wrote:
I manage farmining operations for absentee landlords in the southern
US. I
also teacher HS science whenever a school needs a science teacher,
since I
have a master's in biology and science educators are hard to find.
The past
three years I have been at a small country school (and I mean deep in
the
woods) that has some remarkably talented academic students. I have
played
at Chess for 42 years, though never good enough to rto make an
impression on
the outside world. Nonetheless, I feel as though Chess has
contributed
greatly to my life and I started letting some of my students play at
breaks,
when we finished work, or on their off day (off day is lab day. My
lab is
small so only half the students can do lab at one time. Therefore
the
others work on other subjects or tasks of their choosing). The game
has
caught on and us is immensely popular. Their biggest thrill is to
beat me
(though they dont realize how minor an accomplishment that is). Some
of the
older students want to start a club next year and one parent bought 5
sets
for my classes to use.

Last week the administration sent a school policy admentment
forbidding all
forms of board games. I went to the next school board meeting and
brought
the set I bought for $3.99 in 1972. I placed it on a table and gave
a five
mintue talk on what value I placed on the game and why. I then
pointed to
the set and told them I have played at least 4000 games on that set
alone.
I asked them how many of their kids would be playing their $40 video
games
30 days from now, much less than 30 years from now.

I knew what I was up against when one of the do-gooder's (board
members)
voiced her objection. Chess, she pointed out, was not appropriate
under the
new No Child Left Behind Act, because there were definite winners and
losers, and educators needed to see that everyone succeeded!!?? Talk
about
a scholar's mate, she used one of the best arguements for the game
against
me. Well, I picked up my set before they finished and told them next
year's
football season would be interesting under that philosophy. The
president
of the board asked me if I had anything else to say and I replied
that it
was really no use, ignorance never loses an arguement and in this
case I was
definitely on the losing side. I dont know if they have figured out
what I
meant by that yet.

Hopefully this is an isolated case, but it would be interesting to
hear if
any others have run into this type of resistance (I dont mean the
traditional chess players are nerds vs. the jocks, etc.)



Years ago (maybe 1978), when I was playing at a U.S. Open in Columbus,
a bunch of us were sitting in a bar/restaurant, playing 5-minute,
having finished our meal. The owner/manager told us to quit, or kicked
us out, I don't remember, because he assumed we were gambling, and he
was afraid he would get into trouble for that.

*******

Of course, in retrospect, if you get to the school board meeting, and
you don't already know what the objection(s) to chess is (are), it's
way too late. You get taken by surprise and you have to think of an
answer on your feet -- who knows what you'll say and how they'll react.
Also, you heard from one lady, but who knows why the other board
members or the administrators didn't like chess.

What you want to do is to talk to each board member privately (on the
phone or at his or her home or office), find out why he or she voted
against you, and talk to each one about the things he or she cares
about. Then by the time the actual meeting rolls around, it's just a
matter of counting heads, and if you're lucky, you'll have enough heads
on your side. Also talk to the administrators.

Another important thing might be to get parents, etc., to speak out for
you. See if some of them are in a better position to twist arms than
you are.

Bruce Leverett