ZPG,
Might I ask where this is?
That’s fascinating.
Wait – some schools charge admission for football games? Or are these just for non-students? Because when I was in high school, you just showed up and found a spot in the bleachers.
Sports are a leisure activity. They are not valuable. What is there to “support”. My parents showed up if they were driving me. If I was actually accomplishing something, sure, they were there, but sports? Hell no.
Granted, if you’re in bumblefuck Texas, maybe you just don’t have much going on (if you aren’t working the night shift).
My high school charged admission for all games. Students could get discounted tickets, but they still had to pay something.
I realize that some of you don’t like football, have no desire to go to any game let alone a high school game and can’t quite understand why anyone else would. I understand. I never had any interest in going to high school games when I was there and no desire to go to one now. But get off your fucking high horse and quit acting like you’re superior to those who enjoy going to high school football games.
I’m curious. If the band, orchestra or theater held performances and only 19 people showed up would it be the same? Do the arts count as leisure or education?
(First, let me start by admitting that I went to a total of 1 of my own high school’s football games in four years. My son’s schools never had a football team. So my personal experience with high school football is…minimal. My experience with being a poor working parent, however, is much greater.)
I think what people are missing here is that the OP is describing something he’s noticing within the same general geographic area. Assuming these teams are in the same division/region/whatever, as I assume because they’re playing each other during the regular season, then one would expect the fervor for football to be fairly similar from one town to the next. This isn’t comparing Texas to Illinois, it’s comparing Texas to Texas.
I AM saddened for those kids who play on the team with no one in the bleachers when their opposition’s side is full. That’s got to suck. I don’t care if it’s football or chess or theater…when the other side has visible vocal support and you don’t, it hurts.
Now why? I think we’re still ignoring financial and work constraints, OP. Yes, I’m sure there are some of the parents who are apathetic (and perhaps they’re also poor because they’re apathetic and don’t work to find a better job or education.) I’m sure some of them are drunk or on drugs and didn’t even remember it was a game day (and perhaps they’re also poor because they drink or do drugs too much and forget when to go into work.)
But I’m also sure some of them have only so much in the gas budget and have to get to work each day and keep a small reserve for emergencies. I’m sure, especially this close to the end of the month, that some of them are tapped out for the month with bills. And I’m absolutely certain that more poor folks than rich folks find 7pm on a Friday to be work time just like any other time of the week. When you work shift work or multiple minimum wage jobs, you do not ask for time off unless it’s for a funeral, and sometimes not even then. Asking for time off is asking to get fired, or at the very least losing a whole day’s pay, because these are not salaried employees. If you’re not living paycheck to paycheck, you really really don’t grok how important an entire day’s pay is.
And those are the poor parents who are up nights worrying about shortchanging their kids, and feel like shit because of it, and their soul dies a little every time their kid needs new pads and they can’t possibly afford anything but falling apart used ones that don’t fit quite right…and even secondhand pads means we’re eating beans and rice for three meals a week this month instead of just two, and let’s hope they don’t shut off the electricity if I’m late with the bill again.
Bottom line is…those poor kids. I hope you took a moment to pat at least one of them on the back and tell him he made a good play, or you appreciated his efforts, or thanked him for a good game. Their side deserves just as much support as your side, and it totally sucks that they can’t get it from home, but that is indeed their reality, whatever the reason for it.
And I think you’d be a positively wonderful stellar shining example of a human being if you got your friends and family to sit on the other team’s bleachers with you and cheered for them, just 'cause. It’d be an invaluable lesson to your own team about sportsmanship and love of the game.
The above is definitely right. However, there is also the equally severe problem that a great number of low income parents themselves had horrific experiences with public school, and see the education system as an opponent to be struggled with. This can also lead to a certain “disinterest” in their children’s education.
Never a big celebrator of sports events, I had a thought which I thought was probably nonsense, but I wondered–would it have been heartwarming and nice and fuzzy for half of the parents to move over to the other bleachers and cheer for the other team, or would that have been just stupid and wrong?
It’s not just “low-income” families.
If the parents are not paying for their kids’ schooling, my experience is they just don’t give a shit.
Their kids have given them too much grief during their lifetimes and the parents just couldnt care at all about how their kids are doing.
Texas stadiums are pretty carefully designed to keep the sides from mingling. One you enter one side, to get to the other you have to leave the stadium entirely and presumably, by another ticket to get into the other side.
Yes. I would find it just as curious. At the last theater performance I attended at our high school the entire lower level of the theater was full. I don’t know the seating numbers but it was quite a crowd. The balcony was empty, but it was closed off for recording equipment.
Thanks WhyNot for an excellent observation. The other team was losing badly and our coach not only took out the first string, he declined a penalty that would have cost them one of their few touchdowns (at least, if I understand what happened).
Spare me. :rolleyes: This ain’t bumblefuck.
