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Sports participation bill strikes a nerve

Post on March 31, 2011 by 4 Comments »

(Cross-posted from Legislative Watch).

You never know what issue is going to get people up in arms.

Given the new conservative General Assembly’s headlong rush to the far right this session there have been several obvious candidates, but few seem to have really sparked the kind of anger one might have expected — maybe because they’re coming so fast and furious that average folks have been numbed by it all.

And then along comes a proposal like House Bill 253 – the proposal to allow children who are home schooled to participate in interscholastic athletics.

This measure seems to have struck a nerve and awakened a lot of average, middle-of-the-road North Carolinians to just how radical many of the people in charge on Jones Street have become.

To see confirmation of this, check out some of the comments that accompany the coverage of the story on WRAL.com.

Here’s a typical comment:

I get so sick of hearing from people who want what they want, and when they want it. You can’t have everything. Choose public school and get public athletics. Choose home school and get home school sport groups. Choose what is most important to you and then live with the consequences. Funny how such an important concept, through this bill, is not being taught to young people. I consider it an important life lesson.”

Others have weighed in on how such a change would invite all sorts of shenanigans when it comes to recruiting top athletes.

Let’s hope the absurdity of this proposal helps awaken people across the state to the kinds of counter-productive things that happen when extreme ideologues seize control of the reins of government.

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Comments (Closed):4

  1. Stephanie
    March 31, 2011 at 12:24 pm

    You are horrible, narrow-minded people. Bigots, in fact. I’m sure you fancy yourselves the great tolerant bastions of All Humanity. HA!

  2. KB
    March 31, 2011 at 2:54 pm

    Hmmm. don’t know what ticked off Ms. Stephanie above me but I’m with the vast majority here. If you don’t want your children educated with mine in public school then you certainly wouldn’t want them on a team together. You can not have both. I can not enroll my child on Catholic school but opt out of the parts I have a problem with…

  3. Rob Schofield
    March 31, 2011 at 4:31 pm

    Appreciate the comment. KB.

    As for dear Stephanie, all I can say is that I think she’s being awfully tough on the legislators. While I disagree with their actions, I wouldn’t go so far as to call them “Bigots” or claim that they fancy themselves “the great tolerant bastions of All Humanity.”

    Those kinds of terms should be reserved for the truly hypocritical, venom-filled types — you know the kind of people who claim to be devout and love-filled, but who then spend their time fighting for policies that tear down the common good institutions that bind our society together and keep us from walling ourselves off into mutually suspicious, sectarian enclaves.

  4. Johnny
    April 2, 2011 at 10:36 am

    This is not about politics…its about kids. A child whose parents do not allow them to attend public school for whatever reason has every right to participate in a sports program that is paid for with their tax money.

    So let’s leave politics out of this, OK. The only problem I see is the academic standards on the kids in public schools may now be unfair as the home schooled students are not held to the same standards.

    But, I know many home schooled kids that would benefit greatly in many ways by participating in school sports….a concession their parents may make. Progressives need to remember our pledge to all children.