Coaches of History

The responsibility to our nation's youth has been delegated to hardworking, underfunded, and often underpaid individuals. Beautifully talented individuals who have chosen to embrace their passion for America's next generation and teach them the necessary skills for many career choices and life paths. Teaching is a calling that only the bravest accept, but to be frank with you all there is one other group who decides they will take up the chalk and write their name on the board. These are coaches. Not to speak ill of any high school coach across the country, as a matter of fact two of the best teachers I ever had in high school were coaches. And high school sports are important, they bring comradery to a student body, shape athletes into leaders and team players. Sports are a molding tool used by every high school in the country, but if the coach's sole purpose of joining the teaching force is to lead a team to a championship then maybe they don't have the commitment to education we would like to see. One subject suffers in particular, one I would argue is the most important. History. Now not every coach is a history teacher but almost every history teacher is a coach. I had two amazing football coaches as math teachers probably two of the best teachers by no stretch of the imagination but every history teacher at my high school was a coach. Now I took three years of history through an online teacher so I could have the best education possible. I think coaches could be excellent history teachers, but I also think many are in teaching for the wrong reason. History is vitally important to help us understand our government, beliefs, past shortcoming, past mistakes. Not to be cliché but Winston Churchill once said, "Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it." Which he took from a George Santayana quote, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." I digress. An important understanding of history is important for forward progression. Life is based off of our own experiences and so should mankind's be based off its experiences. Let us not push aside an important part of a well-rounded education for the trophies and glory of sports. Let us just be mindful that history and all course work in a school should be challenging to the student, helpful in the sharing of ideas, and encouraging to the growth of young minds. Just a thought.