Ball or Bands: Football Vs. Music as an Educational and Community Investment

By John R. Gerdy

In a perfect world, all school extracurricular activities would be fully funded. But with all indications being that future education funding will be significantly reduced, its clear we no longer live in a perfect world. As a result, school and community leaders, as well as parents, will be forced to determine how to allocate increasingly scarce extracurricular dollars, particularly in the areas of athletics and the arts. In such an environment, the fundamental question is which extracurricular activities garner the best educational return on investment.

These decisions must be made with the recognition that Americas economy has changed from one based on industrial might to one driven by technology, creativity, collaboration and innovation. What does this mean as applied to educational funding and priorities? How should it impact efforts to structure schools and educational curriculums to prepare our children to succeed in this rapidly changing and increasingly competitive world economy and integrated global community?

To successfully meet these challenges, parents, education policy makers and community leaders must be fully informed to enable them to approach these difficult decisions with a more thorough understanding of the issues and impacts these activities have on educational and community outcomes.

To that end, in Ball or Bands, author John R. Gerdy draws not only on relevant research and data but also his extensive experience in both worlds. The result is a thoughtful, thorough and clear-eyed comparative analysis of the educational value of football versus music programs in providing our children an education worthy of the 21st century.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Release date: Nov 3, 2014
• ISBN: 9781480810969

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Copyright © 2014 John R. Gerdy.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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ISBN: 978-1-4808-1095-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-1094-5 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-1096-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014918126

Archway Publishing rev. date: 10/28/2014

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1   From Disciple To Skeptic: A Sports Journey

Chapter 2   Learning To Hear The Music

Chapter 3   The Question

Extracurricular, Co-Curricular Or Core?

Comparative Analysis

Method Of Analysis

Chapter 4   Impact On Personal And Character Development

Character Development: Hard Work, Discipline And Team(Band)Work

Sports, Music And Leadership

Sports, Music And Identity

Tolerance And Social Change

Additional Character Traits

The Final Product?

Keeping Score

Chapter 5   Impact On Learning And Brain Function

Engagement

Creativity

Participation Versus Spectatorship As An Educational Process

Impact On Math, Reading, Language And Foreign Language Skills

Feeding Versus Scrambling The Brain

Keeping Score

Chapter 6   Impact On School Culture And Learning Environment

Follow The Money

Community Building

The Show Must Go On!

Impact On Learning Environment And School Culture

Football And Anti-Intellectualism

The Bully Culture

Platform For International Educational Opportunities

Tools For Integrated Learning

Community Impact Beyond The School Walls

Keeping Score

Chapter 7   Extracurricular Activities For A Healthy Student Body

Individual Health–Therapeutic Vs. Punitive

Healthy Fitness Habits For All

Keeping Score

Chapter 8   Coda

Context Matters

Extracurricular Activities For The Twenty-First Century

Facing The Truth

More Trend Lines

Decision Making For Today’s World

A Return To The Question Of Extracurricular Or Core

Reassessing Priorities

A Better System

The Last Note And Final Score

Other Books by John R. Gerdy

Air Ball: American Education’s Failed Experiment with Elite Athletics

Sports: The All-American Addiction

Sports in School: The Future of an Institution

The Successful College Athletics Program: The New Standard

For more information about Music For Everyone, visit MusicForEveryone.net

To contact John visit JohnGerdy.com or email him at [e-mail]

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Portions of this book are adapted from books and journal articles I have published. For these books and articles, I was the fortunate recipient of valuable comments from colleagues, friends, family and editors too numerous to mention.

I am particularly grateful to those who took the time to review or discuss elements of this manuscript, in particular, Ed Salomon, Walt Straiton, Scott McCormick and Rev. Steve Chambers. Their thoughtful comments were greatly appreciated.

I am also grateful to my copy editor, Virginia Carroll for cleaning up my sloppy prose.

Finally, my thanks go to my children, Wallace and James. Having the opportunity to watch them grow up has been my life’s greatest joy. And to my wife Follin for her patience and support.

INTRODUCTION

Picture this. A magnified image of a cross section of the human brain. The image shows hundreds of tiny brownish bits. These bits are toxic proteins, called tau, that form after brain trauma. Tau can inhibit cellular functions in the brain, leading to depression, dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (better known as Lou Gehrig’s disease) and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disease.

Now, picture this. The same magnified image. This image shows activities associated with vibrant cellular connections. The brain is seemingly swarming with activity, actually brightening the image.

