California Gone Crazy Again-CAD Fires Cobb
CALIFORNIA ACADEMIC DECATHLON SUFFERS AGAIN:
Once again liberal thinking has caused some kind of bizarre craziness in California. . .no wonder so many call this the "Left Coast". .This time, the California Academic Decathlon is going through upheaval due to the petty desires of those who can't stomach ordinary "competition".
In a very strange turn of events, the California Academic Decathlon ("CAD") is attempting to fire its present Managing Director, Marvin Cobb. This is happening right on the heels of Mr. Cobb's successful effort to resuscitate the California Academic Decathlon from near death. Only months ago there was no certainty that there WOULD BE a California competition in March of 2005 (see the LA Times articles on this). Mr. Cobb undertook an extraordinary effort to raise money and brought in commitments of funds in the solid six figures thus allowing him to succeed in holding the 2005 California Academic Decathlon. . . .
This was received by virtually everyone as a smashing success. . .well, not everyone:
Some members of the California Academic Decathlon viewed this as a personal failure. . .there were members of the Board who feared that they would be seen as having brought the Decathlon to near Bankruptcy. . . those and other board members didn't like Cobb taking so much control over the organization, and there were members of the Board who viewed Mr. Cobb's efforts to keep the California Academic Decathlon as a "pure competition", as somehow favoring the Los Angeles Unified School District teams over other teams elsewhere in the State (read Northern California. . ).
This second trend is the most fascinating. . .Cobb, has consistently responded to various individuals (this includes Coordinators who help organize for their school districts, consultants who help with details of the CAD competition, and others associated with the competition) who complain about LAUSD always taking the gold, that their teams, too, can achieve this kind of greatness, if they will start their teams in studying on the USAD issued curriculum BEFORE the end of the current school year. . .But NO!
BACKGROUND:
Most teams across California find out what the new curriculum will be for each Califronia Academic Decathlon when the United States Academic Decathlon issues its curriculum in about May or June of each year (USAD, the originating entity in this field, wanted teams to be able to get an early start if they desire). Thus, a team which is ambitious will take up study on this new raft of information right then---in May. That means a "year round" effort can be made, basically right after the March State competition, a team can begin . . .to recruit new Decathletes, to study and to find teachers to coach on the subjects . . . but not every school feels that it can undertake such a mammoth effort or that this is FAIR. . . .Many schools complain that they cannot start building new teams or training for the decathlon until after Summer Break. . .thus they have a three month or more delay in their competition efforts. . .
I suppose you can guess the political leanings of the people complaining the loudest. While most teachers are probably relatively liberal in their thinking (most are Union members. . ) some are vastly more "command and control" oriented than others. Some actually "hate" the idea of pure competition selecting the competitors for the State competition. Those who somehow think that "everybody should have a chance to win the competition". . .have been planning to take over the California Competition for years. . .
But then, in a world where competition is extremely important, even essential to our way of life, should we somehow tilt the playing field, or COULD WE even successfully eliminate this difference between the teams that start in May or those that choose to wait until the school year has begun?
A faction of CAD participants which favors the "everyone should win" approach has some board representation on CAD. . .these lined up with a set of CAD board members who have become increasingly paranoid about their own culpability in the earlier near financial disaster of recent CAD financial woes. . .together these Board members have managed to outweigh the moderate board members and they have set their sights on eliminating one big obstacle to their efforts. . ..Marvin Cobb. It is particularly telling that they conducted a "secret" board meeting to do this, without ever having even conducted an employee review on the Managing Director. . .YES! this is really the first formal corrective action they are taking regarding Mr. Cobb. But, that is another story. . .one which I hope to follow. . .
CAD Future:
So now, after the CAD board fires Cobb, they will be faced with a very difficult problem. They will have to try and find a new Managing Director or they will have to cobble together an "all volunteer" decathlon effort. Some on the Board probably think they will be able to hire a new director that will do exactly what they want. . .I tend to believe that they will be unable to find a permanent director by next April when substantially all organizational aspects of the decathlon will have to be completed. So, what will have to occur is for a former Managing Director (one, who, incidentally favors the "everyone should have a chance" effect) will doubtlessly be asked to help the volunteers from Northern California. . .
