{"id":6948,"date":"2004-11-23T21:26:40","date_gmt":"2004-11-24T04:26:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2004\/11\/23\/its-a-wonder-we-survived.html"},"modified":"2004-11-23T21:26:40","modified_gmt":"2004-11-24T04:26:40","slug":"its_a_wonder_we","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/11\/23\/its_a_wonder_we.html","title":{"rendered":"It’s a wonder we survived"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yet more evidence that we are in the Crazy Years: more legal attacks on dodge ball in schools<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This week, a New York state Appellate Division panel refused to dismiss a lawsuit that claims a school wronged a 7-year-old girl who broke her elbow while playing dodgeball. State and national education officials say what makes the case unique is that the lawsuit doesn’t fault the school for poor supervision ? but for allowing children that young to play at all.<\/p>\n

Remarkably enough, I don’t recall in my youth, despite numerous dodge ball games, both during recess and as organized activities, anyone actually getting hurt or breaking a limb, even though we were playing on (gasp) asphalt. That’s anecdotal, perhaps, but it really doesn’t sound like dodge ball is an intrinsically dangerous or evil sport.<\/p>\n

But the game is also being targeted as unfair, exclusionary, and warlike for school-age youngsters; some schools in Maine, Maryland, New York, Virginia, Texas, Massachusetts and Utah have banned dodgeball, or its variations, including war ball, monster ball and kill ball.<\/p>\n

Warlike? Gads! Wait’ll they get a load of the chess club!<\/p>\n

“Dodgeball is not an appropriate activity for K-12 school physical education programs,” according to The National Association for Sport and Physical Education, a nonprofit professional organization of 20,000 physical education teachers, professors, coaches, athletic directors and trainers. Dodgeball provides “limited opportunities for everyone in the class, especially the slower, less agile students who need the activity the most.”<\/p>\n

I was not, you might be shocked to discover, one of the most physically adept kids in elementary school. I was slow, clumsy, and couldn’t throw a ball straight to save my immortal soul. But I loved dodge ball — and often did well at it by using my head, trying to guess where the guy with the ball was going to throw, and being so bad that I was underestimated (and, thus, not a target). <\/p>\n

One question that could be asked is whether any competitive physical activity provides equal (or superior) opportunities for everyone in class — and, in fact, whether that’s actually the purpose behind PE activities. Maybe we should just have kids run laps. Everybody’s a winner running laps, right?<\/p>\n

The judges found some merit in the family’s expert witness, Steve Bernheim, a recreational and educational safety authority.<\/p>\n

Define “recreational and educational safety authority.” Please.<\/p>\n

The judges wrote: “While there are no established standards of age appropriateness for dodgeball, it is recognized as a potentially dangerous activity and has been banned by several school districts in New York and elsewhere.”<\/p>\n

See? Ban it one place and it sets for the idea in other places. Ban it in several places, and suddenly it’s a legal precedent.<\/p>\n

The appellate panel said while schools can’t be “insurers of the safety of their students, they are under a duty to exercise the same degree of care as would a reasonably prudent parent.”<\/p>\n

If that were the standard, I wouldn’t have a problem with it. I fear, though, the actual <\/em>standard is “same degree of care as would a paranoid, overly-sensitive, and litigious parent.”<\/p>\n

And, “best” of all, now that this case is actually going to court, it’s almost a guarantee that still more districts will ban the Evil Scourge of Dodge Ball, not so much because they actually think it’s dangerous, or inappropriate, or a threat to the bodily integrity and self-esteem of their students, but because of fear that some yahoo parent will file suit against them<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Alas, dodge ball is not something that lends itself to home schooling, unless you have several kids …<\/p>\n

(via J-Walk<\/a>)<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yet more evidence that we are in the Crazy Years: more legal attacks on dodge ball in schools. This week, a New York state Appellate Division panel refused to dismiss…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[46,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-school-daze","category-zt-pc"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3416,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/11\/26\/unsafe_at_any_s.html","url_meta":{"origin":6948,"position":0},"title":"Unsafe at any speed","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 26-Nov-02 10:06am","format":false,"excerpt":"\"The idea of loosely running around and chasing each other is not safe.\"So says Long Hill, NJ, School Superintendent Arthur DiBenedetto. 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There's certainly an irony that there are plenty of elementary schools that have banned the game, due to its \"violence.\" If I...","rel":"","context":"In "Potpourri"","block_context":{"text":"Potpourri","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/potpourri"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39058,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/10\/04\/watching-a-big-dodge-muscle-ca.html","url_meta":{"origin":6948,"position":3},"title":"Watching a big Dodge muscle ca…","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 4-Oct-13 5:08pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Watching a big Dodge muscle car having lots of problems with the snowy road. Yikes. 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