The first image is of the brain of a former football player. The formation of the tau are the result of hundreds, if not thousands, of repeated hits to the head. These violent hits, in effect, shake or scramble the brain, flooding it with chemicals that deaden cellular receptors and tear neural connections linked to learning and memory. In short, the connections necessary for optimal brain function and development are being shaken loose.

The second image is of the brain while a person is playing music. Brain function is about connections between cells and neurons. Healthy brains have strong, clear and vibrant connections. Research tells us that playing music triggers activity in cells and neurons in the brain that are linked to concentration, memory and creativity, thus refining the development of the brain and the entire neurological system. Further, playing music not only strengthens these connections but creates new connections, thus widening the brain’s neural network. That activity virtually bursts through the second image.

Recently, there has been an increasing amount of discussion regarding how football programs, from the NFL to Pop Warner football, are attempting to manage concussion risk. Without question, the revelations of the serious consequences to brain health and function that result from repeated hits to the head sustained in football have taken the debate regarding the role of football in our culture to a new level. While most of the debate has centered on the NFL’s efforts to mitigate those negative effects, the significance of the issue as it applies to our nation’s educational system, particularly our high schools and junior high schools, is far more consequential. Specifically, we now have to give serious consideration to the question of whether the potential human costs to children’s and young adults’ health have become too great for an educational institution to assume.

Certainly, there have always been physical costs to participants. Football is a violent game. But we are not talking about sprained ankles and broken bones. Sprained ankles and broken bones eventually heal. We are talking about young people’s brains. Brains don’t always heal.

The recent revelations regarding football and brain trauma have served to draw attention to, and increase dialogue about, the role that it plays in our educational system. But make no mistake about it: This is a dialogue that is long overdue, the brain trauma issue notwithstanding. Concern regarding football’s impact on academic values and the ability of schools to meet their educational mission has been growing steadily over the past several decades.

This book, however, is not about football and music specifically but, rather about education. It is about community values as reflected through educational policy and institutions. Should our educational institutions be sponsoring activities that deaden and destroy brain cells and impair brain function? Should we continue to invest significant resources in football rather than, for example, music, which strengthens and develops neural connections and enhances brain function?

In a perfect world, all extracurricular activities would be fully funded. But with politicians and education leaders making it perfectly clear that for the foreseeable future education funding will be significantly reduced, it’s painfully clear that we no longer live in a perfect world. That being the case, school districts will be forced to engage in the very difficult debate regarding how to allocate increasingly scarce extracurricular dollars. In such an environment, the fundamental question is which extracurricular activities garner the best educational return on investment?

But why the comparison of the brain on football versus the brain on music? Traditionally, the analysis of extracurricular spending in our schools has focused on the choice between elite, interscholastic athletics and programs in the arts. While many resist the notion of directly comparing the relative values of sports and the arts as educational resources, the fact is, when program cuts are required, priorities must be set and choices made. And the field upon which the battle over funding priorities will be played is the area of extracurricular activities, specifically, athletics versus the arts. Without such comparison and evaluation, it’s impossible to determine which investment is more effective.

Why football and music? Because in most schools, football consumes a disproportionate amount of resources in the form of money, time, effort and emotion. And despite it’s being a small piece of the overall school budget, its impact on the school and community is disproportionately high. I’ve chosen music simply because I am far more knowledgeable about music than theater, dance or the visual arts.

This debate cannot take place in a vacuum. Because the role of our educational institutions is to respond to the social and economic challenges facing our society by educating our populace to be able to effectively meet those challenges, the debate must occur against a larger backdrop. Specifically, there are three major constructs that must be considered.

First, standards regarding what constitutes an education worthy of the twenty-first century and, as a result, the expectations on our schools to effectively deliver that type of education are rising dramatically. Second, those standards are vastly different from those that have driven educational policy and priorities of the past. And finally, there is the cold, hard reality that schools must meet these rising standards and expectations in an environment of declining funding and resources, a trend that does not appear to be abating.

These constructs will define and influence our response to the fundamental challenge upon which we must execute effectively if meaningful education reform is to be achieved. Specifically, we must be more efficient with our resources by developing curricular and teaching strategies that are more effective in instilling in students the skills necessary to succeed in the information-based, interrelated, global economy and world culture of the twenty-first century.

