HS Marchers

[13strokeroll]

Softball teaches skill sets like dependence on teamwork, winning strategy, competitive tactics, self-discipline, tenacity, and enhances both mental and physical health; skill sets and health issues which will certainly be brought back to the scrum team making the team stronger. Moreover, I can justify any activity,I mean 'any' activity which would develop or hone skill sets to benefit your company (for example fishing teaches patience as a skill which would benefit your company); so if you let a person out of work to hone skill sets to honk a horn, bang a drum, or wave a flag, and not let me out of work to acquire the stated skill sets from Softball which will benefit your company, I will grab an attorney and sue your butt along with the company. welcome to the new age of corporate life!

And I just pulled this from the "Local" thread to show that whether or not it is a tinge of humor: a) Even you would try to figure out a way to abuse your own "leave of absence from work for educational reasons" policy; and b) You use arguing for both sides as a tool which keeps us from knowing where you exactly stand on various positions.

Well then paraphrase my comment, replacing "softball" with "going fishing." Exercising a contractual privilege (read permission) to potentially set aside one's responsibility. However, please do not misinterpret that I would find either band or dc as a "shirk." Simply that responsibility to the greater group supersedes personal wishes.150 or 300 should not be forced to bear the consequences of a personal conflict of desire.

[Kevin Powell]

yep... just depends if that "shirk" is approved time off. If not, there are consequences.

edit: add the "shirk" being fishing and softball not confused with band and corps. In my case all would be a "shirk". But I work flex schedule/60+ hours a week. I realize that when I request time off, I will still work that day.

Edited August 26, 2012 by Kevin Powell

[13strokeroll]

yep... just depends if that "shirk" is approved time off. If not, there are consequences.

edit: add the "shirk" being fishing and softball not confused with band and corps. In my case all would be a "shirk". But I work flex schedule/60+ hours a week. I realize that when I request time off, I will still work that day.

Correctamundo. I'm commenting more on the sense of entitlement that's crept in. Sometimes it comes down to nothing more than the need to make an unfortunate but difficult decision.

[Kevin Powell]

+1

[CuriousMe]

Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth while I was marching and in HS, (now, this wasn't even a band that competed...we're talking football games and one field exhibition) I went up to my band director as soon as I got my tour schedule and told him I couldn't attend band camp. He asked why, and I told him (I was the first person to march corps from the band). He said he wanted to see the tour schedule. I brought it in the next day, and once he looked at it....he said, "but, band camp is during your last week with this group....there's only a few shows right on these last days....you have all these other shows, couldn't you just miss these last few to attend band camp?"

I was marching Garfield that summer ('87), and of course the "few shows" he wanted me to miss were of course the World Championships!

He did threaten to kick me out of band for not just missing those last few shows and going to bandcamp. I stuck to my guns, and he let me in band.

[MikeD]

I still think too many are narrowly focusing on Drum corps/Band camp as opposed to Non-band activity/Band Camp. I think having separate policies for excusing absence from camp for 'this' activity but not allowing it for 'that' activity can open up the band program to a lot of potential problems with parents.

Note a few pages back the student who was not allowed to miss camp for corps in order to be made a DM, while another student was permitted to miss camp to study in Japan...and was selected as DM.

They both chose a 'non band' activity over over band camp, yet the poster felt very put out that the person chosen in effect made the same choice he did. He was right to feel put out, as the band had an inconsistent policy on selecting the DM, apparently.

What if it were the other way round, and the corps member was chosen DM while the student who studied in Japan was excluded for that reason? That would have just as unfair, IMO, while I bet many here would not think so.

I think that is why a lot of programs make such blanket policies; they have to think about every student in the program in an equitable manner.

Of course, the blanket policy can be as open or as tight as the director wants to make it, as long as it is fair to everyone.

[Kevin Powell]

I still think too many are narrowly focusing on Drum corps/Band camp as opposed to Non-band activity/Band Camp. I think having separate policies for excusing absence from camp for 'this' activity but not allowing it for 'that' activity can open up the band program to a lot of potential problems with parents.

Note a few pages back the student who was not allowed to miss camp for corps in order to be made a DM, while another student was permitted to miss camp to study in Japan...and was selected as DM.

They both chose a 'non band' activity over over band camp, yet the poster felt very put out that the person chosen in effect made the same choice he did. He was right to feel put out, as the band had an inconsistent policy on selecting the DM, apparently.

What if it were the other way round, and the corps member was chosen DM while the student who studied in Japan was excluded for that reason? That would have just as unfair, IMO, while I bet many here would not think so.

I think that is why a lot of programs make such blanket policies; they have to think about every student in the program in an equitable manner.

Of course, the blanket policy can be as open or as tight as the director wants to make it, as long as it is fair to everyone.

We had these blanket policies back when I was in high school.

It was based on time out or days missed, to eliminate the activity in question. So... I did not even think "corps" in high school. I would have missed symphonic camps during summer and winter and marching band leadership, rookie camp, regular band camp, and everydays. Just was not an option.

I completely understood the policy because managing close to 400 band students is difficult but it is even more difficult to manage 800 parents that all want something different for their kid.