One wonders if this new view is the result of loser types being in charge? The ones who were not winners are now seeing to it that winner types get their comeuppance.
At the level of a school track meet, this is almost certainly true. But really the general practice is 100+ years old. It's why schools exist at all. Back in the robber Barons' days, the folks who found themselves at the top of industry (who back then were pretty much just the ones who played the dirtiest) decided that they could stay #1 by destroying numbers 2 & 3. But shady practices and spreading rumors only worked so well. The long term answer was to prevent everyone who might be a potential competitor from acquiring the skills and resources to challenge them. So they got the idea to charter public schools. Not for the purpose of making you smarter, but for controlling how smart you DON'T get. So that you have the skills to work FOR them, but not the capacity to compete with them. Where you could learn to say, measure something, or type on a typewriter or even learn to use small tools for cutting wood and metal. But never learn or even hear mention of things like leveraging credit, investing in stocks and bonds, or managing a working operation. This is and always was the singular express purpose of public schools. Nothing is new or different, it has just changed it's look with the times. I hate to break it to the author, but exactly nothing was different about his 80s school or his 80s track meets. Maybe they announced the winners back then, but that was only the result of sadism. Everyone in that school was unknowingly already deep into a 12 track to loserdom and inadequacy and mediocrity. It was only a cruel joke that they gave the winners the false hope that they could really be winners in the rigged world of fraud corruption and logical contradiction that by the 1980s had been firmly entrenched for almost a century. And when they announced those 'winners' you didn't hear them saying "among the losers" under their breath. "First place (among the losers) is Bob Smith. Whose plumbing business will fall into bankruptcy 10 years from now because we never taught him one minute of Finance". Ask yourself right now at whatever adult age you are at, do you really know how to leverage credit? Not just run up a credit card, but actually use credit the way it was intended? It'simple process and when done right you can live beyond your means forever. It's how Trump has lived his life lavishly and acquired a 10 digit fortune without spending a single dollar of his own. For certain you don't even though I could explain it to you in 5 minutes and completely change your life. But eventually you'd be competing with Blackrock for free FED loans and they just can't have that. So they made you dumber. All of us. Nothing new under the sun has changed about it beyond a few small details.
So, I was reading your story about when you were in track meets when you were younger and how you talked about the joy of getting over hurdles or meeting hurdles that slowed you down and I won't lie, I really appreciated that.
So, in the spirit of sharing, maybe self-serving, but whatever, I'll share with you a link where I discussed some of my pee-wee football days in the 1970's. It is not my link mind ya, just another Substack author whose place I checked out and commented.
I think regardless of time, flux is in the air and it is blowing strong and I think it is time for those of us in the generation I reside (plus or minus 1) to assert our will.
With respect to a fine high-jumper whose name deserves to be called out if she wins the race. That is what I think and I'm so tired of "woke" bs. Aren't we all?
One wonders if this new view is the result of loser types being in charge? The ones who were not winners are now seeing to it that winner types get their comeuppance.
I think you are right on target. I've been thinking of doing a piece on this very concept.
At the level of a school track meet, this is almost certainly true. But really the general practice is 100+ years old. It's why schools exist at all. Back in the robber Barons' days, the folks who found themselves at the top of industry (who back then were pretty much just the ones who played the dirtiest) decided that they could stay #1 by destroying numbers 2 & 3. But shady practices and spreading rumors only worked so well. The long term answer was to prevent everyone who might be a potential competitor from acquiring the skills and resources to challenge them. So they got the idea to charter public schools. Not for the purpose of making you smarter, but for controlling how smart you DON'T get. So that you have the skills to work FOR them, but not the capacity to compete with them. Where you could learn to say, measure something, or type on a typewriter or even learn to use small tools for cutting wood and metal. But never learn or even hear mention of things like leveraging credit, investing in stocks and bonds, or managing a working operation. This is and always was the singular express purpose of public schools. Nothing is new or different, it has just changed it's look with the times. I hate to break it to the author, but exactly nothing was different about his 80s school or his 80s track meets. Maybe they announced the winners back then, but that was only the result of sadism. Everyone in that school was unknowingly already deep into a 12 track to loserdom and inadequacy and mediocrity. It was only a cruel joke that they gave the winners the false hope that they could really be winners in the rigged world of fraud corruption and logical contradiction that by the 1980s had been firmly entrenched for almost a century. And when they announced those 'winners' you didn't hear them saying "among the losers" under their breath. "First place (among the losers) is Bob Smith. Whose plumbing business will fall into bankruptcy 10 years from now because we never taught him one minute of Finance". Ask yourself right now at whatever adult age you are at, do you really know how to leverage credit? Not just run up a credit card, but actually use credit the way it was intended? It'simple process and when done right you can live beyond your means forever. It's how Trump has lived his life lavishly and acquired a 10 digit fortune without spending a single dollar of his own. For certain you don't even though I could explain it to you in 5 minutes and completely change your life. But eventually you'd be competing with Blackrock for free FED loans and they just can't have that. So they made you dumber. All of us. Nothing new under the sun has changed about it beyond a few small details.
Sounds like the track meets today have gone "woke".
That is a shame.
BK
So, I was reading your story about when you were in track meets when you were younger and how you talked about the joy of getting over hurdles or meeting hurdles that slowed you down and I won't lie, I really appreciated that.
So, in the spirit of sharing, maybe self-serving, but whatever, I'll share with you a link where I discussed some of my pee-wee football days in the 1970's. It is not my link mind ya, just another Substack author whose place I checked out and commented.
Here is the link:
https://billricejr.substack.com/p/i-hope-our-leaders-dont-screw-up
I think regardless of time, flux is in the air and it is blowing strong and I think it is time for those of us in the generation I reside (plus or minus 1) to assert our will.
With respect to a fine high-jumper whose name deserves to be called out if she wins the race. That is what I think and I'm so tired of "woke" bs. Aren't we all?