Editor,
In his Symposium Plato states, “it is indicative of the tyrannical nature of imperial rule that it condemns love as well as philosophy and sport.”
With his sudden and dictatorial decision to cut UNM’s most successful sports program, Athletic Director Paul Krebs proves Plato right. The disrespect hurled against generations of dedicated young men and women displays an utter disregard and total lack of understanding for the exemplary mission of athleticism. This mission has been perfected over the years by UNM’s outstanding ski team.
The selfless ambition that drives the disciplined student-athlete to highest excellence deserves admiration, not contempt. One must imagine the relentless, meticulous investment of everyday time and tireless energy, the sweat and pain, the fatigue and love to overcome all kinds of barriers for the sake of the higher achievements of intellectual and physical “transformation,” which is the very idea of “education,” to grasp the devastating meaning of this irresponsible decision, not only for those directly affected, the student-athletes and their mentoring coaches and counseling teachers, but also for the student body at large as well as the faculty dedicated to them.
The spirit of sports transforms body and soul. The ancient Greeks understood the mysterious power of self-overcoming transcendence, which is why they immortalized their finest. Education in the true sense of the word cannot be bought. One can only earn and deserve it. A minimum respect for the student-athlete’s inspirational endeavor is the imperative of any level of understanding.
Consequently, every collective body finds its representatives among its best to adopt the mission of ambassadors. Student-athletes fulfill the function naturally. Hence, the message to them entailed by the decision to sack the Ski Team is as simple as it is brutal: “We don’t care. What counts for us is what we can count, such as money, regardless of how little value it effectively is.” If this insolence can happen to the best, what does this mean for the rest?!
Coincidentally, the Governor, too, abuses her position of responsibility and perverts it into dictatorial irresponsibility. It’s easiest to target the weakest. Hence, she cuts middle school sports. These little youngsters happen to have learned to walk and play not too long ago. Now they are told, “We don’t care. Your school is not a place for you to have fun and flourish.” The teachers get the message too. “Even though you are abysmally underpaid and chronically overworked we don’t value your selfless commitment. Your ultimate value consists in being cut. Until then, we will continue to exploit you.”
What happens to the youngest (in education), will affect the strongest (in commitment and ability). Thus, the best are driven away. Those who stay are depressed and demoralized. New recruits are bribed with less(er) education, lest they become too sophisticated and act up, which is exactly Plato’s point. For “the rulers dread the bonds of friendship effected by philosophy, sports and love.” Progressive discipline is unwelcome, since dangerous, if allowed the freedom to evolve into itself. Consistent with this general downfall of education is the moral-political transgression of the nation’s Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. Her personal ambition is to destroy the mission of education, as she seeks to defund public education for the benefit of private and religious-fundamentalist charter schools.
Thus a wedge is shoved between the tiny minority of the privileged rich who buy themselves into private schools and clubs, and the vast majority of the impoverished public who is condemned to find lesser means of education for their hapless children.
For the peripatetic philosopher Aristotle, who promoted the physical stimulation of the mind, education naturally pertains to the mind and the body. Our politicians and administrators should consult the founders of Western civilization and educate themselves first before demolishing the most promising of human enterprises.
Hopefully, most members of the Board of Regents still live in the realm of reason and will reverse these ill-conceived decisions — for the sake of the Ski Team, the whole UNM community, the city and society at large.
Joachim L. Oberst
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