Homeschoolers Not Welcome at Spur MTB League

[PygaSchmyga]

There is no stigma attached to Home Schooling (HS), but rather there is some very clear concerns of cyclists who have actually read the purpose of the INTER SCHOOL League, and have been involved with SCHOOL SPORT, and been involved with lobbying GOVERNMENT which indicate that the attitude of a select number of HS parents towards an initiative (That was not meant for HS) is very damaging to the sport in general.

 

Seriously, this whole thing is like listening to a vegan complaining that they were not invited to a braai.

 

The organisers developed the league to access the sporting infrastructure and facilities of the High Schools.  Where there were a shortage of school support (everywhere other than Gauteng) they widened their target group to include primary schools and "gasp" HS, but only as a concession. 

 

It seems that the only ire that is directed to HS parents is their inability to read with comprehension, or their inability to accept what they fully understand.  The OP is 100% correct the league was not meant for everyone, and not everyone is welcome.  The organisers do not need to be apologetic about that and, certainly in Gauteng, they do not need to change it to accommodate a sliver of the population that has already been accommodated elsewhere.

 

Sorry, HS parents need to explain to their kids that in life there are choices which come with consequences.  (I can give you a number of these, like soccer is not played at Afrikaans Schools ext.)

ONE HUNDRED CEMENT!!

 

I am waiting for all the HS pitchfork mob to start piling into new hub sign-ups!

[Slowbee]

There is no stigma attached to Home Schooling (HS),

 

*snip snip*

 

Sorry, HS parents need to explain to their kids that in life there are choices which come with consequences.  (I can give you a number of these, like soccer is not played at Afrikaans Schools ext.)

Put to one side the league.

 

Choices come with consequences for HS.

 

And you say there is no stigma ?

 

Oh and soccer is not played because no one wants to play, not because they are NOT allowed to play.

[Shaun Green]

Did you and your HS fb groups actively campaign and organize to target the Spur series fb page, irrespective of whether the commentators were parents of actual participant kids?

 

For Gauteng, your question makes no sense. The rules basically say: there can be no HS participants. There is therefore no way to answer this question.

 

The news did do the rounds in the various homeschooling communities on Facebook.

 

Neither my wife nor myself promoted the calls for a boycott of anything. It is the opposite of a boycott that we are requesting. A public appeal to the organizers who had refused to listen to previous private communications over a number of years.

 

I believe there is good faith on both sides now. We will be meeting with the organizers next two weeks to discuss how to include homeschoolers in future. Let's give this a chance to play out the way it should have originally: with respect on all sides.

[Slowbee]

We should all enter the durban cycle ride thingy and have a hub debate group.

 

The oke who makes it to the end in one piece will be the winner because we survived the most water bottle throwing

[Danger Dassie]

ONE HUNDRED CEMENT!!

 

I am waiting for all the HS pitchfork mob to start piling into new hub sign-ups!

With respect you're doing a fair amount of pitchforking yourself. It doesn't help anything. 

[Shebeen]

I'm glad we got the organiser's side of the story, I think if that came out quicker we might not have got to page 20something here already and had people banging on the Spur FB page...it's their series, and they can do what they want. The spur schools series is amazing, I have only seen a blips of what it is but it must rate as the most effective tool of growing cycling currently, across the board.

 

However, my feeling is that this is kids. It should be inclusive. They should make a plan for individual riders, if they can't go to the final of the series then that's logical. 

 

MTB is an individual sport, did you see the teamwork at the commonwealth games recently?!

 

There's this other race that is for pairs only.

If your partner pulls out, you're out of the classification finish and klaar. But you can keep on riding, just stay out of the way of the okes till in contention. If you finish you even get a medal. Here's this guy called Urs riding, after his buddy Karl got injured.

 

http://www.treadmtb.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/ACE14_Stage05_NM_5322.jpg

[eddy]

I think the league is totally discriminatory. Age discriminatory. Why should I as a 36 year old not be allowed to compete. 

 

 

Because you might get schooled by some of the kids..

[PygaSchmyga]

We should all enter the durban cycle ride thingy and have a hub debate group.

 

The oke who makes it to the end in one piece will be the winner because we survived the most water bottle throwing

not enough tarmac!

[PygaSchmyga]

For Gauteng, your question makes no sense. The rules basically say: there can be no HS participants. There is therefore no way to answer this question.

 

I'll rephrase:

 

Did you and your HS fb groups actively campaign and organize to target the Spur series fb page, irrespective of whether the commentators were parents of actual cyclist kids?

 

But I think we know the answer to this don't we? You were instrumental in drawing the HS community's attention to this issue, irrespective of whether their kids were cyclists or not - this very clearly became a HS mob thing, and NOT a cycling thing.

 

The news did do the rounds in the various homeschooling communities on Facebook.

 

Neither my wife nor myself promoted the calls for a boycott of anything.

 

I am sure you didn't, because you are clearly quite careful.  But you DID pour petrol all over it, and handed out matches, and then sat back and watched with shrugs and surprised "wasn't me" faces when the HS mob got all over this.  You knew you didn't have to do anything because the emotion in the HS community had been stirred up to boiling point.

 

It is the opposite of a boycott that we are requesting. A public appeal to the organizers who had refused to listen to previous private communications over a number of years.

 

I believe there is good faith on both sides now. We will be meeting with the next two weeks to discuss how to include homeschoolers in future. Let's give this a chance to play out the way it should have originally: with respect on all sides.

 

Well done, you got what you wanted.  What a victory, no?  I am sure the Spur series loves dealing with your HS community.  It is, after all the HS community that all but crashed the Spur fb page, with hundreds of attacks and calls for boycotts.

 

Do you really not feel even a little bit responsible for this disgusting behaviour? 

