The Today Show

I stayed home last night, and this morning while I was getting ready for class, my dad was watching the Today Show on NBC. The segment that I happened to see was about High School Cheerleading coach Carlie Beck who got fired because she had posed for Playboy. At first I thought, well ok I guess that makes sense, but then I saw the rest of the story. One of the girls had been banned from tryouts for the next season because she had more than three unexcused absences from school, which was against the coach's rules. It was not until after this happened that the cheerleader and her family exposed the coach for having posed naked for Playboy. Apparently, the high school is in an uproar over this issue, most of them wanting their coach back. The girl and her parents claimed that they only exposed her on grounds of morals and because the coach was supposed to serve as a positive role model for all the girls on the sqaud.

This reminded me of some of the topics that we discuss in class in regards to ethics. Are there certain jobs that former Bunnies should be ban from? Is it true that because this woman posed for a few photos that she is a negative role model for these girls? I instantly thought of my post on E!'s show The Girls Nextdoor. When I think of those Playboy Bunnies, I think of idiots and skanks (pardon my French) who should not be anywhere near impressionable young girls. But then I also wonder, what is the coach's side of the story? I am not sure if the show gave BEck's side of the story, but I do not think that they did. There are a lot of questions left unanswered here. How many photos were there? When was she a model?

In addition to all of that there is the fact that Beck, in addition to school officials, were setting really high standards for the cheerleaders at the school. According to the article on the Toady Show's website, "These cheerleaders are not allowed to have racy pictures on MySpace, there’s a lot of things they’re not able to do, or shouldn’t." I feel that as long as she is not currently posing for Playboy then she really is not doing anything wrong. I say that only without knowing her side of the story. Maybe she regrets the things that she has done in her past and wants to help these girls do better for themselves.

Some of my classmates may say that this is not even "important" news. At first, I thought the same thing, until I really thought about it. Initially, I thought, why do I care this is jsut one high school in California, a thousand miles away from me. Then I put it into this perspective... The decisions made in this instance could end up having a huge impact on high schools everywhere. I realize that it sounds like I'm trying to defend the Bunnies, but I'm really not. If it is found that a woman who posed for Playboy is an unfit role model and should not work around kids, then what other kinds of people will also be banned? It's really hard for me to make up my mind on this issue, and I think that the circumstances underwhich she was fired are the biggest cause. Some girl cut school one day and her coach reacted so she got her fired. It's blackmail, and I think thats really the only reason why I feel bad for Beck. I do not have children of my own yet, so I really don't know how I would feel about a woman like Beck being a coach to my child. Read the article and see what you think.