Keep an eye on him, for sure! The next Michael Jordan1

Too bad people don't get their kids to STUDY with this kind of dedication.

From the little bit I observed of his father I bet academics do not take a back seat to his athletics.

I bet if the son neglects one, the father will apply the necessary oversight to see that balance returns to the son's life.

Both the father and the son seem like real fine people.

I bet Jesus is part of both their lives.

yor bro ken

I was speaking generally, ken, but I'll grant you your point.

I suppose I'm just somewhat perplexed that children who excel at academics are rarely treated with a story on the evening news, and I think it speaks as to the nation's priorities (which I think are rather out of order).

because X, in the West, particularly North America, our heroes are sports celebs and not scientists! How many scientists do you know who sign $20 million contract for 5 years?!! :)

Nevertheless, this kid is a good reason why abortion is such an abomination to God. For every abortion, a baby dies and so dies their potential to use the wonderful gifts God gives EVERY human being. Abortion is thumbing our nose at God and saying we don't even want to consider the possibility of gift.

I often see kids on the local news for academics. Not run-of-the-mill "I got an A!" stories, but winning a city-wide contest, a national science competition, etc. Just a couple weeks ago the Lunch Break was a video of a little girl, on the news for her amazing piano skill -- not an academic pursuit, necessarily, but an amazing one nonetheless. Local and national news alike have done small stories on the chorus from PS 22. etc. From what I can tell, kids tend to be featured for a variety of extraordinary accomplishments.

Don't even get me started on athlete pay v. teacher pay, though. Eesh.

Well, Alexandra, this is one time that the big cities actually have one up on the small towns. I think the mentality of Arkansans kinda exacerbates the situation. They ARE unduly focused on sports and the like rather than academics. I remember being the ONLY PERSON at my school in high school protesting them building a million dollar gymnasium because the library only had books from the 1970's and was smaller than any classroom on campus.

Think "Varsity Blues" but with basketball instead. :(

X, I understand that vibe. Mr. Alexandra grew up in rural Kentucky, where the question was not, "Do you play sports?" but rather, "What do you play -- football or golf?" And the answer ostensibly revealed A LOT about you. (Mr. Alexandra was golf.) I don't think his school even had an orchestra program. No legitimately advanced coursework, etc -- but tons of money spent on those football games. He didn't hate it at the time, but as he has matured he has grown to wish that other talents of his (and his classmates) had been nurtured as well.

Seriously, though, I love those PS22 kids! What cuties. Some samples --

Coldplay: youtube.com/watch?v=u_tcE4rWovI
Bjork: youtube.com/watch?v=OKPC-T3jjRg

They've become kind of virally famous in the past year or so, but they're just so adorable. The teacher seems amazing -- so passionate, and oddly effective given that he has an entirely new group of students every year and consistently gets results like this (the chorus is only fifth graders, so it changes each year). A good portion of his school's demographic are ESL or struggle with learning disabilities -- so learning these lyrics is cultural and linguistic education for them, as much as the singing itself is a hobby, to say nothing of the value that comes from being mentored in cultivating a talent.

More: nytimes.com/2008/12/26/education/26chorus.html

I should add that he mostly has the kids sing contemporary songs, but he does occasionally change certain lyrics if they aren't age-appropriate. ie they sang a Lady Gaga song by request and he changed some of it, lol.