I friend of mine sent me this article from the New York Times called "Born to Run? Little Ones Get Tested for Sports Gene" (the "skip the ad" button is on the upper right corner). The subject of the article is a new test that was developed here in Boulder (who says we're weird?) that can indicate whether a child is genetically predisposed to athletics - even the sort of sports at which the child would be most likely to excel.
I am strongly tempted to stop writing right now and let you form your own opinions about the relevance of such testing, and I am not going to write anything about the testing itself, or the people who opt to have their children tested.
I do, however, feel like there is something to be gleaned from the attititudes that such testing exemplify. "Johnny is not going to be good at this, so why try?" The question is this: what have YOU learned from trying new and different things. Things at which you DIDN'T excel.
I am not particularly athletic. I enjoy some quazi-athletic endeavors like recreational downhill skiing, and golf - but I certainly don't excel at either. You know something? That's OK. I don't have to be the best at something in order to enjoy it. Certainly I want to do some things at which I excel. For me, it is music and theater - but I have gotten a lot from trying things at which I don't excel.
I guess to me it smacks of the out-dated and sexist assumptions that "boys are better at math" it is just so limiting. I know that I will never be Lance Armstrong on the bike (I'm guessing HE has the gene) but that does not mean that I should not enjoy the pursuit - and the challenge of improving.
The world at large strives to limit us. Why opt to do it to ourselves?
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