[NEohioPAL]B-J Cuts

[Pantsios, Anastasia]

Cleveland Heights has a sign extolling its high school chess champions =
for a while!

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> From: 	Tom Burnett
> Sent: 	Wednesday, August 30, 2006 12:28 PM
> To: 	Pantsios, Anastasia; neohiopal at lists.fredsternfeld.com
> Subject: 	Re: [NEohioPAL]B-J Cuts
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> Anastasia:
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> In an ideal world, yes, I agree. When I see those signs at various =20
> city boundaries, "Home of the State soccer champions" or whatever, =20
> I'm thinking, "What about the kids with the 4.0+ averages, the =20
> National Merit scholars, the science fair winners, the musicians, the  =

> actors, etc.?" You never hear business owners complaining about a =20
> shortage of trained wrestlers or football players, so why are they =20
> celebrated and not the students who excel in other areas? In an ideal  =

> world, Lebron James would not be getting paid as much as 200 =20
> teachers, because a good teacher is worth 200 basketball stars.
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> Saying that, if you publish a daily newspaper and forgo prep sports =20
> coverage, you better be planning your next career. If your decisions =20
> about coverage are based on what should be instead of what the =20
> readers want, your paper won't last very long. At the same time, I do  =

> think the PD could do far more in covering the accomplishments of the  =

> non-athletes at our schools, without affecting its (very popular) =20
> sports coverage.
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> Tom
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> On Aug 30, 2006, at 11:50 AM, Pantsios, Anastasia wrote:
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> > I know I'll be in a minority here but I think high school sports =20
> > should abolsutely NOT be covered by big city dailies. It adds to =20
> > the mystique that sports are the single most important thing for a =20
> > kid to focus on and the sure path to riches, acclaim, popularity =20
> > and success. The kid who aces the SATs, is a National Merit scholar  =

> > and gets into Harvard gets their little paragraph in the special =20
> > education issue or a mention buried in the metro section but the =20
> > kid who excels at sports is on the front page of the sports section  =

> > every week and it gives totally the wrong message. When columnists =20
> > wring their hands about how many more inner city kids want to be =20
> > basketball players than accountants or doctors, I always think "Go =20
> > look at your own paper's coverage and you'll see one of the big =20
> > reasons why." Community and high school papers are the proper place  =

> > for this ongoing coverage.
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