I think maybe some of the posters here don’t really understand the normal level of enthusiasm for high school sports here. The games are an important social event and the entire performance is something to be seen. If you’re not from here, you may be surprised at the level of effort normally extended for these events. The bands are an amazing performance by themselves. Here is an example of one of our competitors during a marching contest (the stands on the opposite side are closed during contests, hence the empty seats). The ferris wheels you see were part of a set of 6, IIRC. They each have their own power source and not only turn, but are lit up for night games. Note the mural/barrier erected along the front to hide the collection of unused flag-girl equipment. Every detail is attended to for these performances. If I recall, this school required 6 trucks for the ferris wheels, plus an 18-wheeler to transport the remaining equipment. (I don’t know how many buses it took to get the actual band members there).
Our own band uses an 18-wheeler in school colors just for the drumline. We have additional trucks to transport other equipment, and will typically use between 9 and 11 buses for the kids to attend an away game. The cheerleaders and drill team have their own gymnasium and sports complex, separate from the football team. Even our (relatively modest) stadium provides multiple concession stands (essentially small fast food restaurants) and a scoreboard with diamond vision so the fans can have instant replay.
When we traveled to west Texas for competitions, we found some schools actually had Prevost coaches (painted in the school’s colors, of course) to transport their teams and bands. We lease nice coaches for the band’s long distance* competitions, but they’re relegated to school buses for normal away games.
Hopefully I haven’t belabored the point, but high school football is huge here. In our case at least, a substantial portion of this stuff comes from serious sweat-equity on the part of the parents. School funding doesn’t provide props, trucks, equipment nor any of the workers in the concession stands and other areas. This is all volunteer stuff, and parent participation is pretty intense (and somewhat expected).
*Some competitions are a 700-mile round trip. Until last year we had regular away games that were over 100 miles away. Thankfully the lineup change has games closer to home.
I’m defending the idea that the parents on the full side are supporting their kids, not the idea that the absent parents on the other side are not.
And you probably stay up all night doing it, now that you have kids.
Exactly this :nodding:
Back when I taught in the city, it was a miracle if anyone showed up for a football game, save Homecoming and the Thanksgiving Day rivalry. Attendance would jump a little bit come basketball season, but even then attendance was nowhere near what it was in the suburbs.
When did enjoyment come to be the issue here? I thought it was participating in their children’s education that was what we were talking about? Or is it?
These activities always got far, far fewer spectators than a football game. A few parents, not all of them, certainly. Theater would attract some students as well, those that knew people in the play.
By the time I could drive, my parents stopped coming to orchestra concerts. And that was fine with me. Not because I didn’t like my parents there, but there was really no reason for it, and our orchestra was pretty crappy. No need to put them through that.
And a parent-teacher conference can be seen as just another opportunity to be criticized and attacked.
Perhaps what’s “normal” for middle-class white suburban Texans isn’t normal for all other sectors of the population?
This makes sense. Generally speaking, low-income families have a low income for a reason. Many are lazy, on welfare, hook on drugs, and have an apathetic attitude toward life. Their children are completely unsupervised and run wild. “Responsibility” is not in their vocabulary. It makes sense, then, that the parents wouldn’t attend a student-teacher conference or sports game. They simply don’t care.
High school football is a cultural thing. Are you honestly that surprised that not everyone values it quite as much as you do? I know some schools here that are very, very in to their lacrosse teams. Should I be shocked that not every school in DC is obsessed with lacrosse? I don’t know about Texas, but in California poor schools often had a high concentration of immigrants, and no, a bunch of Hmong and Armenian families couldn’t give two hoots about a game they’ve probably never heard of.
I’ll give you, though, that people are more likely to value that which has given them value. If you had gone through the public school system and ended up trying to raise kids while being broke as a joke, would you be particularly gung-ho about that education? If you don’t think you will ever make much money, high school is just a hurdle you need to get over on your way to what’s next.
I’m sorry, but I think you have no concept of what a poor school is like. I can’t grok separate gyms- our school was literally crumbling around us, with much of the school in portable units because our ceilings had a habit of collapsing in heavy rains. Our metalshop kids made practice equipment for our gym. Our theater was a small stage in the cafeteria. We took the city bus on field trips because who can afford to rent a bus? And I hardly went to the worst school in the world. Anyway, fancy perks for the drumline was basically our last priority.
Poor people don’t have “sweat equity” to spread around, because all their sweat equity is going to managing food and rent. The worst part about being working poor is what it does to your time- you are basically always working, getting to work, getting dressed for work, or recovering from work. Even managing basic household stuff like cooking and laundry is overwhelming.
Really- listen to yourself. You are sounding very “Let them eat cake” with this whole thing.
I have spent many years living amongst the poor, and my experience is that most *chronically *poor people do not fit this description. Most don’t work at all. They sit around all day, and their kids run wild. Many are addicts. Their level of “care” toward all aspects of life (including their children’s schooling and extracurricular activities) is virtually nonexistent.
This is my fault for being unclear. If only 19 people showed up for choir, orchestra or a theater performance by students would those same people who say it doesn’t matter because it’s a football game say it didn’t matter for these other events?
Note that even sven specified the working poor. Her description is fairly accurate, in my experience.