I originally wrote this to post on the AZ Wrestling Forum. Since I'm a Kansas native, I thought it might be worthwhile to also post it here.
I know this is long, but then I come by in naturally. My younger sister many years ago brought here fiancee to my folks farm. My dad was working on his self-propelled combine. Bill my sister’s fiancee asked my dad how the combine worked. After about 2 hours as Bill told me, he how was told how just about every part worked! When all he wanted was a general description of how it worked.
I’m writing this primarily to provide the younger wrestlers (sophomores and younger) about the necessity of developing the ability to read at a fast rate with a high comprehension rate. I was very fortunate that my parents helped developed my love for reading. I’ve never been one to sit around and do nothing. If I was in a situation where I knew I couldn’t be outside, then I would try to spend my time by reading an interesting book or magazine. While in the 7th grade I did read over 70 books from the school library, mostly on history. I read for enjoyment and the desire to increase my knowledge of subjects that I was interested in.
It wasn’t until I entered the U.S. Army Helicopter Flight School in June, 1966 that the ability to read at a fast rate with a high comprehension rate was considered important. I was in the Warrant Officer Flight Program, which was for enlisted persons. Officers also attended the school, but they didn’t have quite as full a schedule as we had. It was something like a combination of Officer Candidate School and Flight School. The GT score (something similar to an IQ test) had to be 122 for Warrant Officer Candidates, but only 115 for Officers. So each morning we had to get up around 5:30 am to make sure that our rooms and uniforms were ready for a white glove inspection. Then it was a full day of academics (8 hours) for the 1-month of pre-flight.
Somewhere up the chain of command it had been determined/decided that if a Warrant Officer Candidate didn’t have a reading speed of 300 words per minute or more, and a 90 percent comprehension rate they would not be able to successfully handle the large workload. I fortunately tested at 750 words per minute with a 95 percent comprehension rate. I had two roommates (there were 3 to a room) that had to attend the reading improvement class, besides attending academics for 8 hours a day. One roommate with prior service quit within 2 weeks. Another roommate who was black hadn’t scored well enough to pass the pre-flight academics. I begged him to let them recycle him through the pre-flight academic portion of flight school. He decided that he didn’t want to and was a washout. Out of the 300 who started our class, 200 of us graduated 9 months later.
While serving as an assistant coach at OU, I was very involved with academics. Port Robertson, Assistant AD was in charge of all academics for the wrestlers and football players. He would show me test scores of different athletes, and tell me stories of some kids who came in with low test scores, that ultimately succeeded in completing a strenuous academic program. WHAT BECAME APPARENT THAT THE ATHLETES WITH LOW TEST SCORES, USUALLY SCORED LOW ON THE VERBAL SECTIONS OF THE SAT/ACT TESTS.
After graduating from OU, I moved back to my hometown of Wichita, KS. After 2 years I decided to attend graduate school at Wichita State. In order to get admitted to just about any graduate school in the country there is an another aptitude test required. Since I was majoring in real estate, the GMAT was required. 400 was acceptable for WSU, while 600 would probably get you into any graduate program in the country. My buddy Fred Hopkins was comparing his 482 with my 582 score on the GMAT. I examined the scores, and we had scored identical scores on the math section, while I had scored exactly 100 points higher on the verbal section.
After work we would drive to WSU and work on the reading assignments, which were extensive. After about an hour I’d have my 100 pages read, while Fred was on page 30. In the 5 graduate real estate classes we both took, we were both straight A students. So my 100 point higher score on the GMAT didn’t mean that I was smarter than Fred, it simply meant that I was able to complete the entire verbal/reading section of the GMAT, while he didn’t.
In the business world you frequently hear people say you can’t buy time, but I believe you can. If your current reading speed is only 150 words per minute with a 90 percent comprehension rate, it will take you 4 times as long to complete a reading assignment, as it does for a person who reads 600 words per minute with the same comprehension rate. Therefore, if you take a reading improvement class, and you improve your reading speed to 600 words per minute, you have just bought yourself 3 hours of time every time you have a large reading assignment.
I know that many of you younger wrestlers may have the dream of wrestling in college someday. About 4 years ago I was sitting with Eric Larkin, who was then an assistant coach at ASU. On about 4-5 different occasions we asked Eric if ASU was looking at a certain kid wrestling in the finals of the state tournament. In each case he replied that they couldn’t qualify academically to enroll at ASU. Now ASU, isn’t Harvard, Cornell, Stanford, or one of the military academies that require very high test scores, and/or very high GPAs.
