Several weeks ago, I had the opportunity to sit on the floor during the Detroit Pistons game against the Miami Heat. I was close enough to the Pistons bench that I could hear their head coach, Stan Van Gundy, talk to his players. The Pistons won the game. At one point, with the Pistons up by ten, a Miami player was shooting free throws and Van Gundy yelled in exasperation, “Will somebody please box somebody out?” I would have expected the coach to yell in exasperation if his team was down by ten, but up by ten?
I've been thinking about this scene off and on since the game, and today I finally have a deep enough understanding of what was happening to write about it. Van Gundy was essentially yelling:
"Get some grit and use it.”
Basketball is an interesting game. A team can easily overcome a ten-point deficit in less than a minute. It wasn't good enough to Van Gundy for his team to be ahead. He wanted his team to continue expanding the point difference.
"Houston, We've got a problem!"
Within American schools, and perhaps society at large, I think we have a problem. If a Student is at the top of her class, we tend to think that she is doing great. We think that there is no need to push her further because she is already the best. We are wrong.
If the top student is capable of doing more, we should be pushing him further and further. If he is incapable of moving further, we should ask why and try to create the milieu in which he can move forward. Of course, we need to help lower-achieving students—but the top-achieving student counts, too.
Progress or Regress - It's One or the Other
If we don’t push the top-achieving student, we’re not only hindering their growth, but we’re hurting society and ourselves. Top-achieving students who are pushed to achieve as much as they are capable will be most likely to develop the best innovations. Perhaps, a top-achieving student in the social studies will create a legitimate process for world peace. A similar student in science could, through collaborative opportunities, discover a cure for disease. These two scenarios are perhaps unlikely. But, one thing is certain: Students will only have the opportunity to push civilization forward if we enable them to move as far forward as possible and prod them along the way.
