Posts Tagged ‘little’
Connecticut little leaguer Jericho Scott is a hotshot, up-and-coming baseball star. He’s 9 years old, with a 40 mph fastball. Naturally, that got him banned from Little League. From ESPN:
He throws so hard that the Youth Baseball League of New Haven told his coach that the boy could not pitch any more. When Jericho took the mound anyway last week, the opposing team forfeited the game, packed its gear and left, his coach said. …
Jericho’s coach and parents say the boy is being unfairly targeted because he turned down an invitation to join the defending league champion, which is sponsored by an employer of one of the league’s administrators.
Jericho instead joined a team sponsored by Will Power Fitness. The team was 8-0 and on its way to the playoffs when Jericho was banned from pitching.
“I think it’s discouraging when you’re telling a 9-year-old you’re too good at something,” said his mother, Nicole Scott. “The whole objective in life is to find something you’re good at and stick with it. I’d rather he spend all his time on the baseball field than idolizing someone standing on the street corner.”
Unfortunately, the other side of the argument is pretty compelling. Though given the opportunity to advance into the defending league champion, Jericho’s parents opted to place him in another team.
Safety concerns also became an issue, whether it really was or not. Jericho hasn’t hurt, anyone, yet, but that’s no guarantee that he never will. Given that other parents raised those safety concerns to begin with, the league had no other options left but to acquiesce to the wishes of a vast majority of parents.
Because it’s apparently the policy of the league to not place Jericho in a more competitive age bracket, officials had no mutually agreeable options left on the table. If only policy conformed to reality, he wouldn’t be in this mess.
Sure, it’s a shame that the league told a fifth-grader that he’s too talented for his age, but it would have been a greater shame to ruin the fun of the game for even one more team — whether because the other coach called a draw, or because he called an ambulance.
One of the many area corporate-franchise school photography studios wants some entry-level photographers, and I certainly hope that I fit the bill. Given that the minimum requirements for employment include a high school education and full use of your vehicle, I’m not too worried.
It mostly depends on how many spots the studio is trying to fill, and how willing they are to work around my neligible experience.
That is, while I have my share of experience shooting free-range outdoor photography — no tripod, no monopod, no unipod, no flash — I’ve never really figured out all that photo stuff that my Nikon D50 doesn’t include.
I told a few friends of mine that I was worrying a little about it. One or two told me not to get stressed, and another three wished me luck. The rest weren’t afraid to make a joke about it.
If nothing else, you’ll be taking pictures of lots of hot high school girls.
Ew.
Just kidding.
I don’t need the threat of a lawsuit. Please wish me luck in helpful ways.
There’s this one cross-eyed, big-nosed, eyepatch-wearing peg-legged teacher at my school who is about to finish his “Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment” program. While the contracted last-chance-to-fire-beginning-teacher-on-circumstantial-evidence date has passed, I’ll keep him anonymous.
BTSA is a requirement for new teachers, as it works on staff development and that sort of thing. Beyond that, it’s a mystery to me, so I asked him very casually what he thought about it.
It’s bullshit.
Could you elaborate?
It’s bullshit.
While he spoke in a higher register this time, the answer still didn’t help me. I said so.
He sighed.
It might be good if I hadn’t grown up around all this, or if I hadn’t been a high school student. It might be good for new teachers who didn’t go through a credential program. It might be good for teachers who somehow didn’t pay attention during their credential program.
As far as I’m concerned, it’s useless. It’s just more of the same credential program crap.
He didn’t elaborate much further.
I used to think that graduation meant I didn’t have to put up with inherently worthless exercises in busywork. I more recently used to think that getting out of the credential program meant that I didn’t have to put up with an excessive workload of exercises that have very little to no practical benefit in the classroom.
Nope. Two more years.
