by Tina Turnbow
Recently my two children came home from school excited with a note stating that their school was having College Day and that the students were encouraged to wear a college T-shirt or colors of their favorite college. The idea, the note explained, would be to bring interest in going to college for the students.
OK, I thought, even though I really couldn't afford the $30 it cost to get two shirts for my first- and fourth-grader, but I bought them thinking it was for a good cause and I was helping my kids show their school spirit toward higher education. What could be wrong with that?
I went to the University of North Texas and would like to further my education and attend Southern Methodist University one day, so Mom was a little partial to these two schools, but both of my children quickly spurned my suggestions and only wanted Texas Tech shirts. When I asked them about that they just said that a lot of the teachers went to Texas Tech so they wanted to wear what the teachers would wear. Learning from and emulating their teachers is a good thing for them, I thought. What could be wrong with that?
One day last week my kids were in the kitchen doing their homework, and while I was cooking dinner my 6-year-old boy showed me what he had learned that day in school. He held up one hand with the sign of UT's "hook 'em horns" and with his other hand using his fingers to represent a gun, he made a gunshot sound, and then the horns turned downward, indicating that "the longhorn" was dead. After standing there in disbelief for a moment, my next response was ... something is very wrong with that.
I understand that there are all sorts of rivalries from the Hatfields and McCoys, sibling rivalries to school rivalries and that school rivalries are mostly to poke fun at each school and bring everyone out to the local Friday night game, but I also feel that rivalries can have a negative impact, as well, which can lead to name-calling and bad feelings arising between children if someone likes someone or something different.
Do we really need to foster these negative feelings in our schools?
Peer pressure is tough enough to get through without adding the mix of which college is better that the other. Texas has many good colleges, and one is not any better than the other.
I am a very progressive mom, and I don't think I'm overreacting to this subject. College Day was an experiment gone wrong for my family, and I will be putting away those $30 T-shirts for now.
There is nothing wrong with showing pride in the college that one attended, but when speaking or doing negative signs, like the shoot 'em horns, please remember that your child or someone's child is watching everything you do. What could be wrong with that?
