In Massachusetts public schools, everybody gets a cupcake to be team captain. Here’s the story from Lincoln-Sudbury High:
The Lincoln-Sudbury athletic program is about to embark into a brave new world. Flying in the face of tradition, Warrior team are looking into eliminating team captains as the role is now preceived [sic] and replacing them with what is termed shared leadership.
What is shared leadership? Instead of having anywhere from one captain to as many as four or five, L-S teams will be led by a council of students. That council could be all the seniors or anyone and everyone on the roster.
Read the entire story, and you’ll hear all the things you’d expect. Like this:
Girls volleyball coach Judy Katalina is totally on board with the idea.
``I think it's an excellent idea,'' said Katalina. ``We're going to implement it this fall.''
One of Katalina's reasons for feeling that way is what she perceives as the reason most people are voted captain in the first place.
``Captains tend to be the best player or the most popular player,'' Katalina said. ``They may not be the best leader. Someone on the team that has a lot to offer might not get a chance to share that because they're not a captain. Shared leadership gives a lot of kids a chance to lead.''
But if all the kids are “leaders” Coach Katalina, who is it that they’re leading?
Team captains tend to be popular and talented. Therefore we shouldn’t have team captains, so the less popular and less talented players won’t feel bad—is that the “logic” here?
Like any change, some people take longer to adapt to it than others. Katalina understands that.
``We need to approach this in a positive way,'' said Katalina ``We'll definitely take baby steps at first.''
“Baby steps” is right. Once we get rid of mid-terms, and stop making kids sit in hot classrooms, and check student attendance in college classes, all we’ll have left is a nation of babies.
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