Well, at least in Texas and Tennessee
I like it.
And we need a whole lot more of this in our public schools to off-set the emasculation and feminization of our young men and boys in the Liberal utopia of acedemia:
When 16-year-old Ryan Sijansky heard his high school was about to introduce a new sport that would take a football out of his hands and replace it with a shotgun, he didn’t hesitate.
The offensive lineman quit the Corpus Christi Carroll football team and signed up for Agriculture 381, “Wildlife and Recreation Management,” which this year will begin introducing students to clay target shooting and offer the chance to form target shooting teams that will compete against other high schools in Texas.
“I just like doing that kind of stuff,” said Sijansky, a junior who, like a lot of Texas teenagers, began hunting as a child under his father’s watchful eye and careful instruction. “I started when I was 5, being a bird dog for him.”
For years, gun safety through a hunter education certification program has been taught — without firearms — in Texas schools through what is known as “Ag 381.” To complete it, students point to safety features pictured on illustrations and photographs but never touch a gun.
But this year, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, through a partnership with high school agriculture science classes, is introducing “Texas Clay Sports in Schools,” modeled on its “Archery in Schools” program. Agriculture science teachers from more than two dozen schools already have reported serious interest from students and are now lining up gun ranges and rules to govern what will be an after-school, off-campus sport.
And, as an added bonus, it’s not just the boys who are interested in learning how to shoot:
“It’s not just for the guys,” said Megan McCaffey, a 17-year-old senior and officer in the Future Farmers of America chapter at Garland High School.
McCaffey’s father first placed a gun in her hand about five years ago when she followed him and her older brother to target shooting on some family land. Since then, she’s hunted deer and quail and was thrilled to learn that competitive clay shooting was coming to Garland.
“I have a list of kids. They are begging to be a part of this,” said Glenn Sesco, who teaches agriculture science at Garland High School, just outside Dallas.
“I’ll do it,” said 17-year-old Brad Boss, who hunts deer and has been shooting clay targets with his father for years. “I love to do it.”
Agriculture science teachers, such as Crosby High School’s Dale Chennault, are trying to figure out how to pitch an after-school firearm program.
Tennessee is leading the charge on this, having created their shooting program back in 2001. Today, more than 2200 students in Tennessee are involved in competitive shooting.
Yep. This is a good thing, and we need much, much more of this type of thing.
Well, this topic ought to bring out the europeans..lol
By the way, my niece in Wisconsin has taken a similar ag course on hunter safety as part of a school program (though I think it was not part of the regular curriculum…more of an elective) and of course that included how to use guns. They had to pass exams, etc. and then were actually taken hunting birds and deer, etc. and she loved it.
Don’t mess with Wisconsin women!
Left by Dianne on September 23rd, 2007 at 2:44 pm