Falling on deaf ears.
This may not reach anyone, as I'm not sure there's anyone on my friends list who can explain it. Please, if you know someone for whom the following message will mean anything, pass this along and ask them to comment?
I need someone to explain to me the Texan cult of high school football. I need someone to explain to me how Texans can wonder about our students' low academic standing in the greater arena of US education and yet know that science and mathematics in our public schools don't receive a drop in the bucket compared to the financial resources poured into sports teams, especially the football programs. I can explain it from a cynic's point of view, of course: they see only the causal relationships they want to see, and so long as their chosen team does well, all else can be ignored as there's no understanding that the checks they're writing will always come due down the line. The Reaper always collects his due, and the rich and talented pay the same price as the poor and unfortunate. Geek or chic, brains or brawn, asthmatic loner or end-zone star, it matters not: in the end, all are remembered equally, which is to say not at all.
What I need is for someone who gets it to explain to me how anyone cannot see that the cult of football is indirectly causing the academic withering of Texan children? The strength of Texas does not come from the gridiron, and the future of Texas will not be built with hands who know only the touch of pigskin and the kiss of grass before the stampede.
I need someone to explain to me the Texan cult of high school football. I need someone to explain to me how Texans can wonder about our students' low academic standing in the greater arena of US education and yet know that science and mathematics in our public schools don't receive a drop in the bucket compared to the financial resources poured into sports teams, especially the football programs. I can explain it from a cynic's point of view, of course: they see only the causal relationships they want to see, and so long as their chosen team does well, all else can be ignored as there's no understanding that the checks they're writing will always come due down the line. The Reaper always collects his due, and the rich and talented pay the same price as the poor and unfortunate. Geek or chic, brains or brawn, asthmatic loner or end-zone star, it matters not: in the end, all are remembered equally, which is to say not at all.
What I need is for someone who gets it to explain to me how anyone cannot see that the cult of football is indirectly causing the academic withering of Texan children? The strength of Texas does not come from the gridiron, and the future of Texas will not be built with hands who know only the touch of pigskin and the kiss of grass before the stampede.