EVERY MOTHER'S SON-EDUCATION 9.

One thing i have learned over the course of my thirty year teaching career is that every mother wants her son to grow up to be a GOOD MAN-you might say that she wants her son to be a great man but that is not usually the case in my experience- A GOOD MAN-is what she wants- a great man is nice-some might dream they grow up to be a President-but usually the mother realizes that a great man may have a lot of challenges in life- and maybe less of a chance for a happy personal life- a GOOD MAN-is one who is decent and kind- who loves his wife and children and who takes care of them-a good man is one who knows the joys of having a family-and who knows that doing the right thing is more important then loss or gain-to put it simply- he puts right or wrong over loss and gain-this kind of man is largely the result of a good upbringing-it is the mother herself who helps to shape his character etc- but the father plays a very important role too- after the mother and father teachers have a vital role to play-but actually above even teachers can be someone in the school who is neither a teacher or a parent-and that is a coach-i would add theatre directors, art teachers, music teachers and anyone else who guides and nourishes the growth of a child-my experience was largely with coaches-i would listen to them when i wouldn't listen to almost anyone else-i listened to them because i respected them-but also because i wanted to play and they had the power to decide whether or not i did-the coaches i had through middle school to graduaution taught me as much as any teacher did in the classroom- and it wasn't just fair play and teamwork-they taught me the value of hard work-practice- sacrifice-and looking after my teammates- they taught me about loyalty and honesty and always giving my best-they also placed the value of integrity over winning a game- to not cheat or stand around quietly when some one else did-i sensed that many of these coaches wanted to win- wanted to win badly- but they knew the higher value was to always find the right way to give each player the lesson he needed-one lesson was to give the prima donnas the lesson thet the team could get along without them-The coaches would never let anyone think there was a double standard for the prima donnas and they would never let the prima donna think the team could not get along without them-the only way the prima donna can think he is above the others is if the coach would rather play him in a game then sit him down if he needed to be benched-a prima donna brags and claims credit and doesn;t think the same rules apply to him as they do to the other players-he needs the lesson of his expendabiltiy badly and it is a great thing when he gets it- so many college and professional ahtletes seem to have never been taught this valuable lesson- sports magazines and news shows are filled with stories of great atheletes and former athletes behaving like the world revolves around them- they get used to this because everyone else encourages them to think that way- people clean up their messes-make excusues for them and pay them way too much money-they also receive admiration and praise entirely out of proportion with their accomplishments-this is not a GREAT MAN or even A GOOD MAN-this is a child who never grew up-coaches are so vital to the growing up process it is almost impossible to place a value on it-but so are theatre directors, music teachers, dance teachers and art teachers-anyone who supervises teaches or coaches an activity the students love-they have the greatest responsibility of anyone in the school-and so many of them do such a wonderful job- we hardly notice it because the coaches with the best won loss record get all the credit- or the teacher with the prize winning artist or musician-when actually it is the teacher or coach who brought out the best in the student who deserves the most credit-and this does not mean that the student was the best-just that they were able to see their potential and begin to work to achieve it- this is the real work of education- to show a student that he has the potential to be great and he has within him all that he nedds to be good-and that is ultimately what the parents expect and want from their child's teachers and coaches.