I'm also hearing a prediction that the form taken by the "everyone wins" faction to rein in LAUSD will be to act to limit the number of teams that any one school district or County can bring to the State event. This will effectively "rope out" several high scoring teams from LA Unified. . .
Now you can see how two factions (you could call them Tweedle-Dum and Tweedle-Dumber) have teamed up to get their way. . .one faction is unhappy that they have a strong willed Managing Director who will not let the board do whatever they want, whenever they want, however they want. . .another simply cannot brook LA Unified always being so successful. . .
In a state like California, you can always dream: You can dream that your team which starts studying later than the LA Unified teams, can have a chance to win the Decathlon. . .despite having lower scores than several LAUSD teams. . .You can dream that, as a single, board member of CAD you can completely control every aspect of CAD activity. . .
Little matter that under the "everyone wins" theory, your California State winning team would be more poorly equipped than current team winners from California to take the National title (this follows from any reduction of "pure competition" by score). Each year, the winners of the various State Decathlon titles compete with each other. This year the LAUSD team from El Camino Real High School in the San Fernando Valley, won the California Competition and went on to win in Chicago, IL at the National event. This was the third time IN A ROW that a California team took the National. I've personally heard the team leadership mention that one reason they can do that, is because the California Competition is a true, fair COMPETITION. . .it's hard work and that means they are prepared when they go to National. . .
This silly faction of persons with their own petty "causes" has banded together in such a way as to undermine the very fundamental nature of COMPETITION that has been guiding the California Academic Decathlon now for four years. . .that is as long as Marvin Cobb has been acting as Managing Director. . .
This is truly a bizarre and unfortunate turn of events. . .
I act on this as a REPORTER. . I've witnessed most of this personally as assistant to Mr. Cobb. . .this stuff makes me very sad, indeed. I'm especially sad for the students of the future trying to compete in California in a fair competition. . .
CHRIS TUNE
Once again liberal thinking has caused some kind of bizarre craziness in California. . .no wonder so many call this the "Left Coast". .This time, the California Academic Decathlon is going through upheaval due to the petty desires of those who can't stomach ordinary "competition".
In a very strange turn of events, the California Academic Decathlon ("CAD") is attempting to fire its present Managing Director, Marvin Cobb. This is happening right on the heels of Mr. Cobb's successful effort to resuscitate the California Academic Decathlon from near death. Only months ago there was no certainty that there WOULD BE a California competition in March of 2005 (see the LA Times articles on this). Mr. Cobb undertook an extraordinary effort to raise money and brought in commitments of funds in the solid six figures thus allowing him to succeed in holding the 2005 California Academic Decathlon. . . .
This was received by virtually everyone as a smashing success. . .well, not everyone:
Some members of the California Academic Decathlon viewed this as a personal failure. . .there were members of the Board who feared that they would be seen as having brought the Decathlon to near Bankruptcy. . . those and other board members didn't like Cobb taking so much control over the organization, and there were members of the Board who viewed Mr. Cobb's efforts to keep the California Academic Decathlon as a "pure competition", as somehow favoring the Los Angeles Unified School District teams over other teams elsewhere in the State (read Northern California. . ).
This second trend is the most fascinating. . .Cobb, has consistently responded to various individuals (this includes Coordinators who help organize for their school districts, consultants who help with details of the CAD competition, and others associated with the competition) who complain about LAUSD always taking the gold, that their teams, too, can achieve this kind of greatness, if they will start their teams in studying on the USAD issued curriculum BEFORE the end of the current school year. . .But NO!
