I’m back! Did you miss me?
Yes, I dropped the ball on my Positive Thoughts, but it is time to start again. I am going to do something a little different by talking about a specific subject over the next few weeks. That subject is: EDUCATION.
Education is a person’s ticket to freedom. Once you have your education, no one can take it from you. It is yours for the rest of your life. Most people, when they become educated, want to continue to learn more, either through more formal learning or through the teachings of life, also known as experience.
Education starts when you are young, and most children are voraciously inquisitive when they are young. Then they go to school, and become part of the education assembly line. What I am going to do over the next few weeks is to provide you with some inspirational stories about teachers who went the extra mile to not only educate their students mind, but their attitude toward life; all in a positive manner. All of these stories come from movies that can be found on various streaming sites, such as Prime Video, Hulu, Showtime, etc. They can also be rented for online streaming.
The first movie that exemplifies the work of these teachers is called “Coach Carter.” He had been an All-American High School basketball player when he attended high school in Richmond, California. Instead of moving out of Richmond, which is a rough town, he opened a sporting goods store there, and was lured by the retiring basketball coach to become the basketball coach at Richmond High School, his Alma Mater.
The team he inherited was totally undisciplined, not only on the basketball court but in the classroom. The previous year, they had won only 4 games. At the first day of practice, Coach Carter required that every player attend all classes and retain a 2.3 grade-point average rather than the normal 2.0 average required to be eligible to play. He explained to the team that, even if they received a scholarship to play basketball at the college level, that with a 2.0 they would need to score about 1100 on their SAT, while if they had a 2.3 they would only need to score about 980.
He also worked them hard at practice, working on their stamina rather than their shooting skills. Then he worked on their defensive skills. Although the players were resistant at first, they stayed with the program and won their first 11 games.
It was after the team had been invited to a tournament around Thanksgiving, which they won, that he learned that, with the help of some of the faculty, most of the team not attending classes and were not maintaining even a 2.0, much less the 2.3 that they had agreed to. The day after Coach Carter learned this, he put a chain and padlock on the gymnasium with a sign instructing the players to meet him in the school library. He told the team that there would be no practice and no games until they brought their GPA up to the level they agreed upon. They forfeited a number of games.
The team protested, the principal and faculty protested, and ultimately the parents demanded a special meeting of the school board to resolve the impasse. Some parents wanted Carter to be fired, which the School Board said they didn’t have the power to do. Then they demanded that the Board ordered Carter to remove the chains and start playing again. Before they took the vote, Carter told them that if the Board did not support him; that if these kids were not required to meet the terms of the agreement and follow the rules, that they would never feel they needed to follow the rules about anything in the future. He also told them that, if they did not support him in this matter, they would not need to worry about firing him because he would resign immediately. Two or three of the team members were there and heard what he said.
The Board voted 3-2 to require that Carter reopen the gym and begin playing again.
The next morning, Coach Carter returned to the gym with a box to pick up his personal belongings. When he got there, he found that the lock had been cut and the chain closing the gym had been removed. When he went into the gym, instead of the players being on the court practicing, he found the entire team sitting on desks in the middle of the court along with a few teachers who had supported the effort. One of them said that they wanted to finish their obligation, and that no one could force them to play.
After a couple of weeks, and a few more forfeits, they reached their 2.3 GPA. They began playing their schedule again and continued their winning ways. Even with the losses from forfeits, they had a good enough record to make it to the state championship tournament. Since they were the last team to make it to the tournament, they had to play the number one team in the state for their opening game.
I won’t give away the ending, but I would highly recommend that you watch it, even if you have to rent it. It also shows periodically on other networks. I will say that six of those players went on to college, five of them on scholarships. It is an inspiring story that shows what can be done with the proper amount of discipline, both self-discipline and discipline from leaders.