Further, this discussion must take place against a background that recognizes the fact that America’s economy has changed from one based on industrial might to one based on technology, creativity, collaboration and innovation. That being the case, what does this mean as applied to educational funding and priorities? How will it impact our efforts to structure our schools and educational curriculums to prepare our children to succeed in this changing and increasingly competitive world economic and geopolitical environment?

The point of this book is to spur and better inform that debate. It is to provide context, insight and information to help education and community leaders as well as parents approach these questions with a clearer understanding of the educational and societal playing field when extracurricular funding priorities and decisions are considered. Open and honest debate of these issues is critical because we live in an age when schools simply do not have the resources necessary to provide unlimited extracurricular activities. As a result, we must make choices regarding the most effective way to invest our increasingly limited educational resources.

To that end, I will draw not only on relevant research and data but also on my extensive experience in both worlds as a former college and professional athlete, nationally recognized athletic administrator, academic with several published books on the role of sports in our educational system and society, life-long musician and founder and president of a music-related nonprofit organization. I will compare and contrast the impacts of these two activities in the following areas: individual personal and character development, learning and brain function of participants, impact on the school learning environment and culture, and health of both the individual participant and the general public health.

This discussion is intended to better inform and enable parents, educational policy makers and community leaders to approach these difficult decisions with a more thorough understanding of the wide range of issues and impacts that these activities have on educational and community policy and outcomes.

In the end, it is hoped that the dialogue surrounding these issues and decisions will be more reasoned, honest and data driven. In short, the days when such decisions can be made based simply on tradition and anecdotal evidence are over. The stakes are simply too high and the costs of such narrowly focused decision-making are simply too great. With decreased resources comes a decrease in decisional margins of error. In other words, we have to make every dollar count.

But all of this context and dialogue is of no use without the courage and commitment to go where the logic, truth and data take us. For example, if during the process we find that either of these activities is successfully meeting its educational purposes, will we have the vision to invest more heavily in it? But what if one or the other is not? What if it is determined that investment in one or the other as an extracurricular activity brings a greater return on educational dollar invested? What should our school boards do? What should we as parents and tax paying citizens, do? Will we have the courage to make what may be very difficult and unpopular decisions?

Despite the fact that some of the answers we find may be uncomfortable or inconvenient, we should welcome this discussion and analysis because, if we approach it honestly, the end result will be better schools serving our children and communities more effectively. In the end, isn’t that what we all want and what our nation needs?

1

FROM DISCIPLE TO SKEPTIC: A SPORTS JOURNEY

When you look at where team sports are going, the National Football League is turning into organized warfare.

—Oren Lyons, Jr.

One of my earliest memories is finding a football under the tree on Christmas morning. The year was 1961 and I was just shy of five years old. I was soon decked out in my full football uniform, kicking, throwing and running with my new prized possession in the snowy side lot of our duplex home in Little Falls, New Jersey. I spent hundreds of hours kicking that football, often alone but never lonely, as I would visualize game scenarios, imagining myself to be a member of the New York Giants. A fullback named Tucker Frederickson was my favorite. The Giants had great plans for Tucker, a first-round draft pick from Auburn. Although he had a few good years, he never met the high expectations due to a series of knee injuries. Those were the days when a knee injury effectively meant the end of your career. But there I was, not thinking about knee injuries but rather imagining all the touchdowns I was scoring.

Sports, particularly football, cast a large shadow over my family’s household. My father was the physics teacher and head football coach at our local high school, Passaic Valley. My two older brothers were accomplished athletes. Both played football and basketball at PV. Greg went on to play both sports at Davidson College and Tom received a scholarship to play football at Virginia Tech. My younger sister was the captain of the high school cheerleading squad. Our lives revolved around sports, and I was right in the middle of it, lapping it up.

August meant preseason football practice. I’d climb out of bed early and accompany my father to practice, where I’d spend the day hanging around the locker room and practice field, throwing and kicking balls, diving into mountains of tackling dummies and watching my father put his team through drills. On game days, I helped in the locker room and on the sidelines. The highlight was fulfilling my responsibility to run onto the field after every kickoff to retrieve the kicking tee. I heard all the pregame, halftime and postgame talks, no holds barred.

On Sunday mornings, I would often rise early to accompany my father to the Tick-Tock Diner on Route 46 in Clifton to pick up the game film. I would sit with him as he broke down the film. Most mornings I quickly became bored by the constant back-and-forth, back-and-forth, forward, reverse of the film session as my father meticulously studied the tiniest detail of every play. Not yet understanding the level of preparation and study required to be a successful coach, I simply wanted to see an entire play run from beginning to end. I was soon out the back door and practicing kicking field goals and extra points over the grape trellis, envisioning each and every one of my kicks as a game-winner.

