Taunting incident mars school district

Some people might believe that what is to follow in this editorial would be positioned better on a sports page rather than an opinion page. After all, the editorial deals with a sports-related incident.

But not so. While the foundation of the editorial is an incident that occurred at a high school ice hockey game, the bigger point of this writing is about the respect and decency all parents should strive to instill in their children, from their early years until the time they leave home to pursue their hopes and dreams.

Respect and decency were in short supply during an Oct. 28 game between the Armstrong River Hawks and Mars Fightin’ Planets at the Armstrong team’s Belmont Ice Arena near the Western Pennsylvania municipality of Kittanning. And, that short supply was not due to animosities between players on the two teams, but instead the “audacity” of the Mars team to have a female goalie.

Armstrong student spectators who taunted the Mars goalie with vulgar chants apparently forgot — or perhaps never had known, or were too immature to accept — that they were living in an enlightened age where women continue to make big strides on myriad fronts, including in numerous aspects of sports.

Haven’t those student spectators heard — whether their parents are Republicans or Democrats, Independents or none of them — that this country’s vice president is a woman? No American should dismiss the possibility that there and likely will be women presidents in the years ahead.

Closer to Kittanning, perhaps the spectators in question never have pondered the possibility that someday they might be working for a company headed by a female chief executive. Are they readying vulgar chants for use when they are opposed to company policies that female chief executive might put in effect?

If they decide to join one of the nation’s military services after high school, do they think they will be brave enough and “courageously” disrespectful not to salute a female officer who is passing by?

And, if their vehicle is stopped by a female state trooper or municipal police officer, will they be armed with the perceived courage to shout vulgarities at the trooper or officer –especially if they are not intoxicated?

At home, do right-thinking fathers condone vulgar disrespect tossed at the children’s mother?

Such obnoxious conduct has no place at sporting events, either — again, not in what is supposed to be an enlightened society. In addition, it was not OK during the younger years of the spectators’ parents, grandparents and great-grandparents.

The criticism that has been directed toward the Armstrong spectators since the Oct. 28 game, as reported in a Nov. 8 Mirror article, is unquestionably deserved. So is the punishment that has been meted out, if it is the “appropriate school discipline” that Armstrong’s principal says it is.

However, the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Hockey League delivered the proper message by barring Armstrong students from River Hawks’ hockey games and placing the school’s team on probation for the remainder of the current season, including the playoffs.

That still is not enough. Parents of the Armstrong spectators should be asking themselves how such disrespect aimed at a female player and damaging of Armstrong’s reputation could be a product of their own homes.

Indeed, that demands soulsearching far beyond any sports page.