The Difference

I read an article on American ideology today. It hit some key points, but one thing that really struck out was the fact (anecdotal of course) that we have been brought up to ask “why?” And no I am not referring to the annoying yet amusing age of childhood when it seems like that is the only word that the kid knows. It is not that we have some of the best universities and minds in the world teaching the next wave of students. No. It is that those students question the teacher, the ideas, and the support of those ideas.

Maybe it was a little bit of cultural indifference on my part, but I just now noticed the rather big difference here. It occurred to me during a friendly football match of all places. I have never agreed with all of the rules that are used here as ‘hand balls’ are thrown around as liberally as penalty flags on the Huskers this past season. The hand ball is there for a reason, yes, but you have to play the advantage. It doesn’t always have to be a free kick. In any case I was on an outskilled team of primary school kids up against some of my students and those from the grade above. Obvious mismatch, but we scored the first goal. The “older” kids then took the ball down and threw up a lazy cross towards the goal that was going out of bounds. The pint-sized preschooler who was the goalie (a single cement block is the goal), ended up slipping and throwing his hand up to catch his balance. The ball hit his hand and the older kids cheered for a penalty kick (aka goal) as the ‘gaurdian’ isn’t allowed to use his hands. Go figure, neither is anyone else. So if the goalie can’t use his hands just like the rest of us then why should a stray touching (even occasionally to deflect the ball from hitting his face) count as anything more than a free kick like every other hand ball?

Not being the slight bit worried about my super-competitiveness I got all riled up about it. They were frustrated at losing to a smaller, slower; and less skilled group of kids and tried to take advantage of an obvious flaw in the system to even the score. I explained my argument, after letting the penalty stand, and got a response that went something like, ‘those are the rules that I have been told.’ To that I responded along the lines of, “but if the rule doesn’t make sense then why do you follow it?” Maybe I am a rare breed who likes to understand why a rule is there, sometimes to learn if or how I can break it, or if I agree with it to let it stand. There is no concern for that here. Whether it be the discipline that the culture drives the students towards or a lack of wanting to know, I can’t completely say. But what I do know is that I can definitely see the cultural difference not that I am looking for it.