Yagappa International School

Article of the Week

 Mark your confusion

 Purposefully annotate the article (at least 1-2 mature, thoughtful responses per page)
 Answer the ‘Reading for Meaning’ statements
 Write a 250+ word response to the article

Cricket and education can co-exist if there is intent

Suresh Menon, The Hindu, May 08, 2018 (adapted)

The modern cricket system might throw up more millionaires than ever, but it
encourages more dropouts too from our schools and universities.
Fans like to believe that religion, social class and education do not matter in
cricket. After all, the greatest of them all, Sachin Tendulkar, didn’t go to
university, and neither did the modern great Virat Kohli. Yet they are
respected, moneyed and have honours thrust upon them.
“Education is vital,” said Anil Kumble some years ago, as he presented a
project to the Board of Control for Cricket in India. It was a graduate course
for players whose education is affected by their playing schedules. Nothing
has been heard of it since. With the talented being denied a proper childhood
and a natural process of academic growth, we need to rethink priorities.

Accommodation and freedom

When Unmukt Chand, the under-19 World Cup captain whose century in the
final took India to the title in 2012, was denied a chance by the principal of St.
Stephen’s College to do his exams (due to lack of attendance), the vice
chancellor had to intervene. Sport and education can go together when they
can be accommodated and freed from fussy rule-quoting.
Once a cricketer makes it to the international level and the IPL too, it might
appear like his/her career and finance is taken care of. But only 15-18 players
get into the National squad; and the IPL is a fickle beast. To take time off for
graduation might be sporting suicide in times of intense competition.
However, careers at the top last only a decade or more, and not everyone can
become a coach or commentator.
This is where a robust system of education can make a difference. For the sad
fact is, a great number of players are left not knowing what to do post-
retirement. With a proper Players Association in place, Indian cricketers could
have a system which mentors the youngsters in their playing days and ensures
their education is not neglected.

Qualified legends
It wasn’t always thus. More than half a century ago, India’s leading off-
spinner Erapalli Prasanna, already a Test player with a tour to the West Indies
behind him, decided to take a break from the game to pursue his engineering
studies. He returned to the squad five years later, better educated and a better
bowler, as he reassumed the mantle of India’s strike bowler.
V.V.S. Laxman, a bright student, having to choose between medicine and
cricket, gave himself a deadline before falling back on academics. He comes
from a family of doctors.
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Indian players have graduated from Oxford and Cambridge, and one of them,
Ashok Gandotra, was even shortlisted for the Rhodes scholarship. He had to
pull out of a Test match because it clashed with the Rhodes interview.
Dilawar Hussain, the heavily built wicket-keeper who made two fifties on his
Test debut, was probably India’s most qualified player academically, with a
PhD against his name. The Jalandhar-born player was principal of colleges in
Aligarh and in London.
Interestingly, the more successful you are as a player, the more likely that you
will be forced to attend a finishing school where bearing and composure are
drilled into you. Advertising agencies round off the rough edges and prepare a
player to walk and sound like he means what he says in the commercials.
Tendulkar himself is a fine example of this, as was Irfan Pathan, and now
Hardik Pandya. This is schooling, in a sense, from marketing managers.

Last resort
But now education is being seen as the last resort of the untalented. No
modern-day Prasanna is likely to give up five years of the game for an
engineering degree.
It is not a thought either the players or the administrators give a great deal of
thought to. There is enough money in the game today to discourage men like
Prasanna’s father who insisted all those years ago that academics before sport
was how it ought to be.
Religion and caste might not matter, but education does. And it can co-exist
with a career with intent and proper planning.

Possible Response Options:

 Respond to the text using the ‘They Say, I Say’ template.

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 Reading for Meaning Statements
Directions: The purpose of this page is to hone your ability to gather textual evidence to support or
refute a statement and to focus your reading on some key points in the article. For each statement
below, circle whether the text agrees or disagrees with it, and, in the space provided, share
quotes/textual evidence to support your agreement or disagreement.

Your Evidence (cite page and paragraph;

Agree? Statements
briefly explain)

YES
1. Indian cricketers have a
support system that helps
them decide on a career
post-retirement.
NO

YES
2. There are examples of
some cricketers who took a
break from the sport to
focus on education.
NO

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 Written Response Helpers
Use Graff/Birkenstein’s They Say / I Say template to identify, pull apart, and respond to the article
above. Your response should be at least 250 words and have the following features:

1. Clever title, properly capitalized.

2. Uses They Say / I Say template to fully develop both the author’s and the writer’s
arguments.
3. Accurately identifies a central claim of the article.
4. Appropriately leads into, blends, cites, and discusses at least one quote or key fact /
statistic from the article.
5. Explains each quote and discusses your reaction to it (agree or disagree).
6. Concluding sentences.
7. 250+ words, neat, legible, no distracting errors.

Title: ______________________________

The general argument made by author X in her/his work, _________________________

______________________, is that _______________________________. More specifically, X
argues that __________________________. She/he writes, “_____________________________
______________________________________________.” In this passage, X is suggesting that
____________________________________. In conclusion, X’s belief is that _______________
______________________________________________.

In my view, X is wrong/right, because _________________________. More specifically, I

believe that _____________________________. For example, __________________________
________________________________________. Although X might object that ____________
__________________________________, I maintain that ______________________________
_______________________________________. Therefore, I conclude that ________________
______________________________________________.

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