[Edition 507]

Here's another example for 6th Mass Extinction to maybe understand: 

 

If your kid's school has 100 children in his or her  grade, and the parents of ONE kid asked the school to change something material in the way it operated to accommodate their very specific and unique need, what would you do?  Listen, and try to be sympathetic, right?

 

And if they did not get exactly what they wanted, or in a different time frame, they then mobilised an outside mob of parents who had NOTHING to do with your kid's school, and campaigned and rioted and threatened to burn your school down because their ONE kid (1%, remember), and all  the sympathetic parents from outside (with NO connection to your school, remember) made such a sh1tshow that the school merely gave in and said, "fine", but please just don't burn the school down".  How would you feel about that ONE kid in your school, AND the group that rallied around her?

 

It is in this light that I now find little sympathy for the HS cause, because threatening to break it down for everybody is a proper k@k way to make friends and influence people.

Your argument is ridiculous to the extreme and not even to the the point I was making. If excluding Homeschoolers, and I quote you 'is something material to the way it operated', then why can they ride in other provinces? Oh right, that's because it suits the Spur league. However, when it does not suit the Spur league, the kiddies are told to ****off they not welcome. Clearly another case of serious double standards by Spur.

But I can understand your point of view as well, these Homeschoolers are pathetic little whinges and you should take no notice of them because their outrageous demands are just totally ludicrous and will go against the 'material' way the league operates! And of course I don't want any schools burned down, because then, G0d forbid, every child will have to be home schooled.

[scotty]

For Gauteng, your question makes no sense. The rules basically say: there can be no HS participants. There is therefore no way to answer this question.

 

The news did do the rounds in the various homeschooling communities on Facebook.

 

Neither my wife nor myself promoted the calls for a boycott of anything. It is the opposite of a boycott that we are requesting. A public appeal to the organizers who had refused to listen to previous private communications over a number of years.

 

I believe there is good faith on both sides now. We will be meeting with the organizers next two weeks to discuss how to include homeschoolers in future. Let's give this a chance to play out the way it should have originally: with respect on all sides.

Good to hear something positive is coming to light. I commend you on the way you have handled yourself around this issue. No insults, threats, sarcasm or snide remarks. 

[eddy]

 

I have read the entire thread and changed my mind a few times.

 

But Meurant Botha's message swung it for me.

 

 

 

At her very first XCO race, she went from a 2 minute late unseeded last start to being placed 9th in just three laps. She was placed 6th at the second race. She has since raced successfully in the 2018 CENTURY21 XCO Series. She was looking forward to participating again.

 

She can still participate in any XCO events including the Century 21 XCO races.

 

We have previously contacted Spur

 

Spur put up the money, it is not their event. Placing pressure on them to benefit (even deserving) outliers threaten the opportunty for the greater majority

 

 

and the organizers about homeschooler participation, but they unfortunately remained adamant that the League will not admit homeschoolers. 

 

No, it is not that they wont admit homeschoolers, It is that homeschoolers have exercised their democratic right not to enrol at those schools that are admitted to what is by design an inter-school series. The organisers have exercised their right to limit it to schools, not individuals.

 

 Spur want nothing to do with her 

 

Again, Spur are not responsible. Placing pressure on Spur is irresponsible. No different to setting fire to schools to place pressure on education department. Using mob tactics to get your way even if it threatens to deprive the majority of its right.

 

 

Spur want nothing to do with her simply because she is a homeschooler.

 

No, not simply because she is an homeschooler, but because she is not AT a school that participates in an inter-school competition

 

[ChrisF]

This was never about sorting the problem, this was always about proving each other wrong.

 

THIS must the post of the year !    

[Hairy]

 

For Gauteng, your question makes no sense. The rules basically say: there can be no HS participants. There is therefore no way to answer this question.

 

I'll rephrase:

 

Did you and your HS fb groups actively campaign and organize to target the Spur series fb page, irrespective of whether the commentators were parents of actual cyclist kids?

 

But I think we know the answer to this don't we? You were instrumental in drawing the HS community's attention to this issue, irrespective of whether their kids were cyclists or not - this very clearly became a HS mob thing, and NOT a cycling thing.

 

The news did do the rounds in the various homeschooling communities on Facebook.

 

Neither my wife nor myself promoted the calls for a boycott of anything.

 

I am sure you didn't, because you are clearly quite careful.  But you DID pour petrol all over it, and handed out matches, and then sat back and watched with shrugs and surprised "wasn't me" faces when the HS mob got all over this.  You knew you didn't have to do anything because the emotion in the HS community had been stirred up to boiling point.

 

It is the opposite of a boycott that we are requesting. A public appeal to the organizers who had refused to listen to previous private communications over a number of years.

 

I believe there is good faith on both sides now. We will be meeting with the next two weeks to discuss how to include homeschoolers in future. Let's give this a chance to play out the way it should have originally: with respect on all sides.

 

Well done, you got what you wanted.  What a victory, no?  I am sure the Spur series loves dealing with your HS community.  It is, after all the HS community that all but crashed the Spur fb page, with hundreds of attacks and calls for boycotts.

 

Do you really not feel even a little bit responsible for this disgusting behaviour? 

 

Seriously?

[Patensie]

Seriously?

probably too much wasabi in the mayo. On that note I'm out of here to the braai fred.

[tux26]

In the Gauteng series is there a limited amount of schools that can participate; do the organizers limit the amount of schools because there are so many participants in each race that there is over-congestion?

 

If a school has only one pupil who wants to cycle, because all the rest are focusing too much on rugby and netball, would that pupil be allowed to cycle in the series?  On the one hand, this pupil goes to a real school so should be allowed to participate, but on the other hand is not in a team, and "individuals do not qualify for our program"