Posted on 10/10/2007 8:17:51 AM PDT by Colonel Kangaroo
WHEN Title IX was passed 35 years ago, high school athletics were an overwhelmingly male pastime. The boys played sports and the girls cheered them on from the sidelines.
In the years since, Title IX has radically changed the local high school sports landscape. Once the law banned schools from engaging in gender discrimination in sports, girls flocked by the millions to the fields, courts and swimming pools to join their school teams. Today, a high school without opportunities for girls to play sports is almost unimaginable.
Yet as much as things have changed, much has remained the same. Though schools added competitive girls' sports to their athletic programs years ago in response to Title IX, they still frequently treat the boys' teams better than the girls' teams. And in the area of special treatment, football reigns supreme.
Because of the tradition and importance placed on high school football, school administrators routinely turn a blind eye toward the special treatment given to the football team. Football teams frequently have their own special locker room and weight room. Football teams have a proportionally higher number of coaches than other teams. Most football teams have booster clubs that raise money to provide special benefits for only the football team.
Title IX is not just about opportunities to play - it also mandates that girls and boys compete on a level playing field. Title IX requires schools to provide equal athletic benefits to male and female athletes. That means that athletic facilities, uniforms, equipment, practice and game times, publicity, coaching and transportation must be of equal quality and quantity for girls and boys teams.
While the football team has its privileges, invariably, the girls' teams do not. Instead, girls' sports are typically provided with fewer benefits than boys' basketball and baseball, and are often treated worse than other boys' sports as well.
The main rationalization for the special treatment provided to the football team seems to be tradition - that it has always been done that way. Yet, no school administrator would argue with a straight face that tradition was a sufficient justification for providing the boys with calculators and the girls with slide rules to use for their calculus homework.
At many schools, football is more than just a sport - it defines the school's culture. By eliminating the football team's special privileges and instead providing equal athletic benefits to boys and girls teams, schools will do more than just comply with Title IX. They will stand for a new sports tradition - equality for all.
www.cwlc.org
Vicky L. Barker is the legal director of the California Women's Law Center. She has successfully litigated Title IX cases throughout California.
Where’s the barf alert?
That stinks.
Between what the team and QB Club raised, they paid for painting endzones and stripes, for the Sony Jumbtron, fireworks, shoes for the players, travel to away games, and the expenses of a patsy team to beat up on at homecoming.
When my daughters were in High School, I was a member of both the softball and girl's basketball booster clubs. Our clubs raised money for those teams only. We worked bingo, sold ads in programs, washed cars.... Football booster clubs are always larger and raise more money, but at most schools in SoCal at least, there are usually over 100 boys in the program.
I'd like to see the girl that would get past my twin brothers. They are 6'6" and roughly 300# each and are offensive linemen.
I bet she looks like a real barker too, Woof Woof.
I agree, but from the left's perspective everything is working as planned:
Government schools are functioning more than ever as Dewey and the Progressives envisioned.
More and more everyday aspects of life are being regulated every day.
Unionists (socialists) have control of the bureaucracy of government on every level, while their fellow unionists march in the streets in support of criminals and illegal invaders.
For the left, what's not to like?
They must be beaten at the ballot box before things go seriously awry for us(primarily) and them (eventually and not pretty).
I forgot to add: The “Long March Through the Institutions” continues apace...
Which are run by the parents of current players and alumni... any sport can form a booster club and raise money for equipment and things for that team... but guess what? THEY DON'T!
Like it or not Football brings in crowds and is popular... HS gymnastics or swimming doesn't... its just a functional reality. You can't legislate away that reality no matter how much your PC world view demands it.
The Volleyball Team, whether mens or womens will not have the same budget or resources as a football team... it also won't have nearly the crowds or support from the general student bodies or alumni.. it has nothing to do with gender.
You want your daughters team to have a boosters club... FORM ONE and quit bitchin.. but of course bitchin is cheaper and easier than actually doing something... so, I suspect that's just what your lazy butt will do.
At my high school (Greenbrier East) in WV, the marching band got the most support and funding because it was nationally ranked and competed out of state every weekend.
Stopped reading at this lie. Girls didn't "flock by the millions" to sports once the law said you couldn't let demand determine what sports you had in schools. It only destroyed those sports that DID have demand.
We have pay to play, so once he makes the team he pays the district $125.00. This money as well as extra money from football ticket sales pays for the costs of the field, busses and umpires.He is responsible for his own uniform, assessment $125.00 to cover the costs for this.
He is expected to provide his own equipment.
Additionally, we have a golf outing a bowling night and sponsorship of the team program which raises several thousands of dollars. This money is used for extra equipment for catchers, baseballs, anf the other miscellaenous items.
Oh no. Next up - MANDATORY attendance at the games.
If you want to see a boys game, you must also buy a ticket for a girls game too.
ROFLOL
“bare legged men in long trench coats taking an inordinate number of photographs.”
That was all just a misunderstanding. Once you hear my side of the story, you’ll see the humor. Really, completely innocent.
I don't know about that...
Interesting notes from her bio at Women's Law Center: http://www.cwlc.org/cwlc_bio02.html
Ms. Barker is currently class counsel in Cruz v. Alhambra School District, a Title IX class action lawsuit seeking equal athletic facilities, treatment and benefits for girl athletes at Alhambra High School....
Prior to joining the Law Center, Ms. Barker represented workers and their unions in all aspects of employment matters, including labor law and employment discrimination litigation.
Repeal Title IX. Its idiotic. It doesn’t account for inherent differences between men and women, and treats gender as a social construct, rather than as a reality.
So shes a lipstick lez, notice the bio, she is not a mother or married.
Same thing with women's basketball. Most people would rather watch men's sports, because male athletes are bigger and stronger than female athletes.
I think it's great that woman play in sports, and even encouraged my daughters (without success) to engage in sports. But men are full of testosterone-induced aggression that women aren't, and therefore naturally NEED sports and competition in ways that women don't. That's why Title IX is a cruel joke. It ignores nature, tends to reduce the variety and scope of ancillary men's sports, and in the process, denies men the physical outlets they need.
the people who brought us title IX think not keeping score at games is a good thing for kids.
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