Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Dodgeball isn't just problematic, it's an unethical tool of 'oppression': researchers
The National Post ^ | 7/3/19 | Joseph Brean

Posted on 06/03/2019 8:20:18 AM PDT by mkleesma

Thousands of academics are gathering in Vancouver for the annual Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences from June 1-7. They will present papers on everything from child marriage in Canada to why dodgeball is problematic. In its Oh, The Humanities! series, the National Post showcases some of the most interesting research.

The games children play in schoolyards are famously horrible, if you stop and think about them.

Tag, for example, singles out one poor participant, often the slowest child, as the dehumanized “It,” who runs vainly in pursuit of the quicker ones. Capture the Flag is nakedly militaristic. British Bulldog has obvious jingoistic colonial themes. Red Ass, known in America as Butts Up, involves deliberate imposition of corporal punishment on losers.

But none rouse the passions of reform-minded educational progressives quite like dodgeball, the team sport in which players throw balls at each other, trying to hit their competitors and banish them to the sidelines of shame.

When the Canadian Society for the Study of Education meets in Vancouver at the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, a trio of education theorists will argue that dodgeball is not only problematic, in the modern sense of displaying hierarchies of privilege based on athletic skill, but that it is outright “miseducative.”

(Excerpt) Read more at nationalpost.com ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; Society; Sports
KEYWORDS: canada; dodgeball; oppression; smearthequeer; vancouver
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-69 next last
To: mkleesma
I really enjoyed dodgeball.

I was usually faster than the throwers.

21 posted on 06/03/2019 8:32:21 AM PDT by ConservativeMind (Trump: Befuddling Democrats, Republicans, and the Media for the benefit of the US and all mankind.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mkleesma

Agreed. I wasn’t good at dodge ball but no one could best me at tetherball. Sports and other endeavors have “educative” purpose. I learn quickly that I can’t excel at everything and everyone is better than others at something. This teaches me to concentrate and work on my strengths so that I don’t go through life being mediocre at everything. And it teaches me to let others use their own strengths and appreciate the differences and complementry design of nature.


22 posted on 06/03/2019 8:32:54 AM PDT by caseinpoint (Don't get thickly involved in thin things.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mkleesma
In the 60's , besides the standard games, we used to imitate TV show, like Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea

Combat everyone fought to be Sarge with the Thompson or Kirby with the BAR.

and of course Batman where almost everyone played as a villain or henchman.
So take that Canadian dimwit edumacators
23 posted on 06/03/2019 8:35:11 AM PDT by Waverunner (I'd like to welcome our new overlords, say hello to my little friend)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mkleesma

I agree completely. This country and all of Western Civ. has begun a steep decline which if not stopped will end in disaster.

I will say that I had a humbling experience in the 5th grade. That year my family moved 18 miles to DeFuniak Springs. I changed schools and went from pretty much the best and most athletic guy to a situation where I was the last person chosen.

Everyone in my family had been athletic. My Mother and my Father both played on basketball teams which competed in the finals of the Florida state championship. On field day in Panama City. both my Sisters and both my Brothers won every event they were in. I won the 50 yard dash.

I will have to say that it is an awful feeling to be the last chosen on a team. It only took a couple of weeks before I was at least back to being a good player. By the 7th grade I was captain of the football team.


24 posted on 06/03/2019 8:35:16 AM PDT by yarddog
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: hanamizu

Ah, education theorists, is there anything they don’t know? But consider the fact that the education I received 60 years ago, is superior to what kids get today.

A more worthless profession will never be invented or devised.


25 posted on 06/03/2019 8:38:55 AM PDT by samtheman (To steal an election, who do you collude with? Russians in Russia or Mexicans in California?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: mkleesma

Playing dodge ball was a fun staple when I was in school. We loved it and often played it during gym class and lunch period in the gym.

Then, when I was in 7th grade (around 1962), we got a new principle. He gave an introductory speech in the auditorium. The only thing I remember about it was his announcement that there would be no more dodge ball played on school grounds.

I thought getting rid of dodge ball was a stupid, irrational idea then, and I still think that.


26 posted on 06/03/2019 8:40:10 AM PDT by Maceman (Trump Trumps Hate!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mkleesma

A game of Red Rover would cause more of a meltdown than dodge ball in today’s emasculated society.


27 posted on 06/03/2019 8:40:26 AM PDT by Rebelbase
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mkleesma

More proof (as if we needed more proof) that liberalism is mental illness.


28 posted on 06/03/2019 8:45:13 AM PDT by samtheman (To steal an election, who do you collude with? Russians in Russia or Mexicans in California?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Rebelbase

Red Rover was a really fun game and I always won at tetherball.


But as earlier posters said it seems western games and values are on the decline. There is a throw-back to some society now when men deliberately turn themselves into eunuchs.


29 posted on 06/03/2019 8:47:47 AM PDT by angry elephant (My MAGA cap is from a rally in Washingon state in May 2016)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 27 | View Replies]

To: Waverunner

I have Voyage, etc on DVD (all 4 seasons!) and I am re-watching it. I loved that show as a kid! Same with Combat! (all 6 seasons on DVD) its on my list to re-watch also.

