I’M NOT LAUGHING This
I’M NOT LAUGHING This Sports Editor should keep his day job.
Humor me, if you will. Little Mikey, with a grade-point average that would rival Andrew Dice Clay in lowness, decides public school is too hard and wants to be home-schooled. That way, he can cut out early while mom and dad are engrossed in a riveting episode of The Price is Right.
Problem is, Mikey is the best football player in the school he’s about to quit. What to do, what to do, what to do?
After all, it was his family’s decision to drop out. Shouldn’t it be their decision on whether he can play sports? Or even where, for that matter?
It’s a win-win situation, man. He can play for whichever school he wishes, and not be governed by silly rules such as a 2.0 GPA and – gasp! – having to go to class.
Then, while his teammates are talking about their big English test during practice, Mikey can’t help but wonder, “If that guy would have placed the chip a little more to the right on the Plinko board, he might have won $10,000.”OK, so maybe all of that is a bit over the top. But, if the family of 11-year-old Aaron Jones is successful in challenging the SSAC’s rule barring home-schooled athletes from participating in public school sports, an economy-sized can of worms will be opened.
Dwindling enrollment is already a problem among West Virginia schools. If the rule is overturned, can you imagine how many athletes will suddenly decide they can receive a better education at home than in school?
We might have to consolidate every existing high school into one facility, place it in Braxton County and call it Central Consolidated.
The bottom line is, if a home-schooler wants the privilege of participating in high school sports, he or she should be held under the same expectations as athletes who attend public schools. That means minimum GPA requirements, standardized tests and fish sandwiches on Fridays.
Home-schooling is a decision (probably a smart one in some ways, depending on the school system). With that decision comes certain sacrifices, like it or not.