They’re at it again,
those stalwart protectors of the safety and well being of
our children. In a recent Time magazine article: Scourge of
the Playground, the magazine reported that more schools
across America are joining the ban on Dodge Ball, saying
it's too violent.
The article went on to warn that
dodge ball could be an incubator for later aggressive, even
violent behavior. "It makes children targets, it can
ridicule poor performers or unskilled players, and there’s a
coeducational inequity and a chance for injury,” says Bill
Volusia county schools' specialist for physical education.
In his defence of the game Mr Poniatowski also says it's an
opportunity to teach concepts to children like throwing
mechanics, catching skills, agility, hand-eye coordination,
lateral and forward movement. But Mr Poniatowski and the
increasing number of educationists fighting to have the game
banned have missed a few salient points about Dodge Ball.
It’s a perfect game for the game of life. The Greeks
knew it, they played a form of Dodge Ball known as Trigon
and the game has existed in some form ever since. But the
enduring nature of Dodge Ball is not because it develops
good hand-eye coordination. Dodge Ball has persisted because
it’s a game that transcends itself. It’s about far more
than one kid aiming and throwing a ball at another. It’s a
game of morals. And in the playing; in the choosing and
aiming and throwing and hitting and being hit the big truths
about life are imparted. Dodge ball is not about playing
fair. It’s about getting picked on, about being the
underdog and being bullied. But it’s about the sudden
opportunity to go from underdog to conqueror (and perhaps
without the bully the weak have no opportunity to rise up)
to sense the power of the often inevitable turning of tables
that characterizes real life in the adult world. And always
it’s about making moral choices.
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