World Cup Hope

Brazil beat the U.S. soccer team yesterday in a FIFA final, but it was the first time in history that team U.S.A. has made it to a FIFA final. Wow! But what lessons does this game and team U.S.A. have for education, or better yet, the state of the American mentality? I like to think that I’m balanced about sports in general. I cheer a good game, admire hard work, and cherish those memorable moments. However, I don’t live life vicariously through professional sports or youth sports as I’ve seen too many do in my life time.

Brazil has a GDP of $1.99 trillion and a per capita GDP of $10,100. The United States has a $14.9 trillion GDP and a $47,000 per capita GDP. How does Brazil, a third world country, successfully defeat the U.S.? Some would argue that Brazil is a seasoned organization, and that soccer in Brazil is a national sport. I’ve heard these types of excuses from U.S. soccer apologists for 20 plus years. When the Russians launched Sputnik, the U.S. spent a lot of money and made it to the moon. The U.S. spends billions on all levels of soccer and scores of time. Think about the leagues, coaches, public schools, and palatial athletic facilities that line the landscape; but no moon landing yet, or in soccer the equivalent World Cup. I remember reading about the Brazilian national soccer hero Pele. No big spending on this kid to make it; just a love for the sport, hard work, and natural talent. Have you noticed with the exception of football, which enjoys American and Canadian exclusivity; other sports are starting to be dominated by foreign players? It appears that the U.S. likes to spend a lot of money on many different things to hopefully find success, but Americans often forget about love, hard work, and natural talent. Whether it’s on the soccer field, in the classroom, or on the production line, the same public formula is used: More inputs equal more outputs. This is an antiquated model, but simple to understand. It’s an easy model; especially, when the money input is stolen from other people as is the case of public spending. Yes, lovers of democracy, you steal other people’s money, resources, quality of life in order to fulfill your hopeful dreams. Label it majority vote, but call it what it really is: Theft by the majority. Maybe the social studies curriculum should emphasize this reality; instead of, the infallibility of democracy. Since students don’t study the fall of Athenian and Roman democracy with any rigor, they remain in the dark. Maybe reasons for limited government, or the idea that government has been responsible for death and destruction escapes those who hope it solves all problems; especially, those of inequality.

Americans’ mentality is strong on hope, and we love to spend money on it. Hope is easy. Who can’t be hopeful? Title I spending and NCLB come to mind. I hope one day that we will cure disease, end wars, live in peace, and I hope that people will be responsible for their actions. Again money seems to fuel hope in America. If a kid isn’t doing well in a sport, parents pay $35 an hour for additional coaching to see marginal, if any, improvement. Americans don’t take the fact well that the kid just doesn’t have it to be a major league baseball player or World Cup soccer player. Just like not all students have a love for learning, discipline, and natural talent to attend college without diluting the curricula and standards. I remember all of the parents whose high school baseball players that I coached were insistent that Johnny was going to get a college scholarship or get drafted by MLB. This wasn’t audacious hope, but a psychotic disconnect from reality. But I had to listen, and deal with the outrageous behavior from parents when circumstances started to bring reality to light. Let’s hope that the current economy will get better by spending trillions of dollars. Let’s hope that bad people will be nice without taking measures to be strong against evil. Let’s hope that children will drop the video games, iPods, and junk food to practice, participate in pick-up games, and work hard to be better athletes and learn something about life along the way. Let’s hope that team U.S.A. will win a World Cup one day.