Bye-Bye America

Download or read book Bye-Bye America written by Earle F. Zeigler and published by . This book was released on 2013-11 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A dual citizen of Canada and the United States, Dr. Zeigler has taught, coached, researched, and administered programs at four universities. (Western Ontario [twice]; Michigan, Ann Arbor; Illinois, UIUC; Michigan, Ann Arbor; and Yale.) He has published 58 books and 445 articles. Awards in his field in North America have been bestowed on him. He has received three honorary doctorates and is listed in Who's Who in Canada, Who's Who in America, & Who's Who in the World. The title of this book means what it says! First I say "goodbye" to living and working in America. I had indeed "found a better home" in a country (Canada!) where the academic position I aspired to at that time was available. And-most important to me-it was a type of position that simply was no longer available in an "educationally respectable" large university in America. Why so you ask? Simply because such large universities in America invariably feel it necessary to sponsor professional or semi-professional athletics! And also, as it has turned out, I discovered that Canada is indeed a much better place to live! My basic concern-the one that brought about a second-and final!-move to Canada related to what was happening in my field of physical activity education (including so-called educational sport). Additionally, as I sadly and gradually came to accept, the overall situation in America had become so grim that I took out Canadian citizenship as well. Today I just don't see how what has been the world's leading country (America!) can ever recover from the myriad problems that continuing unwise decisions have forced upon it... Hence, what I have done by writing and publishing this book is to unofficially-but literally in many ways-publish my "goodbye" to the country of my birth. This was not an easy thing to do. I confess to having had extremely mixed feelings as I wrote this book. The large majority of my relatives, friends, and associates- alive or dead-were or are Americans. In a way I did feel like a traitor! Still I felt that I had no other choice. Most probably thought: "I guess the 'aging fool' knows what he's doing." Interestingly, it wasn't until I had become department head at the University of Illinois in 1963 that I began to understand what was "going on" at the upper level of American intercollegiate athletics. And then such understanding sunk in decisively when the "Illinois slush fund scandal" broke in 1967. I found that I couldn't psychologically, and then physically cope with it. Somehow the whole situation just "got to me..."