In the winter, I’d shovel snow off the court of the local elementary school to play basketball. I spent countless hours working on my game, imagining myself hitting buzzer-beating shots for the New York Knicks. Indoor playing opportunities were rare and cherished. Saturday morning recreation league offered an opportunity. And most Sunday mornings, my father would take his three boys to the high school and turn us loose in the gymnasium, with full access to the equipment cage while he disappeared to his classroom to grade papers. For three athletically inclined boys, this was heaven. At night, I’d lie in bed listening to radio broadcasts of the Knicks or the New Jersey Americans of the American Basketball Association, all the while continuing to work on my shot by repeatedly shooting the ball toward the ceiling.

Spring and summer meant better weather, which allowed us to be outside, playing anything we wanted—basketball, baseball, Wiffle ball, street football and other games such as kick the can or three steps across.

Playing sports was a fundamental part of the Gerdy family’s value system. It was expected. We lived and breathed sports—football in the fall, basketball in the winter and baseball in the spring. With two older brothers, I never lacked for good competition. This early obsession was simply the first chapter in what has become a lifelong sports journey.

Although I played three sports through the seventh grade, it was clear by age twelve that basketball was my first love. I fell hard for the game and played it constantly. While continuing to play football and baseball and, largely due to my size, play them well, by the seventh grade I wanted nothing to do with those sports. I was hooked on hoops. There weren’t too many days that I played fewer than seven or eight hours. I’d arrive at school early to play, continue to play at lunchtime and after school, and then rush home to do my paper route (dribbling my basketball along the way). When finished, I’d play until dinner. Conveniently, my last customer was a block away from my two home courts, one at the local elementary school, the other a half court located behind the police station. After dinner, I’d return to the lighted police station court and play until my nighttime curfew. Summers meant basketball camps and pickup games all day, every day.

My deep love of basketball soon caused tremendous angst and tumult in our household as, the summer before starting high school, I announced that I had no intention of playing football. While my father saw me as his next quarterback, I loved basketball unconditionally. Everyone in my family understood that my heart was not in football, despite the fact that I was a pretty good quarterback -- everyone except my father, who was insisting that I play. On the night before freshmen were to report for practice, the issue was still not resolved. It remained unresolved until my brother Tom, then a scholarship football player at Virginia Tech, said to him, He is your son before he is your quarterback. Seeing that he was outnumbered five to one, my father relented, saying, If you are going to be a basketball player, you better be a good one.

After a ten-year career as an all-state high school, all-American college and professional basketball player, I feel comfortable that I lived to up my end of the bargain.

I had a pretty good start on it. Having to constantly scrap and scrape against my older brothers on the fields and courts contributed to my usually being the most coordinated and athletically developed in my age group, in addition to the fact that I was also the tallest. Most significant, however, was that I invested a lot of time and effort into refining those advantages. When the other kids were swimming or riding bikes, I was playing ball. During this period, I had heard that Bill Bradley, who at the time was studying as a Rhodes scholar after his brilliant career at Princeton and before beginning his career with the Knicks had said, When you are not practicing, someone else is. And when the two of you meet, he will beat you. That notion stuck. I was determined that no one was going to outwork me.

This obsessive work ethic was the cornerstone upon which I based my entire career. When the time finally came to hang em up at age twenty-four, I left with no regrets. I worked as hard as I was capable of working. The downside of that approach, however, is having to deal with the long-term effects of all of that wear and tear on the body (bad back, achy knees and the real possibility of having to have a hip replaced at some point). Chuck Taylor was also to blame for this wear and tear. Taylor’s name adorned the Converse sneaker logo at the time. Although Chucks were the Cadillacs of the feet at the time, they were little more than a quarter-inch rubber slab with canvas sides. Not much cushion for endless running, cutting and jumping on asphalt playgrounds.

Having older brothers helped enormously. I was often able to get into games with their friends, despite being much younger. As the youngest and often smallest player in these games, I was forced to develop the skills of a guard. This served me well when playing against kids my own age. In those games, being the tallest player on the court with the most refined guard skills was a potent combination.

My youth sports experience can best be described as sandlot. The kids in our neighborhood would gather to play pick-up games in various sports. We made up the ground rules based upon the space in which we were playing and who and how many of us were playing. We picked the teams, mediated the disputes and otherwise used