worked for Oakland is because they were able to shift their focus to the real goal which was getting on base. Education should be producing money-makers, and schools should be judged based upon how much wealth their students produce above expectations.

Allegory, Symbolism, and Metaphor in Invasion of the Body Snatchers

Alien seed pods have taken root in lovely Santa Mira, California, the fictional suburban paradise that is the setting for Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Dr. Miles Bennell has just returned to town, and is surprised to find his patients suffering from a hysteria that leads them to believe that their close family has been replaced by something. He later finds out that they weren't hysterical at all, and there is not "a human being left in Santa Mira." There are many theories about what the pod people symbolize, but whatever your specific idea might be, it is clear that Invasion of the Body Snatchers is an allegory for the homogenization of American society. There are several incidents that would suggest that this dehumanizing homogeny is an allegory for the threat world domination by communism.

Immediately upon entering town Dr. Bennell nearly runs over Jimmy Grimaldi, who is running in terror from his mother. Screeching to a halt Miles jumps out to question Mrs. Grimaldi. She claims that Jimmy doesn't want to go to school. Also of interest is the Grimaldi vegetable stand that in less than a month has fallen into disarray. He asked if her husband was sick and she replied, "We gave the stand up; too much work." Those who criticize communism believe that this is a natural consequence. If citizens can not have the fruits (vegetables) of your labor, then why would people even bother working?

Later we find out that their labors have been redirected toward growing alien pods to distribute throughout Southern California. Any ambition they had to keep their road side stand open had been redirected to supporting the global domination of the pod people, or state. This seems to be the case with most of the citizens because later that night when Miles goes to a club with his girl Becky they find it deserted and devoid of music. It is just a well because they are quickly pulled away by an urgent telephone call from Jack, a writer. We find out that Jack has a "blank" corpse lying on his pool table. This is our first encounter with a preformed duplicate, and it is interesting that it is an artist that is being taken over. Toward the end of the movie our protagonist are briefly encourage by the faint sounds of an opera singer. They are certain that it means that there are still others like them. Of course, if we are taking from each according to his ability and giving to each according to his need, then the arts would seem to be superfluous since it does nothing to enhance the wealth of the state (increase the production of pods)

Production began when "a seed took root in a farmer's field."  This image drawn by the town psychiatrist brings to mind soviet propaganda promoting communal farms. And just like those farms a little coercion was required to get everyone go along with the program.

"We like farming. Yes we do. We like farming, how 'bout you?"

He goes on to say that the pods have eliminated "desire, ambition, and faith." Both ambition and faith are the traditional victims of communism, and it is unlikely that out of all the qualities the writers could have chosen, that these two made the list accidentally. Karl Marx referred religion as the "opiate of the masses," but later adherents to communism instituted state atheism. The Agrarian Reform Law enacted in 1945 in Albania banned the practice of religion. A year later all Roman Catholic clergy were forcibly removed from the country.

Whether the filmmakers intended to or not, the political climate of the Red Scare and McCarthyism was bound to seep into the production of this film. They have gone on record to say they were just commenting on the blandness and homogeneity of Americans, but in the rhetorically charged atmosphere of the 1950s viewers were bound to see this film as an allegory for current events. However, the film still resonates today because we must always safe guard our individual freedoms. The attacks on 9/11 rekindle the debate over the balance of freedom and safety, and without constant vigilance "you're next, you're next, you're next."