Wouldn’t you think if someone had a problem with dodgeball being too rough for some kids, they would just say so? Talk it out. Let students have a say. Maybe offer alternative activities. Or maybe save dodgeball for young adults who want to show off their athletic prowess and let the little kids try, say, kickball.
Unfortunately, as happens all too often in academe, a team of cosmic thinkers in British Columbia reached far into the ether of political correctness to slam dodgeball as a “tool of oppression.” More than that, they wailed that the playground game activates not just one but the “five faces of oppression” (conjured by an icon of feminist political theory, the late Iris Marion Young): exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, cultural imperialism, and violence.
Does a game that entails throwing, dodging, or catching soft rubber balls deserve this much PC vitriol? Granted, if you are agility-challenged (as was I), you might have difficulty dodging a swift throw. However, if you are smarter than the average bear, you could stand your ground and learn how to catch the ball and thus put the smarty-pants flamethrower out of the game.
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