Are you smarter than Socrates?

Dear College Administrator, Athletic Director or Legislator,

Are you smarter than Socrates? Wrestling was part of his educational regimen and he once said, “I swear it upon Zeus that an outstanding runner cannot be the equal of an average wrestler.” Socrates’ most influential disciple, Aristocles, was renamed Plato(n) by his wrestling coach Ariston of Argos.

Are you smarter than Ben Franklin, who published the following in 1749, “The good Education of Youth has been esteemed by wise Men in all Ages, as the surest Foundation of the Happiness both of private Families and of Common-wealths. Almost all Governments have therefore made it a principal Object of their Attention, to establish and endow with proper Revenues, such Seminaries of Learning, as might supply the succeeding Age with Men qualified to serve the Publick with Honour to themselves and to their Country.

“That to keep them in Health, and to strengthen and render active their Bodies, they be frequently exercis’d in Running, Leaping, Wrestling and Swimming…?”

Are you smarter than George Washington and Abraham Lincoln who were both champion wrestlers in the styles of their day?

Are you smarter than Theodore Roosevelt, who mandated that wrestling become part of the physical curriculum at the military academies?

Are you smarter than Nobel laureate, Dr. Norman Borlaug – the man who fed millions – and who credited wrestling with teaching him the discipline and tenacity he needed to continue his research?

Are you smarter than novelist, John Irving when he said, “I think the discipline of wrestling has given me the discipline to write.”?

Are you smarter than former Congressman and current head of the National Endowment for the Humanities, Jim Leach, an Iowa state high school wrestling champion and former member of the Princeton wrestling team? “I’ve always thought that the most equalitarian place in the world is the wrestling mat.”

Are you smarter than Dan Laurent, a three-time NCAA Division III heavyweight wrestling champion who recently graduated from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse with a 3.9 GPA in double majors of biochemistry and molecular and cellular biology?

Are you smarter than the administrators at Wayland Baptist University, Baker University or Minot State University – all of whom have added wrestling to increase enrollment and opportunity at their institutions?

For centuries the greatest minds and leaders considered wrestling a valuable part of higher education. Then, about thirty years ago, American legislators and administrators at many of America’s colleges and universities decided that they were smarter than Socrates – or Franklin – or Lincoln , and started dropping wrestling from the curriculum. Did they do that because wrestling is no longer relevant and modern kids don’t want to wrestle? That can’t be the reason. According to the National Federation of High Schools, wrestling is the sixth most popular boys’ sport in terms of participation – and it continues to grow. Since the 2002/2003 school year the number of youngsters on high school wrestling teams has increased by 30,000.

Did they do it to equalize educational opportunities among all segments of society? Ostensibly – yes. Title IX was enacted in 1972 and says quite simply, “No person in the United States, on the basis of sex, shall be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” You certainly can’t argue with that. But then the courts and the lawmakers got involved and college administrators found it easier to eliminate opportunity than create it.

So what about opportunity? As Mr. Leach indicated, wrestling is the most democratic of all sports. In what other one have you watched an athlete walk up to face his opponent, remove his prosthetic legs and then win an NCAA Championship? Ten years ago I got to do that when Nick Ackerman of Simpson College took the Division III wrestling title. And what about opportunity for women? Girls’ participation in wrestling is exploding in the states that sanction girls only championships. Smart college administrators have noticed this trend and recently added women’s teams at Jamestown University in North Dakota and Waldorf College in Iowa.

If your school doesn’t have a wrestling team, what do you think George Washington, Dr. Norman Borlaug and John Irving would urge you to do?

Do you need help or more information? Contact the National Wrestling Coaches Association and they’ll get you started. You just might be as smart as Socrates.

Greatness on the curriculum

Nobel Peace Laureate Norman Borlaug died Saturday at age 95 from complications of cancer. Mark Palmer wrote about Dr. Borlaug’s wrestling background yesterday on examiner.com. He was inducted into the Outstanding Americans wing of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum in 1992.

The father of the “Green Revolution”, Dr. Borlaug is credited with saving hundreds of millions of people from starvation. He is one of only five people to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. (The other four are Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa and Elie Wiesel.) In 1999 he was named one of the “100 great minds of the Twentieth Century”.

In 1986 Dr. Borlaug founded the World Food Prize to “honor those who have made significant and measurable contributions to improving the world's food supply.”

Just ten days ago the Borlaug Learning Center opened in Nashua, Iowa to further research in crop and livestock production and agricultural engineering.

As Mark Palmer cites in his memorial, Dr. Borlaug credited wrestling with contributing to his success. "Wrestling taught me some valuable lessons," Borlaug told the University of Minnesota in 2005. "I always figured I could hold my own against the best in the world. It made me tough. Many times, I drew on that strength. It's an inappropriate crutch perhaps, but that's the way I'm made."

Jim Leach represented me in the Congress for thirty years. Last month he was confirmed as Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities. An Iowa state high school wrestling champion at Davenport High School in 1960 and a letterman on the Princeton wrestling team, Jim Leach is also enshrined in the Outstanding Americans wing of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum and in the Glen Brand Wrestling Hall of Fame. In his great book Wrestling Tough, author Mike Chapman cites observations about wrestling made by Leach.

“Wrestling is a pursuit that shares with all sports all elements of competition. What differentiates it is its history, its individual discipline and its ‘equalitarian’ efforts. It does not matter how big or small, rich or poor, black, brown or white a wrestler is or what state he comes from”

“Wrestling imbues one with instincts for fairness and a necessity of preparation that is hard work.”

“Matches pit individuals of similar size, although dissimilar proportions, strengths, skills, stamina and knowledge … knowledge not in the sense of smartness, but athletic wisdom which only experience provides. The talented, unschooled athlete can’t prevail over the dedicated partner.”

Intercollegiate wrestling is under attack. Title IX mandates have created an atmosphere of fear among many college administrators. Eliminating educational opportunities for one gender is far easier than creating opportunities for another so they follow the path of least resistance. The current economic challenges have schools all over the country investigating budget cuts. Administrators are looking for programs they deem expendable. For many – wrestling seems to fill that bill.

It’s obvious that Chairman Leach does not consider wrestling an “expendable” part of his life. Dr. Borlaug considered the lessons he learned on the mat as valuable as those he learned in the classroom. Perhaps we should stop thinking of wrestling as a sport and start thinking of it as part of the curriculum. We could call it “Greatness 101”.

For more on the amazing life of Dr. Norman Borlaug go to yesterday's LA Times Obituary or the World Food Prize website.