Blowing the Whistle on Johnny

By Ellie McGrath

If he can't read, says a Texan, why let him play ball?

The $6.1 million football stadium in Odessa, Texas, rises Mecca-like above the flatlands. It has seating for 19,032 people, parking for 4,756 cars, and boasts a press box and a booth for coaches. The playing field, 18 ft. below ground level, is topped with AstroTurf. This stadium was not designed for the Cowboys or the Oilers. It is for two high school teams: the Permian Panthers and their crosstown rivals, the Odessa Bronchos. The head coach at Permian earns $43,000 a year, a whole lot more than the average Permian teacher's salary of about $24,500. Says Charles Broughton, principal of Permian High: "Some communities choose to build a $10 million library or a $20 million civic center. This community chose to build a sports complex for its young people. A winning football team and a strong academic program are not mutually exclusive."

H. Ross Perot, 53, a Texan who has earned millions from the computer industry, disagrees. After loudly criticizing Texas schools' obsession with football, marching bands and baton twirling, he has been named by Governor Mark White to head a committee to try to reform public schools in Texas. It is likely to be an uphill struggle. Texas students spend an average of one hour a night on academic studies and as much as 15 to 20 hours a week on extracurricular activities. At least 600 of the state's 1,100 districts allocate all of their local school revenues to extracurricular activities, leaving the state to pay for academic costs. Complains Perot: "Extracurricular activities are about the only place in the public school system where we demand excellence from our children."

It is a complaint that is widely echoed.

Across the country, school boards are tightening up on extracurricular activities. For the past year, Los Angeles has had a regulation requiring a C average and no failing grades for students participating in any nonacademic activities. Says School Board Member Rita Walters: "We had to reinforce the academic mission of the schools." The Prince George's County, Md., board of education last year also introduced the C-average rule. The Idaho board of education decided last October that a student who misses more than 10% of classes because of extracurricular activities will be marked as absent from school. In Milwaukee a student is denied participation in nonacademic activities after four unexcused absences from school; in Minneapolis activities are ruled out for students who fail more than two courses. Even colleges are concerned: the National Collegiate Athletic Association (N.C.A.A.) considered a resolution at its annual meeting this month that would have allowed university presidents to set higher academic standards for athletes.

In some communities students have endorsed these restrictions. Says Troy Bell, vice president of the Maryland Association of Student Councils: "The C rule will put an accent on academics." But in other districts the new rules have brought a lot of boos. In Los Angeles, the Hollywood High School football team has lost all but two of its 38 returning varsity players because of poor academic performance. The 21-member band was wiped out when 14 students could not maintain a C average and seven had one or more F's.

Says Barry Brown, director of athletics and varsity football at Hollywood High:

"The rule has killed our program, and it's killed the spirit of the school."

Nowhere, though, does cutting back on sports and other activities strike deeper in the heart than in Texas. Perot has already scored a few points in his fight to put extracurriculars in a supporting role. The state's University Interscholastic League, which governs school extracurricular activities, has passed guidelines permitting students in programs such as tennis and golf to miss no more than ten days of school a year in order to compete in tournaments. The dapper Texan wants much more. Classes, he says, should be held year-round with short seasonal breaks, and extracurricular activities should be restricted to the end of the day and be only for students in good academic standing.

Also advocated by Perot: a thorough grounding in math, science and literature, and the building of a core curriculum. Says he: "It's very important that we don't turn out technological robots who confuse data and wisdom." Perot, who is chairman of Electronic Data Systems Corp., a computer-services firm, has won the support of Texas' leading businessmen, largely because of his assertion that a better-educated work force will strengthen the state's economy.

But he is becoming very unpopular in a state where football is an obsession. Athletic Director Charles Quails of Mesquite insists, "If you remove athletics, I'm afraid you will lose a lot of kids out of school."

Tim Edwards, a Fort Worth coach, points out that Perot sent his children to private schools. He says, "Here comes a guy in his Learjet saying it's athletics that is the problem in our schools. He doesn't see how it prepares students to be well-rounded people." Meeting in Dallas with state coaches last week, Perot chided: "It is like saying if a boy is not on the team, he'll be out robbing 7-Eleven stores."

One of Perot's suggestions is winning applause: more money must be paid to teachers. At Round Rock High, about 20 miles from Austin, the average teacher's salary is $17,000 (the football coach makes $44,000). One teacher who has taught business at Round Rock for more than a decade has decided to quit. Says she: "An injustice is being done here. People are yelling and screaming about our football record, and meanwhile Johnny still can't do simple math or English exercises." Perot is equally adamant that too much play makes Johnny a dull student.

"It's a question of priorities," he says. "We will still have athletic teams, we will still have bands, but these won't be the forces that drive education." --By Ellie McGrath.

Reported by Leslie Cauley/Odessa

With reporting by Leslie Cauley