酷我-北美枫

[Wenxin]

School Spirit... at what Cost?

Some time ago, my school's strings group (violins, violas, cellos, and double basses) went to compete in the Kiwanis music festival. We flopped. On the morning announcements in school the next day, however, was a cheerful voice:

"The strings quartet, at Kiwanis, won a hard-fought third place yesterday..." Incredibly, that happy voice forgot to mention that there were (surprise!) three schools competing in the category. All day long, I had to grudgingly endure well-meaning congratulations from my peers.

Ironically, the parents of those peers will spread the word far and wide. Any day now, I'm expecting to hear from some friend of a friend of a friend that Zion Heights has a wonderful, national award-winning music program.

Sure it does. And my uncle is the tsar of Canada, did you know?

Every school seeks pride in its accomplishments and individuality, and rightly so. School spirit is both beneficial and necessary; sports teams need cheering on, athletes need motivation, and clubs need funding. The problem is, a lot of those accomplishments weren't really accomplished.

More recently, it was declared over the P.A. system that I had won fourth place at a cross-country running meet. My teacher beamed. I smiled sheepishly and tried to crawl into my desk. The school team hadn't really run in the race- we went too early and missed it. The result was that we had held our own little event, with another school that also happened to be there. I had been running, for the most part, against my own teammates.

I am, I admit, not unaffected by this intrinsic bias in the school media. The student body is never told lies, of course; but it is fed the truth selectively. After a while, the school's endless list of achievements seems to suggest an inherent superiority over other schools. If a school team loses (and if I am ever allowed hear about it), I tend to blame it on the referee, the weather, or the unusual position of Mars... anything but the skill of the opposing team. Voil? School spirit is born.

Wait a minute. Media censorship, extreme patriotism, a belief in the supremacy of one school above all others; I am starting to sound alarmingly like a fascist.

Let this come as a light-hearted reminder to all schools: fostering pride is important, but holding upright the principles of honesty is far more important. Do not be unintentionally hypocritical; the truth cannot be "sort of" bent, any more than my eyes can be "sort of" wandering up and down my neighbour's exam.

I, N,T, E, G,R, I, T, Y, let's go!

(North York Mirror, December 22, 2002)

[[许文辛]]

School Spirit... at what Cost?

Some time ago, my school's strings group (violins, violas, cellos, and double basses) went to compete in the Kiwanis music festival. We flopped. On the morning announcements in school the next day, however, was a cheerful voice:

"The strings quartet, at Kiwanis, won a hard-fought third place yesterday..." Incredibly, that happy voice forgot to mention that there were (surprise!) three schools competing in the category. All day long, I had to grudgingly endure well-meaning congratulations from my peers.

Ironically, the parents of those peers will spread the word far and wide. Any day now, I'm expecting to hear from some friend of a friend of a friend that Zion Heights has a wonderful, national award-winning music program.

Sure it does. And my uncle is the tsar of Canada, did you know?

Every school seeks pride in its accomplishments and individuality, and rightly so. School spirit is both beneficial and necessary; sports teams need cheering on, athletes need motivation, and clubs need funding. The problem is, a lot of those accomplishments weren't really accomplished.

More recently, it was declared over the P.A. system that I had won fourth place at a cross-country running meet. My teacher beamed. I smiled sheepishly and tried to crawl into my desk. The school team hadn't really run in the race- we went too early and missed it. The result was that we had held our own little event, with another school that also happened to be there. I had been running, for the most part, against my own teammates.

I am, I admit, not unaffected by this intrinsic bias in the school media. The student body is never told lies, of course; but it is fed the truth selectively. After a while, the school's endless list of achievements seems to suggest an inherent superiority over other schools. If a school team loses (and if I am ever allowed hear about it), I tend to blame it on the referee, the weather, or the unusual position of Mars... anything but the skill of the opposing team. Voil? School spirit is born.

Wait a minute. Media censorship, extreme patriotism, a belief in the supremacy of one school above all others; I am starting to sound alarmingly like a fascist.

Let this come as a light-hearted reminder to all schools: fostering pride is important, but holding upright the principles of honesty is far more important. Do not be unintentionally hypocritical; the truth cannot be "sort of" bent, any more than my eyes can be "sort of" wandering up and down my neighbour's exam.

I, N,T, E, G,R, I, T, Y, let's go!

(North York Mirror, December 22, 2002)

[晓鸣]

这是文辛签约为North York Mirror的专栏作家后发表的第一篇文章(2002年12月22日).

[[自己的敌人]]

这是文辛签约为North York Mirror的专栏作家后发表的第一篇文章(2002年12月22日).