Of the Irwin Allen SciFi shows Voyage is my 2nd favorite. My favorite is Time Tunnel. I still think its the best SciFi time travel show, nothing else that I have seen even comes close! Too bad it only lasted one season. It kicks Quantum Leap’s butt! I thought QL was stupid time travel concept!

Regarding those “.. Canadian dimwit edumacators ...”.
That’s why you have Trudeau.

Hey Canadians! Whatever happened to Sergeant Preston?


30 posted on 06/03/2019 8:49:14 AM PDT by Reily
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: yarddog

A yard dog in Florida? Did you then move north to Georgia. Yeah, I’m ready for football season to start. Dodge ball was easy. A person could stay at the back of the group and not be a target. Or A person could chose to get hit such as to go sit down and not bother to participate. Plus, what is so bad about getting hit by a soccerball or a volleyball? The skills: throw or catch or move quickly or stay way far back, or stay away from the thrower. It is an easy game to play.


31 posted on 06/03/2019 8:49:50 AM PDT by Trumpet 1 (US Constitution is my guide.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: mkleesma; All

So if dodge ball is out I suppose “smear the queer” is completely verboten...

Definition of smear the queer: “Smear the Queer” How it Works: The kid who has the ball (or stick, or balled up shirt, or whatever object is used) is “it” and therefore the “queer”. The rest of the kids chase the “it” kid down until he is tackled (usually in a dog pile fashion). The caught kid then tosses the object away where the other kids gather around it and wait to see who has the guts to pick it up and start running. There is a big advantage to being quick on the pickup so as to get a better running start. There are no scores and no one “wins”. It is a childhood game of bravado designed to blow off boyhood energy.

The use of the word “queer” is not homophobic in this game. It’s used as catchy name to describe the game. The “queer” in this sense is just the kid who’s it. Because it’s completely voluntary to be the “queer”, and being the “queer” requires a certain amount of bravery, it is not used in the derogatory in this this particular usage.

This was a game we boys played 40 to 45 years ago...One time one of the fourth grade male teachers overheard someone say, “smear the queer.” He stopped our game and asked us “what does queer mean.” To which we all replied “the guy with the football.” He shrugged his shoulders told us to continue and walked away.


32 posted on 06/03/2019 8:56:34 AM PDT by areukiddingme1 (areukiddingme1 is a synonym for a Retired U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer and tired of liberal BS.))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mkleesma

At my little school, we called it “Kill Ball”, and everyone loved it, especially when the PE coaches got involved.

We also got to play flag football and occasionally the PE coach would play with us. We were all determined to take him out (get his flag). I did, once. Unfortunately I blind-sided him (because he was concentrating on evading the bigger male students) and he accidentally ran into me, knocking me off my feet and several feet away. “Last Name! Are you okay?” Me, still on the ground: “I...got you!” Everyone started laughing. It was awesome.

Peach


33 posted on 06/03/2019 8:58:08 AM PDT by CarolinaPeach
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mkleesma

I LOVED dodge ball!


34 posted on 06/03/2019 8:59:31 AM PDT by DungeonMaster (Prov 24: Do not fret because of evildoers. Do not associate with those given to change.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mkleesma

Yes!

And children are EEEEEEVVVVVVIIIIILLLLL!

That is why Libs want them all aborted!!!! Then, the schoolyard crises will be over and done with.

[/s]


35 posted on 06/03/2019 9:00:07 AM PDT by TomGuy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mkleesma

We played. Game in elementary school called “smear the queer.” Basically the guy holding onto the ball was the target for a dog pile. The games we payed in the Corps were even worse. “Bull in the Ring.” Four squads inside a 30’ ring marked in the ground, with the object of kicking/throwing all the opposing squad members out of the ring. No holds barred.


36 posted on 06/03/2019 9:05:22 AM PDT by semaj (We are the People)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mkleesma

We played a variation of dodgeball called prisonball. We’d pump a baskeball up so hard it was like getting hit by a rock. I got into a fist fight over a violation of the “no headsies” rule (no head shots). It was the most fun game ever.


37 posted on 06/03/2019 9:09:00 AM PDT by DaxtonBrown
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: al baby

I guess we need to limit school children to Pat-a-cake. At least I haven’t seen a critique of that sport that details the hidden racism sexism and Ismism of it yet.


38 posted on 06/03/2019 9:18:51 AM PDT by arthurus (wDAvvvw)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: mkleesma

I clearly remember an episode from 4th grade. The whole class had to play. We divided on either side other gym. The rules were that getting hit directly or by a bounce off the back wall sent you out of the game. I wasn’t the most athletic kid by any means, but I wasn’t stupid and had a head for strategy: I knew I didn’t want to be either in the back or on the front row, but rather right in the middle where I could watch and react from both angles. I was cold and calculating like Ender’s Game. It came down to me and one other kid, a popular athletic kid. We circled each other several times, the crowd was cheering, and suddenly...


39 posted on 06/03/2019 9:21:12 AM PDT by mikeus_maximus (The Truth does not require our agreement.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mkleesma

They’d have a field day with “Smear the Queer”.


40 posted on 06/03/2019 9:21:52 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-69 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson