In dark times we need heroes more than ever and it is tempting to ponder: where are the leaders of real stature?
Yet it is not only at the very top of the tree that we need statesman like authority, clarity and decisiveness – we need it in everyday life, too. Curiously, this thought occurred to me whilst watching the excellent Friday Night Lights, which sadly, is restricted to Sky Atlantic late on Tuesday evenings, but deserving a much wider audience as it is a rare gem.
This American series focuses on events surrounding a high school football team in a fictional town called Dillon: a small, close-knit community in ruralTexas. Central to the drama is team coach Eric Taylor (Kyle Chandler) and his family. The recurring issues are familiar to us all and are dealt with intelligently through sensitive and clever writing. These include school funding, racism, drugs, teenage sex and a lack of opportunity for the young students, all of which will resonate loudly this side of the pond.
Of course this is fiction but a few generations ago children also had local heroes, our own “Coach Taylors” so to speak. At the risk of putting my neck on the block (given the hugely sensitive subject of education) I wonder where the role models are now, when we need them more than ever. And, before I incur the wrath of the Teachers’ Unions, this is a much broader issue so please stay with me.
I believe that the school sports coach of yesteryear was a hugely undervalued figure who had an obvious advantage largely because we stayed behind out of choice to learn new skills, seeking to make the team. Outside of the classroom, children and teachers enjoyed a more rounded relationship; you saw the teacher in another light. In many senses the school sports coach became a figure you felt able to communicate with on a different level.
One of the modern day tragedies for wider society is the disappearance of the old style PE teacher; from an early age a key figure for many children is no longer there. Remember your old games teacher? Almost always a male, who tried to keep his tracksuit up to date with the in-brands, wore the trainers you could only dream of owning and, although commanding great respect, you always felt he was on your side?
There was an almost legendary figure at my old school who is still spoken of in revered tones, many years since his passing. It would be impossible to count the number of extra-curricular hours he spent nurturing the school’s sporting talents. Whether in the guise of a classroom teacher or a coach, such figures command respect because they can and will go the extra mile.
Simply put, generations are growing up without any clear idea of the difference between right and wrong and sport is a great way of demonstrating these values. Recently, my friends’ eleven-year-old son told me got a “red card” at school for walking out of a lesson; it was impossible not to shake my head knowing that a few years ago I would have got a red ear, or two. Sport teaches you how to win, how to lose and the value of respect for teammate and opponent. The more sedentary we have become the more these values have diminished.
In defence of teachers today, given that both the main parties use education as a political football, it is not hard to see why many will do simply what they have to do to get through the working day and sport is now relegated to a token gesture. Why should teachers give up their free time on an unpaid basis? It is hard to argue that they should, but in losing this potential connection with many children it is saving pennies to pay out pounds; in future years obesity levels will rocket.
And what of the role models out there for young people; can anybody name a politician who exudes trust and belief? Daily we are treated to another revelation that somebody has got caught with their fingers in the pie and yet, like the bankers, you sense they will not be punished. If those at the top cannot set an example then what chance others? It seems they just dole out a different type of red card further on up the line.
Sport at the highest level offers little reassurance. Soon we are going to have the sickening sight of convicted drugs cheat Dwayne Chambers competing forGreat Britainat the Olympics. Free to run again despite his 2003 conviction; what message does that send out? Every week we see football managers refusing to condemn their own players no matter how badly they have behaved. Nobody points out what is clearly not acceptable anymore.
In our media circus society we have the curse of the “celebrity” although by the liberal use of the term it seems almost all of us have that one chance, one day, to enter the Big Brother house or the dreaded jungle; I could manage both, it’s the thought of Davina McCall or Ant & Dec that troubles me more. Once again these tinsel town existences are portrayed as something to aspire to and fame seems only a step away.
I am not sure we can fix much of what we now have, indeed, even David Cameron has stopped using “Broken Britain” as his mantra, presumably in fear of somebody asking him how we fix it. So I will cling to the reassuring steely gaze of Coach Taylor and trust in him to offer me a weekly diversion from our ever deepening moral, physical and social decay. It may be fiction but it’s where I would rather be.
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