Now one of my frequent detractors on this forum, made the statement that every kid shouldn’t go to college. He is right. However, as a coach I have always stressed academics, because I didn’t want to have a wrestler who was good enough to wrestle in college, not be able to take advantage of that opportunity. I can point exactly to when and why I developed this attitude. In 1973, I went to Garden City, KS to recruit Henry Crosby, who had won the 189-pound weight class at the USWF Junior Freestyle Championships (USWF is the predecessor of USA Wrestling). When I examined his transcript, I realized that he had been passed along, and his grades were just good enough to keep him academically eligible. I firmly believe that he could have been a good a wrestler in college as Chris Campbell who was a 2-time NCAA champ for Iowa and later a World Freestyle champion. The last I knew Henry Crosby was still changing truck tires in Garden City. I felt truly sorry for him, because there was no way I could get him admitted to OU. It was after that experience that I made myself a vow, that any wrestler I coached would be pushed to excel academically. I have put my money where my mouth is at three high schools, and soon it will be a 4th.
First at Scottsdale Saguaro, I created an award that was based on 50 percent of the wrestler’s GPA the first semester, 25 percent on the team points scored during the regular season, and 25 percent on the team points scored at the state tournament. I have purchased a gift certificate that ranged from $100 to $150 for a dinner for two at one of the nicer steak houses near the high school. At Saguaro, I named it after Todd Salnas, who took 3rd in state, had a 4.0 GPA, later he graduated from the U of A with a 4.0 GPA, and later an obtained his MBA at ASU with a 4.) GPA. At Brophy, I named it after Chris Franklin, who is the only state champion wrestler in the school’s history. Chris had near a straight A average at Brophy, and later attended and graduated from Yale. I have paid for the same type of award at Desert Mountain, which Shane McGough has won all three years. At Southeast HS, I have named it after Tony Macias, who coached the wrestling team to its only state championship in 1972. Much to my surprise when I asked his permission to name the award after him, and explained what it detailed, he said he’d put up $100. I’ve had people ask me why it isn’t based on the cumulative GPA. I explain that there may be a kid who isn’t a good student when he starts high school, but through hard work becomes an excellent student, I do not want to penalize that kid. I want each kid to think if I work hard enough in the classroom, and the wrestling room, I can win that award. There is a permanent plaque that lists the winner’s name each year. I was most heartened one year when the previous year’s winner at Saguaro called me to find out who won the award, when I told him who won, he said he is an appropriate winner. Kids want to see their name listed permanently in their wrestling room when they have made significant accomplishments. You can’t win this award by being just a good student, you also have to be a good wrestler. Over the years I think it has helped me develop many high school wrestlers who were both good students and wrestlers. If a coach isn’t trying to do both, then he isn’t a very good coach in my opinion.
I would advise any parent and coach to find out when the pre-SAT tests are offered. They need to have their son/wrestler take the pre-SAT so that any problem areas can be identified. This will allow time for the student-wrestler to improve in the academic areas he is deficient in. There are preparation courses for taking these exams, I never took one, but I do know of people who have, and they say they improved their test scores.
There are a few posters on this board that seriously lacking in reading comprehension skills. They’ll read a post, then, make an incendiary comment. However, if they had read the posted comment twice, they might have actually comprehended what was written.
While serving as the assistant branch chief, and scheduling officer for the Leadership Branch of the U.S. Army Flight School, one of my duties was to examine the results of the tests taken by the students in our classes. I was to find out if there were any questions that were misleading, ones that students most frequently missed. All of the tests were multiple choice, which is probably the least effective way of testing a person’s knowledge on a subject, but for a large number of students it is the most time effective method.
What I found out that students didn’t read the question correctly. From then on, I would write in big bold letters on the chalk board “RTFQ”. Before the students began the test, I told then that the letters stood for READ THE FRIGGING QUESTION! I followed my own advice throughout college, with very good results. My advice to any student is to make sure he or she knows exactly what the question is, before trying to answer it. Therefore, they should read the question twice before reading it.
Statistics show that persons with a college degree will earn a significantly larger amount of money in their lifetime on average, than will a person with just a high school diploma. For those with a graduate degree the disparity is even larger. Now I know that Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard and is usually ranked 1 or 2 among the world’s most wealthy individuals. So there are exceptions to every rule. However, Bill Gates did have the grades and test scores to get admitted to Harvard, so he had an excellent high school education.
