Challenges

A few days ago, I mentioned that my daughter had to get a B average in all core subjects in order to get to be in Color Guard this time around, and she did. This evening, she told us that she might drop out of this season of CG because she doesn't feel challenged. She's the next to senior member of the group, and she is pretty sure that she won't be learning anything. At the same time, she's not fond of most of the girls in the group - she likes those who do the outdoor guard better -- so she thinks that if she stays, she'll get bored and irritated.

I asked her if there was any way for her to increase her level of activity in the organization. For example, do they involve members of the group in writing the scripts for their routines, or in training newer members of the organization. She said that they didn't. The woman who directs it, and two guys, do all of that. Occasionally, they'll have subgroups that are run by people who graduated already, but they never have the opportunity for experienced people to do more.

I thought of that meeting that I left early, a while back, where the color guard director was proclaiming how important it was that everyone who wanted to be in color guard get the opportunity -- and how my wife told me of a woman whose daughter really wanted to be in it, but who really wasn't very good, so she'd be in a routine lasting about fifteen seconds out of the total routine running about five minutes; the woman said her daughter would come home and cry because she got so little to do. I told my wife that that sort of thing bothered me a lot; I don't think that any kid should be so distraught that they come home and cry, and if they are, then the person running the thing isn't doing a good job. They're focusing more on the organization than on the kids, and that's wrong, in my book. Don't give the kid more to do because you feel sorry for them, but give them the change to learn, to grow. Work with them. After all that's what they implied that they did, right? Help kids grow and mature? Maybe its just not as easy as I think.
And I thought of when, at the same meeting, they stressed how much kids learn about working together, organization, teamwork; at the time, I'd thought that it was true, they did. But now I think that they didn't say how the kids ability to organize and teach and train grew, because the leaders of the organization didn't pass those opportunities on. My daughter would likely say that keeping the reins in the hands of the leader meant that the organization would continue to be driven by that leader's fierce commitment and standards, and they would continue to be winners. She's likely right.

But what about the kids?

So I'm a little pleased that my daughter might not do it this season, after all. More time for school work, and I hope, more focus. But I'm disappointed that she might not get the chance to be challenged in a way that she wants to be. Because it means a lot to her.