Gridiron-to-School Pipeline

Sports have served as a vehicle for steering Polynesian youth from the school to prison pipeline. For females sports like volleyball, softball and basketball have been the greatest impact. For males it has been American football, rugby and boxing. Sports have not only provided a pathway to success in school, but also provide spaces where their identities can be expressed without resentment and their cultures valued. In the state of Utah it is not uncommon to view sports rosters across high school and collegiate teams and find Polynesian names or players. For example, this year 28 Division 1 college football scholarships were given to Utah players with 18 of those to Polynesian players (Goldman, n.d.). I will specifically look at football and the success Polynesian males have found socially and academically. American football is a recent phenomenon in Polynesian communities. Despite football being prevalent in American culture Polynesians have adopted the sport and embraced it. With the recent exposure to the sport, Polynesians have gained a great amount of success on all levels of the game. Many football critiques and scholars attribute the success of Polynesians to their physical features and abilities. To be a successful player there are distinct attributes applied to specific positions. The attributes that are associated as natural abilities for Polynesians are size, strength, explosiveness and quickness. Due to these attributes football coaches and recruiters have great interest for Polynesian players.  Another aspect that contributes to success for Polynesians in football is cultural similarities. I would like to apply the framework of Gloria Landson-Billings culturally relevant pedagogy as a platform to describe how Polynesian and football cultures have similarities. Cultural relevant pedagogy is a form of teaching practices that consist of the educator accompanying aspects of student’s culture and identity with the traditional school curriculum as a method to produce an alternative way of learning for diverse student populations. Football offers this approach for Polynesian male students. In Polynesian cultures family is central.  The family is put before the individual, which creates respect, love, sacrifice, selflessness, passion, pride and loyalty. These are also central emotions and perceptions asked by a football coach from his players. Polynesian culture, like football needs a brotherhood type environment.  Many Polynesian male athletes associate football with school. With football being central to their education, this promotes motivation to do well in school to remain academically eligible for football and creates a pipeline to college. A reason for continual success of this gridiron to college pipeline is the amount of value Polynesians place in being successful in sports. For many, football has become part of the Polynesian American experience. As Polynesian parents find ways to customize their families to living in America, many parents are starting to recognize the issues their children face in their new land. The pathway of using football to reach their American dreams is strongly encouraged at home.  These aspects of Polynesian cultures and football counter the school to prison pipeline and create the gridiron to school pipeline.


References:

Goldman, T. (n.d.) Polynesians make life out of football. Samoa observer.

Landson-Billings, G. (1995). Toward a theory of culturally relevant pedagogy. American

     educational research journal, 32.Retrieved from http://links.jstor.org