The following is an editorial I wrote for my school newspaper. It's pretty much done. Any comments would be appreciated.
THE NEGATIVE
He nods at his teammates and winks at a huddled group of girls as he strolls through the crowded commons area. His 6?1? 210 lbs body stands commandingly among his peers. The collar of his Varsity jacket is ruffled; the ?P/1B? position patch ostensibly sewn on his right sleeve. Along him stands a kid, 5?6? barely 120 lbs soaking wet, fitted in his own Varsity jacket, with ?Debater? tagged on his arm. Wait a minute, in what sport is there a position called Debater?
[Info on why debate club is pushing for varsity letters]
?Debate is a club where we have an annual problem and try to create a plan that will solve the problem,? says club co-president, junior Maggie Boniecka. The affirmative team proposes a solution, and the negative team tries to debunk it as implausible or illogical.
?Debate is very competitive. It requires considerable hours of preparation, effort, and skill,? says club co-president, junior Elissa Dunn. She estimates her team will log 25 hours of practice this season.
Elite chess club members polish their skills for hours as well. Hell, what in life doesn?t demand a few hours of preparation? ?I work real hard in math class, should I get a varsity letter in math?? asks junior Ryan Canning.
?AP Chem is hard as hell. I spend hours doing problems [each week] and the class is very competitive but I don?t receive a letter in it,? says junior Tai Alon.
The preparation hours that debate club puts in hours are grossly dwarfed compared that invested by athletic teams. ?An athletic [team practices for] about 300 hours a season. [For some first year varsity seniors,] that?s 1,200 hours for a varsity letter,? explains Grasso, Supervisor of Athletics and Wellness at PHS. Also consider those are only the hours that the entire team practices together; it?s impossible to be a varsity athlete without months of individual training in the off season.
Football players are already lifting for next season 9 months in advance. Nearly the entire varsity baseball team is currently receiving instruction at PBI, a private camp, in preparation for next spring. Many other athletes, like David Suh and Edgar Cepena have trained at Parisi?s, a speed and strength camp, prior to their track season. ?There?s no weight room for debaters,? points out junior Andy Kiely. Do debaters go to voice lessons or do jumping-jacks to maintain their arguing stamina?
Unfortunately, Canning and Alon will not be receiving varsity letters for their ?considerable hours of preparation and effort.? The PHS Athletics and Wellness department awards letters to varsity athletes who play a sport recognized by the NJSIAA (New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association). These letters are limited to 32 sports recognized by the association; debate, along with math and chemistry is not one of them.
For most of the PHS student body and teachers, the meaning of a varsity letter is universal and unambiguous. To Grasso, a varsity letter awarded to an athlete means that ?[he or she is] good enough to compete in a high school sport.?
?Varsity synonymous with athletics,? says varsity basketball coach Bill Whitney.
When asked to whom a varsity letter is given, 3 year varsity track junior Jessica Malacrida immediately responded, ?Oh, of course varsity letters are only for sports.?
?Honestly, I don?t think of academics,? says junior Peter Soderman.
?My father only got varsity letters for athletics. It?s tradition,? says freshman Connor Nutland.
To junior Dominick Roman, a member of the PHS golf team, a varsity letter means that ?I?m the best out there. I?m the real deal.? That?s the image that should remain. If non-athletes start getting varsity letters, it will dilute the prestige of being one of the best athletes in the school.
Debaters say they want Varsity letters to gain recognition and respect among their peers. ?To excel at something is an honor,? says Boniecka. ?It?s deserving of recognition.?
?It?s an ego booster,? says Dunn. ?It makes you look good, people look up to you. Like, ?Hey this person is good at debating.? ?
?Some [members] join debate so they can put it for college,? adds Lim.
Seeking varsity recognition to boost your ego or to appeal to your peers and colleges is a faulty motive.
?To want a varsity letter so that people to look up to you is retarded,? says Soderman.
?To be cool is to participate in an activity, not to parade around with the actual letter,? says debater junior Kenny Lee.
?A piece of paper won?t make a difference, it won?t give you respect,? says Roman.
?Debate club is an academic sport,? claims Dunn. Whoa! What exactly constitutes an academic sport? A sport, defined by The 4th Ed. American Heritage Dictionary, is a ?physical activity that is often engaged in competitively.?
?Formal argument is not a physical activity,? reasons senior Scott Darwick.
