With the assaults on education becoming a fashionable part of mainstream political agenda, good things can be hard to find. While we rightly criticize the cuts and the growing drive for private profit entering the sphere of public education, teachers are still out there, still working and still striving to draw out the excellence that resides within students in schools and school districts all over this country.
I live in Oklahoma, where Governor Fallin and her sidekick, State Superintendent of Education Janet Baresi have conspired to run down both the staff and the institutions, so we feel the pain as much as anyone.
Yet even here, even in this benighted "flyover" state, where expanded Medicaid is but a dream, where they don't count the Republican vote, they weigh it; even here there are good things happening and lest we are to become mere merchants of doom, we should share them.
Our kids are our future, and when they show that they are growing up positively, despite the best efforts of some to deny them a future, we should sing it out ...
So let me introduce you to the "Pride of Owasso", the marching band of Owasso High School.
There are those who question both the funding of, and the concentration on the music and athletics departments of schools. Arguments abound surrounding the establishing of a balanced program, with, for example, equal prominence given to academic achievement as the accolades that are heaped upon the star quarterback. When did we last hear of a "Booster" for math?
Those points, valid as they may be, are part of the ongoing debate about our academic priorities. They are for another time and place, simply because excellence abounds, and while these programs exist in their current format the students are the ones who matter the most. Students are playing sports, and taking part in marching bands, and they are doing so with a sense of commitment, skill and dedication that can be a wonder to behold.
So this is a story not about the structure, or benefits and disadvantages of an education system. This is a story about students. Young people who are growing up, helped by their parents, their community and their teachers, with a positive attitude. This is a story, regardless of one's individual political beliefs, of a body of young people who are "growing up right".
Let's see the band, credit to Robert Cawthorne, a graduate of Owasso High School:
Sports and Band are two important features of the schools in this part of our state. We have high school football teams who can fill a forty-thousand seat stadium, and bands that compete at a national level, and expect to do well. This year was to be no exception. In the Bands of America competition, held last weekend in St Louis, MO and Indianapolis, three local schools placed very well. Broken Arrow High School finished 2nd. Union High School placed 11th and our own Owasso High School 13th. This from ninety four entries representing the finest of America. Not bad for three schools who can all be found within a ten mile radius.
It would be all too easy to simply write a piece about success, and at this level, 13th place is very successful indeed (even if we do quietly pull faces at Broken Arrow and Union). The hard work and dedication required to achieve this level of performance is remarkable, and well worthy of praise in its own right. From the Band Director and his staff right down to the youngest student on the field, each of them goes above and beyond their job descriptions, and that is praiseworthy.
While I, and I feel confident, all of our school district extends our warmest congratulations to our neighbors, this story is really about character. Not the qualities needed to train, practise and perfect, they all have that in abundance. Not the ability to accept a win graciously ... our schools are all good at that. What I am talking about here is a demonstration of how to accept defeat and disappointment, and in the moment of greatest disappointment demonstrate a degree of, there is no other word for it ... CLASS ... that it almost beggars belief in ones so young.
The band had been on the road for a couple of days already. They had traveled out of state, practised, competed and finally made it to the semi-finals in Indianapolis. These are the moments when the excitement and tension builds. When you get this far it is possible to begin to entertain the thought that "this year might be our year". At this moment everyone is tired bordering on exhaustion. The work of the first semester, and previous year has led to here ... go make it count.
Twelve bands would advance to the Grand Final that day. All you have to do in this next performance is hit a top twelve spot to gain the chance to march for the greatest prize. We are good enough, we have worked hard enough, we have practised long enough .... The Pride of Owasso finished thirteenth! It may be a number that is lucky for some. On this day it was the cruelest cut of all. Union High School, to add insult to injury, took twelfth.
What happened next is the reason I wrote this article.
The disappointed students now had to return to the practise hall to pack everything up to go home. I can't imagine any of them were looking forward to a journey that, in the event, delayed them three hours due to weather.
While still in the hall, the Union marching band were preparing to go out onto the field for their final performance. It's not enough to be beaten this way, you have to watch your biggest rivals prepare to march for the grand prize.
As the Union High School Marching Band walked past the assembled students, staff and parents, the Owasso students stopped what they doing, spontaneously and unbidden, and stood and applauded, cheered and encouraged their rivals out onto the field. We can talk about character, we can ask what it is, how can we teach it, will we know it when we see it?
I think those who were there saw something in the students that should make them, and us, very proud of our kids. Hopefully, whatever mess we adults are making of the world they can, and will, do better.
I was at the Band Room with my daughter (sophomore, alto and bari sax), to welcome the band home when they finally made it at 10.30pm on Sunday evening, after four days on the road. The kids looked exhausted, but they were smiling. I even saw school textbooks in luggage. Yes, they took their homework assignments with them. I didn't hear this story until Monday and when I did my first thought was just how awesome they are, my second thought was to write it down!
I wasn't the only one who wrote it down. The following email has been circulated publicly, so I feel okay presenting it here. It was written by the Year Principal of Union High School and addressed to the Principal of Owasso High School:
Matt,
I wanted to share an experience I had this weekend in relation to the Pride of Owasso band program. Semi-finals had just wrapped up and the Union Band was returning to their changing area in the convention center to prepare for our run in finals. We were obviously excited about making finals but at the same time we knew our friends in Owasso were not going to get the opportunity to perform. As we turned to corner in the convention center we had to pass the Owasso Band area where there were students, parents, and directors. When Owasso saw us they began to cheer, clap, and offer words of encouragement to our students. Character is not defined by how a person acts in times of joy but how one chooses to act in time of hardship or disappointment Your students, directors, and parents put aside their disappointment in order to support their fellow band members from Oklahoma, a truly selfless act. Their actions are a testament to the teaching, training, and culture that is cultivated in the Pride of Owasso and Owasso Public Schools.
Sincerely,
My own inclination is to leave the summing up of this incident to a man whose words said it long ago, and better than I ever could:
If ...
... If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same ...
.... Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
Rudyard Kipling
We live at a time when the attacks on education, teachers and our Public School system have never been more vociferous. While each of us might point to areas of deficiency, those matters of concern are not a good reason to abandon the system to corporate raiders and their apologists, who seek nothing more than to profit from our children.
When the students we educate demonstrate that they are capable not just of success, but also have the ability to feel proud of the successes of others even in their moments of disappointment, then we owe them. We owe them a public school system they can feel proud of. One that will energize them, educate them and leave them with a legacy they can hand to their children. Public schools can do this, and we owe it to our kids to fight for them.
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