Last month, some members of a Glenbrook North varsity sports team made some poor decisions during the weekend of an out-of-state tournament. Granted, these poor decisions may not have been the first among members of any sports team. Yet what made the case different is that they were caught in the act, and this is what elicited scorn towards these peers, as well as feelings of shame from the majority of the student body because of these students’ decisions.
Although the occurrence of this incident in and of itself is significant, the bigger issue here is that what happened seems to be being brushed under the rug and is not being used as an opportunity for other students to learn about the consequences of making poor decisions.
We understand some sort of need to keep quiet about what happened to protect the privacy of those involved. Yet, at least within the GBN community, what happened should not be kept entirely a secret. Although there are privacy considerations for school disciplinary actions, the incident can still be examined without revealing the identities of the involved players.
We acknowledge an attempt that was made with other sports teams to prevent such an occurrence from happening again. Some coaches gathered athletes in team meetings to warn them of consequences that would ensue if they chose to make poor decisions. Yet this is not enough. While individual sports teams are discussing the event as teams, the school is not discussing the event as a school, and that is a problem. This poor decision making does not only concern those involved in sports but other members of the GBN community as well.
Having a discussion as a school would help to put into context past talks that the school has had regarding poor decisions. Rather than being told in the form of All-School Workshops not to make poor decisions because of the X consequences, students can see the actual consequences at our school being played out, as confirmed by the school administration. This makes it much more realistic and applicable to them, and they can learn from what happened to use as a lesson to incorporate into their own decision making.
However, as much as this is ideal, the school administration is restricted by privacy considerations and cannot fully divulge the details of this incident, even it wanted to. Yet the responsibility of helping students learn from the poor decisions made by this sports team does not only fall on the school administration. The school administration does what it can to promote awareness, but obviously “just say no” talks are not enough to stop students from making poor decisions. It needs all the help it can get to make it a reality.
Parents need to talk to their kids to help them understand what the consequences can be and, as much as their kids will not like it, monitor their actions more closely. Students need to realize that making poor decisions does not only affect their own reputations but also their team and the people they care about. Everyone in the GBN community needs to use this as an opportunity and not just view the members of this sports team who got caught in the act of making a poor decision as bad apples.
The incident with this sports team, though it may be a painful topic and may not represent GBN at its best, is something to be brought out and discussed openly. If the school community wants to prevent breaches in conduct such as this one from happening again, what happened among specific members of this sports team and the consequences they faced must be talked out. We do realize that discussion is too simple of a solution to eliminate all poor decision making. However, discussion is a starting point for moving forwards towards the ultimate solution.
Yes, in the process, others may hear of it, but more likely than not, the fact that the community is confronting the issue rather than not talking about it will be viewed positively and could potentially set a precedent for other school communities as well. Even if that does not happen, what is more important is that everyone in the GBN community takes initiative and accepts responsibility so that the same event will not be rehashed in different student groups and in the next generation of students to come.