BACKGROUND:
Most teams across California find out what the new curriculum will be for each Califronia Academic Decathlon when the United States Academic Decathlon issues its curriculum in about May or June of each year (USAD, the originating entity in this field, wanted teams to be able to get an early start if they desire). Thus, a team which is ambitious will take up study on this new raft of information right then---in May. That means a "year round" effort can be made, basically right after the March State competition, a team can begin . . .to recruit new Decathletes, to study and to find teachers to coach on the subjects . . . but not every school feels that it can undertake such a mammoth effort or that this is FAIR. . . .Many schools complain that they cannot start building new teams or training for the decathlon until after Summer Break. . .thus they have a three month or more delay in their competition efforts. . .
I suppose you can guess the political leanings of the people complaining the loudest. While most teachers are probably relatively liberal in their thinking (most are Union members. . ) some are vastly more "command and control" oriented than others. Some actually "hate" the idea of pure competition selecting the competitors for the State competition. Those who somehow think that "everybody should have a chance to win the competition". . .have been planning to take over the California Competition for years. . .
But then, in a world where competition is extremely important, even essential to our way of life, should we somehow tilt the playing field, or COULD WE even successfully eliminate this difference between the teams that start in May or those that choose to wait until the school year has begun?
A faction of CAD participants which favors the "everyone should win" approach has some board representation on CAD. . .these lined up with a set of CAD board members who have become increasingly paranoid about their own culpability in the earlier near financial disaster of recent CAD financial woes. . .together these Board members have managed to outweigh the moderate board members and they have set their sights on eliminating one big obstacle to their efforts. . ..Marvin Cobb. It is particularly telling that they conducted a "secret" board meeting to do this, without ever having even conducted an employee review on the Managing Director. . .YES! this is really the first formal corrective action they are taking regarding Mr. Cobb. But, that is another story. . .one which I hope to follow. . .
CAD Future:
So now, after the CAD board fires Cobb, they will be faced with a very difficult problem. They will have to try and find a new Managing Director or they will have to cobble together an "all volunteer" decathlon effort. Some on the Board probably think they will be able to hire a new director that will do exactly what they want. . .I tend to believe that they will be unable to find a permanent director by next April when substantially all organizational aspects of the decathlon will have to be completed. So, what will have to occur is for a former Managing Director (one, who, incidentally favors the "everyone should have a chance" effect) will doubtlessly be asked to help the volunteers from Northern California. . .
I'm also hearing a prediction that the form taken by the "everyone wins" faction to rein in LAUSD will be to act to limit the number of teams that any one school district or County can bring to the State event. This will effectively "rope out" several high scoring teams from LA Unified. . .
Now you can see how two factions (you could call them Tweedle-Dum and Tweedle-Dumber) have teamed up to get their way. . .one faction is unhappy that they have a strong willed Managing Director who will not let the board do whatever they want, whenever they want, however they want. . .another simply cannot brook LA Unified always being so successful. . .
In a state like California, you can always dream: You can dream that your team which starts studying later than the LA Unified teams, can have a chance to win the Decathlon. . .despite having lower scores than several LAUSD teams. . .You can dream that, as a single, board member of CAD you can completely control every aspect of CAD activity. . .
Little matter that under the "everyone wins" theory, your California State winning team would be more poorly equipped than current team winners from California to take the National title (this follows from any reduction of "pure competition" by score). Each year, the winners of the various State Decathlon titles compete with each other. This year the LAUSD team from El Camino Real High School in the San Fernando Valley, won the California Competition and went on to win in Chicago, IL at the National event. This was the third time IN A ROW that a California team took the National. I've personally heard the team leadership mention that one reason they can do that, is because the California Competition is a true, fair COMPETITION. . .it's hard work and that means they are prepared when they go to National. . .
This silly faction of persons with their own petty "causes" has banded together in such a way as to undermine the very fundamental nature of COMPETITION that has been guiding the California Academic Decathlon now for four years. . .that is as long as Marvin Cobb has been acting as Managing Director. . .
This is truly a bizarre and unfortunate turn of events. . .
