PAW’s article on the Princeton band incident at The Citadel (Notebook, Oct. 22) suggests that this resulted from a “clash of cultures.” I would like to suggest that we have a clash of cultures on our football field at every game.
O n the one hand, you have the culture of the football team: people playing hard for common goals – victory and pride, acting as a team in following accepted directions for action, behavior, and common identify.
On the other hand, you have the culture of the band: a group of individuals, each of whom is trying to prove his or her identity by various forms of sloppy dress, personal “antics,” and embarrassing, infantile attempts to be funny.
Any visitor to this scene could justifiably walk away wondering, “Which is the real Princeton?”
PAW’s article on the Princeton band incident at The Citadel (Notebook, Oct. 22) suggests that this resulted from a “clash of cultures.” I would like to suggest that we have a clash of cultures on our football field at every game.
O n the one hand, you have the culture of the football team: people playing hard for common goals – victory and pride, acting as a team in following accepted directions for action, behavior, and common identify.
On the other hand, you have the culture of the band: a group of individuals, each of whom is trying to prove his or her identity by various forms of sloppy dress, personal “antics,” and embarrassing, infantile attempts to be funny.
Any visitor to this scene could justifiably walk away wondering, “Which is the real Princeton?”