So what qualifies debate as an ?academic sport?? Logical reasoning isn?t a physical activity. If it?s vocal, then singing has be a sport, too. Varsity and JV chorus? Would understudies for ?Brigadoon? be the bench players? If it?s in the frantic arm waving then the sign language club deserves a letter.
?All sports have the injury factor; the possibility exists for a season ending injury,? adds Alex Kaplanovich, head football coach at PHS. ?There?s no injury factor in debate.?
?The biggest injury a debater will get is a paper cut,? jokes junior Leo Muchnik.
Why the debate club chose the varsity nomenclature is beyond me. Now the club?s seeking of varsity letters is a blatant attempt to leech off of our student athletes? achievements. By awarding debate club with the same recognition that our school?s best athletes receive, debates are insidiously raising themselves to the same pedestal as athletes.
?In general, academics and sports are separated,? says Dunn, ?But they do overlap. In sports, you need strategy, to know who to pass the ball to.? So a wrestler who nimbly executes a clever takedown or a baseball pitcher who outsmarts the batter should be the Academic Student of the Month? Does a bowler who bowls a 300 receive a physics award for perfecting his curve? Athletes don?t demand academic recognition for their athletic achievements; debate club shouldn?t seek athletic recognition either.
My resolve is to give recognition where recognition is due. To terminate any misconceptions between debate and a varsity sport, the debate club should rename their teams. ?They should have beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels,? suggests sophomore Allison Kapr. ?Varsity and junior varsity should be for sports. [The names] should be kept different.?
?Clubs should be rewarded,? says Grasso, ?But not in [the same category as] athletics.?
Whitney agrees, ?Debate could get a different award that the school sets up, that isn?t involved in athletics.? Just as we don?t give Ted?s Deli a varsity letter for their American Chicken, we shouldn?t award it to debaters either.
Besides if debaters do get varsity letters, ?What would their insignia be [on their jackets]?? asks varsity girls soccer and baseball coach Vic DiPasquale. My guess is a big mouth.
Gone are the days when awards and recognition made sense. Gone are the old days when hard working athletes got athletic recognition and hard working scholars got academic recognition. Today the debaters want varsity letters, tomorrow the basketball players will fight over who has the highest IQ. I give up. Just give me my damn varsity ?Chessmaster? jacket.
THE NEGATIVE
He nods at his teammates and winks at a huddled group of girls as he strolls through the crowded commons area. His 6?1? 210 lbs body stands commandingly among his peers. The collar of his Varsity jacket is ruffled; the ?P/1B? position patch ostensibly sewn on his right sleeve. Along him stands a kid, 5?6? barely 120 lbs soaking wet, fitted in his own Varsity jacket, with ?Debater? tagged on his arm. Wait a minute, in what sport is there a position called Debater?
[Info on why debate club is pushing for varsity letters]
?Debate is a club where we have an annual problem and try to create a plan that will solve the problem,? says club co-president, junior Maggie Boniecka. The affirmative team proposes a solution, and the negative team tries to debunk it as implausible or illogical.
?Debate is very competitive. It requires considerable hours of preparation, effort, and skill,? says club co-president, junior Elissa Dunn. She estimates her team will log 25 hours of practice this season.
Elite chess club members polish their skills for hours as well. Hell, what in life doesn?t demand a few hours of preparation? ?I work real hard in math class, should I get a varsity letter in math?? asks junior Ryan Canning.
?AP Chem is hard as hell. I spend hours doing problems [each week] and the class is very competitive but I don?t receive a letter in it,? says junior Tai Alon.
The preparation hours that debate club puts in hours are grossly dwarfed compared that invested by athletic teams. ?An athletic [team practices for] about 300 hours a season. [For some first year varsity seniors,] that?s 1,200 hours for a varsity letter,? explains Grasso, Supervisor of Athletics and Wellness at PHS. Also consider those are only the hours that the entire team practices together; it?s impossible to be a varsity athlete without months of individual training in the off season.
Football players are already lifting for next season 9 months in advance. Nearly the entire varsity baseball team is currently receiving instruction at PBI, a private camp, in preparation for next spring. Many other athletes, like David Suh and Edgar Cepena have trained at Parisi?s, a speed and strength camp, prior to their track season. ?There?s no weight room for debaters,? points out junior Andy Kiely. Do debaters go to voice lessons or do jumping-jacks to maintain their arguing stamina?
