Internalizing Research
At elite institutions, like Colby, we have deep and intellectual conversations in the classroom. We are debating philosophical and theoretical questions, while expanding and transforming our view of the world. However, once that discussion is over, we are done. Our brains are fried. We continue on with our daily life. Often times, we do not apply what we discuss or learn to our own life. This is for one of two reasons. First: We do not want to realize we are part of the problem, either individually or systemically.
It is easier for us to remain ignorant rather than deal with the problem and create change. Second: We do not want to change. Why would we want to change a system that we, or the people close to us, have benefitted from? That would be ridiculous.
This was my revelation as my group completed our paper outline. Our topic is the role/importance of athletics in elite institutions. While synthesizing our research and the data, our major takeaway is that: athletics allow elites (people and institutions) to perpetuate and reaffirm their elite status.
In the past months of research and discussion regarding this topic, I did not realize until now, my place in this system. I was student at an elite secondary school, primed to be a recruited college athlete. Out of my graduating high school class of 60 girls, ~20 of us pursued college athletics. It was a norm, something we never thought twice about. If you were athletically inclined and/or the school could get your scouted, you were set for college. You had all of the choices in the world. Our research, also, taps into the pressures (social, familial, academic, athletic) that come with athletics. Needless to say, of those 20 girls, about half stopped playing sports or changed divisions because the pressure didn’t stop after secondary school. They continued into our respective higher education institutions. However, athletics did their job. They acted as a gateway from our elite secondary school to an elite higher education institution. I am disappointed that it took me months to realize that this system I have been writing about and critiquing is one I was complicit in. Now as I move forward with research in the future, I will put myself into context. I will refrain from looking at it as some far-fetched theoretical system/situation.