I act on this as a REPORTER. . I've witnessed most of this personally as assistant to Mr. Cobb. . .this stuff makes me very sad, indeed. I'm especially sad for the students of the future trying to compete in California in a fair competition. . .
CHRIS TUNE
Comments
Marvin Cobb is maybe one of the most impressive individuals I have ever met. His sheer presence is powerful. I honestly do not know why he was fired, nor do I care. He seemed to have done a great job organizing the decathlon. When I lost my ID, he personally found it, and had it delivered to me by his girlfriend...I believe. My point is that he covered that competition from top to bottom. He even sang the national anthem. If he has to control everything to get everything right, so be it.
Marvin is still out there and he is helping people. Marvin is working for a not-for-profit which helps kids learn about financial responsibility (understanding how checkbooks work. . .how to save. . .so forth).
I still believe that there was unfairness in firing Marvin. I also would point out that there are now two persons doing the job of "Director". One is to find fundraising money, the other is to run the Decathlon.
Perhaps I'm right, and am using "facts" when I say that Marvin did an excellent job. I base that upon how well the Decathlon worked under Marvin. I also firmly disagree with anyone who states that it shows LACK of knowledge to say that everyone must compete on an even playing field, and thus, if some feel that they have not won often enough, then they simply must re-examine what they do. . not constrain what others do, in order to potentially win the Decathlon.
The world at large works like this. We in the US have to compete with all the other nations on earth. Should we somehow seek to constrain China, or India because they grow more commerically successful? Or is it better, perhaps, to continuously examine what it is that WE DO WRONG!?
Isn't it the best way to work to simply strive and strive for the best you can do? That is how I was taught that our country became so prominent. I believe that this is also how other countries which are growing now, are doing what they are doing.
I focus on MY GROWTH. I believe that Marvin agrees with me. I still count him as a friend. I'm lucky to know him well.
Chris Tune
I went on to receive my Doctor of Pharmacy Degree and then a Masters in Business.
I worked as a Clinical Pharmacist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on the 5th Floor; the Center of Medicine and the pinnacle of what a Pharmacist's role can be.
I am now closing in on my 24th year as an industrial real estate broker in Orange County.
Why the background, you ask.
Because I happened to have, finally, closely met the MAN before an SC football game while I was with the 4-time National Champion (2 FB - 2BB), College Hall of Fame, and pointman of the Greatest Comeback in Collegiate football history (from 0-24 to 55-24), Anthony Davis, a man who has become a very close friend of mine.
Marvin came by with his son. I didn't recognize him. He was a joy and introduced me IMMEDIATELY to his son (name deliberately left out); a great and courteous kid.
I told Marvin that I had the pictures and that one made him look like Superman in flight in a solo tackle. His face lit up in humility, but joy. I assured him that I was in the process of digitizing them all and that I would get them to him (he flew around such that he will be in a ton of the pictures, but this one I had actually printed from the contact sheet negatives).
I have worked for the State. In the Chancellor's Office of what was then the State College (rather than State University) system. There were some great people there and California politics were a lot less pathological than they are today.
So, whoever writes about this man, with the intuition about people that I am both blessed with and learned through Cedars and 24 yrs of dealing with industrial real estate users, owners & developers, I say, to denigrate him is a huge mistake.
I found a quality human being of high intelligence, friendliness, and breadth.
You find and defend what you think. In just reading this from no background on the issue AT ALL, it appears that Marvin was trying to SAVE SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL (Decathlon). What the HELL WERE THE REST OF YOU DOING ?
Don
Mission Viejo, CA
1976 USC Doctor of Pharmacy (Rho Chi Scolar - Top 8 of 120)
1979 USC MBA
The State should spend its time finding the $1 Billion that the UC System can't account for. Seems supporting the life of the decathlon is a drop in the bucket compared to what this decaying State wastes. And there was Marvin, trying to save some of its pure beauty. First "wordsmith", nicely crafted wording, nasty tenor. I assume that you're on the government job giveeaway too, huh ?