There is growing resistance to the Richmond School District’s move to gender-neutral, non-competitive track meets for elementary students.
The district says it promotes diversity and inclusion, but some parents say it does not reflect the real world or how they grew up.
“It seemed a lot more competitive,” Scott Tolman, a parent, told Global News.
This year, at Richmond elementary track meets, students participate in a wider range of events. They can pick between competition and recreation, but there are no ribbons and events are gender neutral.
“I want a ribbon to remember it since it’s my first time and also like because if you do it, then it feels like you’re more proud of it and you’ll remember it for longer, but I also just want one,” Amaya Sagarbarria, a Grade 4 student, said.
One parent with a son in Grade 7 started a petition against the changes.
“So the last few years he’s been really looking forward to high jump and he did quite well in previous years and got ribbons for that and this year he didn’t even get a chance to try the high jump because the lines were so long because they encourage everyone to try it,” Kim Nowitsky said.
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Richmond City Councillor Alexa Loo is a parent and also a two-time Olympian in snowboarding, and has also been vocal about the changes.
“I think it’s important for kids to be able to evaluate their effort against their results and understand how they’ve done and compare themselves against each other,” she said.
“You know, what’s the other person doing differently that I’m not doing, how could I have done better?”
In a statement, School District 38 said it is aware of recent questions and media attention about changes to elementary track and field, including concerns that competition has been removed.
However, the district said each student may choose between competitive or recreational options and students who wish to have their results recorded may do so.
“The updated format also gives students more ways to participate, try different activities and stay active throughout the day,” the statement read.
“The district has increased the number of Grade 4 to 7 elementary track and field meets from six to eight. This change is intended to give more students the opportunity to take part.
“The updated format is aligned with the Physical and Health Education curriculum, set by the B.C. Ministry of Education and Child Care. This curriculum focuses on physical literacy, self-awareness, movement skills and the enjoyment of physical activity. The Richmond School District is responsible for delivering this curriculum to all students.”
The reaction is still mixed.
“It’s good, good exercise and everything, but at the same time it’s kind of losing that, you know, that feel that it used to have where it was competitive back then,” Tolman said.
Another parent likes the idea that kids get to choose more.
“If they feel like confident to do it, they go to do it competitively and that’s a, that’s one of, one of the things that I like — it’s not forcing the kid to be competitive all the time,” Jorge Espinosa said.
The district tried the changes last year through a pilot project with four schools.
They said feedback showed that students wanted the chance to participate in more events.
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