Editor,
This school year has been quite different from others,and I would like to make an analogy comparing two institutions: school and matrimony.
A great dispute has taken place this year at Blanco Middle School: an internal war between Academics and Athletics. Considering the Athletics department as the husband and Academics, the wife, nothing is new, in that they argue with each other, but it reached the point that they separated: the children's custody stayed with dad, mom had to leave the house, and dad remarried.
During the development of the facts, the kids are used as hostages. They also listen, observe, and perceive. They live in a parallel world, where they are taught good manners when they are with mom and when they hang around dad everything is all wild and allowed. They learn that they have to take abuse from dad, and mom can do sometimes something but there is always a price to pay.
Some kids run to support mom when they see her get hurt, saying, " Mom we love you. You don't deserve this. You can find a better man.” Others will do anything to receive their father's approval. Siblings will fight among each other.. Like any other family dispute, it's horrible and who suffers the most? The children, and in this case, the students.
It sometimes gets to the point there are so many hard feelings that the marriage cannot be saved, even with outside support and counseling .The only hope may be in divorce and remarriage.
We hope the remarriage will be successful in giving the school a fresh start and that the new husband and wife will be able to preserve harmony between them, without sacrificing the value of either Academics or Athletics.
Students are tired of the dad's abuse and have started to speak out about how dad should be restrained and how mom deserves to be treated. One of them has been especially been courageous enough to stand up to big daddy and say STOP. He has asked for help from the community. He gave a speech in front of the School Board wearing his Boy Scout uniform to remind him and all of us of our public responsibilities to stand up and get involved, not just wait for someone else to, hopefully, step in and do what needs to be done. Like a shaking leaf, he is managing to speak out. Please show your support to Joaquin Olmedo in his cultural quest, where he can prove that we need to let go the old school teaching and nourish a new view of our current politics and philosophy of the balance between athletics and academics. The community as a whole needs to be informed and involved.
Maria Barraco
(Joaquin Olmedo's mom)
Blanco, TX
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