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June 23, 1999 Tirozzi: Balance needed 
The problem of athletes bullying non-athletes starts with schools and communities over-emphasizing sports, said Gerald Tirozzi, executive director of the National Association of Secondary School Principals.
Tirozzi made his comments to ESPN.com users in a chat session as part of the Outside the Lines series on relations between athletes and non-athletes in high schools.
If you missed the chat session, here is an edited transcript:
Gerald Tirozzi: Hello, any questions? Rob: Do you believe the coaches in high school ought to take upon themselves to discipline problem students who aren't getting the upbringing at home? Gerald Tirozzi: Coaches have a responsibility to discipline students who don't conform with rules and regulations, whether or not they're getting discipline at home. Ideally, they should be getting discipline at home. But athletes have to comply with the same rules as everyone else.
Darius: With the glorification of professional athletes in our society, what can be done at a high school level where there is and probably always will be status inequity? Gerald Tirozzi: It's a very fair observation. As a society, we definitely do tend to glorify athletes. But this is where schools have a unique responsibility. These are not professional athletes. They are students. They play an important role in the school, but so do band members and other groups of students.
John Nagurney: During high school I was continuously told to make friends with people of common interests and goals. My parents did a great job bringing me up. I recently graduated and moved home to find that some people actually disliked me for being in the group of people known as the jocks or rich kids. I never thought that this type of resentment had occurred till then. Do you believe it is the parent's job to make their children good at something so they have something to say they are good at? Gerald Tirozzi: Every parent has a responsibility to bring out the best in their child. It may be sports, and it may be something else. You try to bring out the best and try to let them grow in a whole lot of experiences. If more of our students had a better self-image, that would really curtail a number of the problems we have in our schools.
Darius: Does socioeconomic status of the high school play any role in the level of conflict between athletes and non-athletes? Gerald Tirozzi: Good question. What I think is striking and interesting is, when you look at some of the major problems, the catastrophic events like the shootings and the so-called conflict with athletes, it's been in suburban, rich schools -- not urban schools. I have no research on this, but it would seem like the kids from urban schools have so much to occupy them that they are less focused on the athletes. Perhaps in some of the less affluent areas, parents are spending more time with their kids than in suburban areas.
John Nagurney: Do you believe the root of the problem started when the athletes began getting special consideration in high school? Living in a political town big on high school sports, I saw first-hand what gifts and grades were given to us for excelling at sports. Gerald Tirozzi: Yes. I think the problem has its roots in too many of our high schools and communities glorifying athletes. The youngsters growing up, they are made to stand out and be special. But at the same time, they may step out of bounds and take it out on other students. The fact that we glorify athletes so much does contribute to this problem.
Chris: I agree that coaches have a responsibility, but I don't think many communities or administrators privately share your belief that a coach's main goal should be to build character. Many coaches are fired because they didn't win. Their communities didn't want a losing program, even if it did turn out good kids. How do we change that attitude? Gerald Tirozzi: That's a fair observation. I've been in schools most of my life, and if coaches don't win, they lose their jobs. We place a premium on winning, and it goes all the way down to the little leagues. Unless and until we can support other co-curricular activities, and until schools can send a message that winning isn't everything, it's going to be a difficult road to changing the attitude with coaches that teaching character is their main objective.
Jay Coakley: My sense is that students are most likely to be harassed in schools characterized by extreme degrees of homogeneity and by individual competitiveness in terms of grades and material symbols of status. Under such conditions, anyone who is different from the norm is identified as a loser. When certain athletes are given the impression that they are "representatives" of the school, they may become the unofficial enforcers of conformity to the dominant norms. Usually, it is male athletes who take on this role of enforcer of conformity. This leads me to think that our ideas about masculinity ought to be questioned along with our ideas about the role of athletes. It also leads me to wonder if the best schools aren't those characterized by diversity of race, social class, and interests. Gerald Tirozzi: I've always felt the best schools are the most diversified schools -- in terms of race, gender, ability, co-curricular activities. If this society continues to celebrate athletics as it does, and young people who are impressionable continue to get these messages, we're going to have the problem. I wish we celebrated the kids in the band and on the debate team as much, but we just don't do it that way in our society.
Don: After having watched the special on ESPN the other night I agreed with one former football player when he said "we should not ask how this child accomplished this (referring to the shooting of another student) but rather why it happened." So much emphasis is placed on the student that committed an act but not on the reasons why. I believe more attention needs to be given to the cause and efforts to alleviate the problem so that future high school students do not fall into the same trap. Gerald Tirozzi: In fairness, a lot of people have been asking the why. I think too many schools have been rushing to put in place the metal detectors and so forth. I wish more schools would spend time looking at the why question. Rather than wait for an incident to happen and then ask why, we should be asking the why question now -- work with those loner kids to see what's on their minds.
Kev: I graduated from high school in the early 80's. I was a non-athlete who was frequently picked on by jocks, who were basically considered gods by faculty and most other students. But I never harbored any hatred or had thoughts of violence against these people. I just shrugged them off as idiots (which most of them were) and went about my business. What has caused kids today to take that extra violent step against athletes, whether it be open signs of hatred or in the worst-case scenario, the Columbine tragedy? Gerald Tirozzi: Youngsters today are just bombarded by images of violence. It seems to be a quick, Pavlovian response. Instead of confronting an athlete with an issue, they resort to force. Twenty years ago it was unheard of -- and today it's often not just a weapon, but an assault weapon. It's just the glorification of violence, it seems to me.
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National Association of Secondary School Principals official Gerald Tirozzi says bullying is high schools' dirty little secret.
