In the latest episode of an over-active school board making an overtly PC move, a New Hampshire school district has banned the game of dodgeball for fears that it reinforces and leads to bullying.
As reported by the Eagle Tribune and other outlets, the Windham (N.H.) School Board voted 4-1 to outlaw dodgeball and “nine other human target activities” because it was concerned that the traditional game was reinforcing the exact behaviors that the school district was aiming to eliminate in its students.
“We spend a lot of time making sure our kids are violence free,” Windham superintendent Dr. Henry LaBranche told the Eagle Tribune. “Here we have games where we use children as targets. That seems to be counter to what we are trying to accomplish with our anti-bullying campaign.”
Though dodgeball can occasionally lead to some students being targeted for their lack of agility or other physical limitations, it seems harsh to claim that the pseudo sport is a petri dish for bullying. Rather, it is a continued embodiment of the dog-eat-dog ethos that was once embodied in all school sports.
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Apparently, Windham is making its stand against dodgeball on its own. The Eagle Tribune reported that neighboring districts plan to continue offering it, having overseen a general decline in interest in dodgeball, but no increased violence or antisocial behavior as a result of the game.
Meanwhile a pair of local schools in the area noted that dodgeball remains their most popular intramural sports, with the pair competing in a charity tournament against one another each year.
In fact, perhaps those schools -- Pinkerton (N.H.) Academy and Londonderry (N.H.) High -- could invite affected Windham students in on the fun in the future. That way at least the Windham students who want to keep taking part in dodgeball can while Windham officials continue to occupy the higher moral ground, lonely or not.
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