Power Changes Everything

After watching and reading about some very power hungry people my mind flashed back to my high school sociology class. I remembered learning about the Stanford Prison Experiment. It was all about how when good people where in positions of power they became awful because they felt they where just playing the roles they were told to play with no responsibility. They were considered evil because they were emotionally hurting the people that they were ruling over in real life and that didn't stop them. The experiment was suppose to go on for two weeks, but it ended up being shut down after six days because it became too real. I always thought this was so true based off of the coaches I've had to deal with in my life.

Coaches seem to think that leading by fear is the only way to get any respect from there players. Coaches think they have to physically and emotionally drain their team until the players become the perfect athletes their coaches have always dreamed of claiming. They think it is okay to be evil and mean because these are not their real personalities, just the ones they put on to coach. I understand that coaches can't be pushovers, but I don't understand why some do not respect their players at all. You show respect to get respect, but for some reason that doesn't apply to coaches. I think they could even be considered  bullies in some ways because they can say whatever they want and everyone one on the team just takes it, and if they don't like it they can quit. I've seen a coach yell directly in a girl's face over a mistake she made in a scrimmage. She took it, shed a tear, but never let the coach see her cry. I remember being scared to go to practice everyday because I didn't want to be publicly humiliated. Sports used to be fun, but they became the place where I hoped I could leave with my dignity still intact. I never understood who taught her to coach that way, but now I realize that her actions were never learned behavior. The coach was in a position of power which made her think it was her right to act that way because it was just the role she was playing. That's not a valid excuse in my eyes. She hurt so many people and didn't care, so she should take responsibility for her actions just like the guards in the experiment. In the end she'll have to live with her choices in life and that includes her coaching choices.

The sad thing about the whole situation is that the Stanford Prison Experiment showed that every human being is capable of becoming evil when they are put in a position of power. However, that doesn't mean that everyone has to follow this pattern. History won't repeat itself over and over again if more people become informed and realize there are better ways to get their points across. I know that I work harder for coaches and teachers that I want to impress, and most of the time they are the ones who respect  everyone and they don't punish, they push. I just hope that if I'm ever in position of power I won't become an uncontrollable monster that says and does things just because I can. I will spend my entire life trying to avoid becoming my old coach because I would hate to have someone feel this way about me some day.