They'll never be winners of a spelling bee

Today I was subbing at J's school in a 3rd grade class. Because of this, I had the amazing privilege (note sarcasm) of attending the all-school assembly the last 30 minutes of the day. It was to close our their "Kindness Month". There is something sad about having to designate a specific time of the school year to be kind, instead of incorporating it into the entire year's theme. Also, why do they wait until February to talk about kindness? Shouldn't this be addressed on the first day of school? But, I digress...

Part of the month's festivities was a contest for the students in 5th grade. They could create a cheer which would be judged by teachers and the cheerleaders from our local high school. The winner would receive a pizza party for his/her class and a $100 donation to the charity of the winner's choice. The charity donation was a really good idea. If that wasn't enough, the two runners up and the grand prize winner got to actually hear the cheerleaders perform the cheer, like, that is sooooooooooo cool. (again, note sarcasm)

This really was exciting for the winners and we all sat there politely listening and watching as the cheerleaders performed. The more we watched, the more disturbed we became. It quickly became evident that the back row of cheerleaders could not spell. When the cheer was to chant "K-I-N-D-N-E-S-S" I was appalled as I watched some of the girls just totally shut down after K-I-N. They couldn't remember the rest?

It was worse with "R-E-S-P-E-C-T-F-U-L". The back row didn't even try to attempt it. How sad is that? These are high school girls that should be able to spell and clap and stomp their feet all at the same time--otherwise they shouldn't be cheerleaders!

You could argue that maybe they were confused, they lost their place in the cheer, or othe cheer was so quickly created they did not know it, but wouldn't you catch on after the 3rd or 4th time through?

Some cheerleaders (obviously not the ones in our district) work really hard to bring an attitude of R-E-S-P-E-C-T to the act of cheering, but the ones who are more interested in looking cute and shaking their hineys make me realize that I really hope my girls are more interested in PLAYING sports instead of standing on the sidelines with a fake tan and a mini-skirt.