Give Me an "S," "U," "S," "A," "N"!

Over the past couple weeks, Susan found herself sucked into the hooplah that results from any American high school's fervor for an upcoming athletic tournament in which its team will compete. Trinity High School's boys basketball team advanced to competition in the regional and then state tournaments, and the days leading up to each game were filled with themed days (e.g., "Everyone dress like a character from a certain movie tomorrow"), pep rallies, and numerous interruptions to the school day, each one designed (implicitly, at least) to celebrate athletics at the expense of academic achievement.

But there's no resisting such a force of excitement for the school community--or, indeed, for the community at large. Even Susan--who, irritated, scrambled to meet curricular goals amidst the constant interruptions to the daily class schedule--could not say "no" to an invitation to participate in a pep rally. The cheerleaders enlisted her to join other female teachers to dress up in cheerleading gear themselves and lead the student body in some cheers and the school song one day.

I wasn't there, so I didn't get to see Susan's performance and, thus, couldn't remark on her skills as a cheerleader or even verify that she had indeed donned the garb and "gone to the dark side," becoming a cog in the very machine that was so effectively undercutting her own efforts to keep teaching and learning alive in the midst of all the athletics-centric madness.

That is, I heretofore could not verify it. Now I can:


P.S. Lest you get the impression that we are Grinches or Scrooges, you should know that our family attended the regional championship game and watched the televised state playoff games, cheering happily for Trinity the whole time. We were especially proud of Susan's ninth-grade cousin Robbie, who was a powerhouse for the team, racking up the points and proving himself a valuable team member. (Yes, as just a freshman!)