Fourth Period Football Players

My fourth period lumbers in, knocking furniture and trash cans out-of-the-way. They are large football players, so big that they cannot help bumping each other and desks and classmates and me. Most of my class are 17 – 18 year olds, 200+ pound kids, muscular, and now with facial hair (thanks to Movember), students with eyes on a moving target, a football (or basketball or volleyball…), but not on a goal of college or career. These students want to play games— preferably all day long. What drives many is a ball in the air, a tackle, a drive, any physical exertion. As an example, R. climbed the top of a 60 foot rock wall four times and belayed his classmates for two hours, but has yet to submit his essay two weeks past due. College personal statements are imminent and graduation is nearing—less than a year away—but these students are in essence young boys (and girls, of which, are quiet, overwhelmed by the large, looming majority) and deadlines only have significance when on a time clock. Play by-play, week by week, game by game decides their lives.
I bring in as much football into my classroom as legally possible. I print each new article by ESPN. Naturally, this week, my articles concerned the controversy of Richie Incognito and Jonathon Martin. To keep this academic, my classes wrote a précis on an op-ed piece by ESPN and then held a Socratic seminar on the central topics—hazing, bullying, and policing of locker rooms. I did not bring in the original text by Incognito, but my students willingly offered their versions:
V—Ms. H., Do you know what Incognito said? Can I tell you?
Me—Well, V., if ESPN and other networks do not use the exact language, you will not in this classroom, either.
V—He said, “You, N…, Mother F’ng, I am going to slap your mother and kill her. You are a rookie. I will kill you.”
Me—Okay, then. I think we established what was said in the locker room.
Of course, V. avoided the precise words (and an office referral), and with his exquisite enunciation of the letters N, M, and F, we understood the missing words. The authentic text by Incognito is similar and is readily available online.
My awakening is that to my class the “N” word is insignificant to them, less offensive after generations, because it is not “their” word. This current generation, just as in previous decades, has other highly offensive words and delight in using them, especially when adults are out of earshot. They think that words spoken by Richie Incognito were meant to be “inflammatory” and “fun”—and my students suggested that, no way would Incognito truly mean what he said. One student’s point, who also volunteered to recite Incognito’s words with strong intonation, is that no one would do that to a mother. No one would risk losing that much money to kill someone. Threats to my players, such as “kill someone” are not serious, but meant to rile someone up.
My point is there is no place for hazing, bullying, or name-calling in any sport. Play with force, not vocabulary. Save rhetoric for the page. Finally, at least one thing has not changed through generations, mothers of the world, you have more power than you realize.