Unfortunately, Canning and Alon will not be receiving varsity letters for their ?considerable hours of preparation and effort.? The PHS Athletics and Wellness department awards letters to varsity athletes who play a sport recognized by the NJSIAA (New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association). These letters are limited to 32 sports recognized by the association; debate, along with math and chemistry is not one of them.
For most of the PHS student body and teachers, the meaning of a varsity letter is universal and unambiguous. To Grasso, a varsity letter awarded to an athlete means that ?[he or she is] good enough to compete in a high school sport.?
?Varsity synonymous with athletics,? says varsity basketball coach Bill Whitney.
When asked to whom a varsity letter is given, 3 year varsity track junior Jessica Malacrida immediately responded, ?Oh, of course varsity letters are only for sports.?
?Honestly, I don?t think of academics,? says junior Peter Soderman.
?My father only got varsity letters for athletics. It?s tradition,? says freshman Connor Nutland.
To junior Dominick Roman, a member of the PHS golf team, a varsity letter means that ?I?m the best out there. I?m the real deal.? That?s the image that should remain. If non-athletes start getting varsity letters, it will dilute the prestige of being one of the best athletes in the school.
Debaters say they want Varsity letters to gain recognition and respect among their peers. ?To excel at something is an honor,? says Boniecka. ?It?s deserving of recognition.?
?It?s an ego booster,? says Dunn. ?It makes you look good, people look up to you. Like, ?Hey this person is good at debating.? ?
?Some [members] join debate so they can put it for college,? adds Lim.
Seeking varsity recognition to boost your ego or to appeal to your peers and colleges is a faulty motive.
?To want a varsity letter so that people to look up to you is retarded,? says Soderman.
?To be cool is to participate in an activity, not to parade around with the actual letter,? says debater junior Kenny Lee.
?A piece of paper won?t make a difference, it won?t give you respect,? says Roman.
?Debate club is an academic sport,? claims Dunn. Whoa! What exactly constitutes an academic sport? A sport, defined by The 4th Ed. American Heritage Dictionary, is a ?physical activity that is often engaged in competitively.?
?Formal argument is not a physical activity,? reasons senior Scott Darwick.
So what qualifies debate as an ?academic sport?? Logical reasoning isn?t a physical activity. If it?s vocal, then singing has be a sport, too. Varsity and JV chorus? Would understudies for ?Brigadoon? be the bench players? If it?s in the frantic arm waving then the sign language club deserves a letter.
?All sports have the injury factor; the possibility exists for a season ending injury,? adds Alex Kaplanovich, head football coach at PHS. ?There?s no injury factor in debate.?
?The biggest injury a debater will get is a paper cut,? jokes junior Leo Muchnik.
Why the debate club chose the varsity nomenclature is beyond me. Now the club?s seeking of varsity letters is a blatant attempt to leech off of our student athletes? achievements. By awarding debate club with the same recognition that our school?s best athletes receive, debates are insidiously raising themselves to the same pedestal as athletes.
?In general, academics and sports are separated,? says Dunn, ?But they do overlap. In sports, you need strategy, to know who to pass the ball to.? So a wrestler who nimbly executes a clever takedown or a baseball pitcher who outsmarts the batter should be the Academic Student of the Month? Does a bowler who bowls a 300 receive a physics award for perfecting his curve? Athletes don?t demand academic recognition for their athletic achievements; debate club shouldn?t seek athletic recognition either.
My resolve is to give recognition where recognition is due. To terminate any misconceptions between debate and a varsity sport, the debate club should rename their teams. ?They should have beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels,? suggests sophomore Allison Kapr. ?Varsity and junior varsity should be for sports. [The names] should be kept different.?
?Clubs should be rewarded,? says Grasso, ?But not in [the same category as] athletics.?
Whitney agrees, ?Debate could get a different award that the school sets up, that isn?t involved in athletics.? Just as we don?t give Ted?s Deli a varsity letter for their American Chicken, we shouldn?t award it to debaters either.
Besides if debaters do get varsity letters, ?What would their insignia be [on their jackets]?? asks varsity girls soccer and baseball coach Vic DiPasquale. My guess is a big mouth.
Gone are the days when awards and recognition made sense. Gone are the old days when hard working athletes got athletic recognition and hard working scholars got academic recognition. Today the debaters want varsity letters, tomorrow the basketball players will fight over who has the highest IQ. I give up. Just give me my damn varsity ?Chessmaster? jacket.