Recently, the Husband and I were out with a colleague/friend, and Willa Cather came up. (As she does. At least when you hang out with librarians.) I mentioned that I hadn't read any of her books since high school, when Academic Decathlon kind of ruined My Antonia for me. I started to move on conversationally, when the Husband noticed her confusion.
"I think you've got to explain Academic Decathlon."
At first I tried to compare it to Quiz Bowl, which my high school didn't have, but which my younger brother competed in at a different school after my family moved and which seems to be more common. "It's a little like Quiz Bowl," I said. "But the questions are more in-depth. Or at least I think that's the difference. Or like Science Olympiad, but without science. Well, I don't think there was science. I'm sorry, it's been a while."
Since she was still confused, I went on, but her lack of understanding combined with my fuzzy memory was making me question the details. "You studied things? And then you took a test? But, like, in front of people. As a competition."
I guess I had never had to explain it that far before. I'm pretty sure that up to that point, anyone I had mentioned it around had heard of Academic Decathlon, or Quiz Bowl, or Spell Bowl, or Science Olympiad. You know, competitive academics.
Competitive academics was what I did in high school. I was uncoordinated and slow, so sports were out. I wasn't artistic, or at least I didn't think I was, so art was out. I was shy and awkward, so drama and debate team were out. I was kind of scared of the soup kitchen, so Key Club was out. I needed to get some form of scholarship in order to go away for school, so not doing anything was out. Competitive academics it was!
People who also did Academic Decathlon, feel free to jump in on the comments if I get details wrong. (There have to be some of you out there, right? Maybe you came here looking for brethren. Hello! Come in! I bow to the nerd within you!) Basically, as a team, you got a book that was your subject guide. You studied those subjects, along with supplementary texts. Then you gathered with other schools' teams on a certain prearranged day and took a test. I think part of it was multiple choice and part required writing. There was also a speech portion.
Academic Decathlon was my biggest "sport", but I also did Spell Bowl (basically a written spelling bee) and Science Olympiad. (Focused - duh - on science and engineering, it required moving around and enthusiasm for science, so I didn't stick with it long). I promise you that I am not joking when I say that I lettered in Academics. Like, I could have gotten a letter jacket, and put my Academics Letter on it. That was not a thing I chose to do, but the option was there.
Preparing for these competitions wasn't fun, exactly, but I had friends there. Friends who I genuinely liked, with off-beat senses of humor and decent taste in pop culture. One of my fonder high school memories is meeting up with them after we won regionals and nearly getting kicked out of the theater for mocking Patch Adams. (Nerds can rebel too!)
Mock me all you want. God knows the Husband does. But at least my friends and I maintained a certain ironic distance from the whole thing. We were in a small public school in a city in Indiana's industrial corner, near Lake Michigan. Because of our school's small size and the statewide trend towards large consolidated public school districts, we were competing mostly against private schools, especially once we made it through regionals to the state competition.
And those schools took competitive academics seriously. They had Academic Decathlon classes. They brought (male) friends who painted things on their chests and took off their shirts during the mostly very quiet competitions. They asked my teammates whether we were in gangs. (Our city did have some issues with gangs, but oddly, they didn't seem to do much recruiting at the Academic Decathlon practices.) In short, we were on the fringe of a group that was already on the fringes of high school life.
I have no Academic Decathlon regrets. I don't think about it often, but when I do, I am happy. I was lucky to find people with similar senses of humor who started to help me feel comfortable in my own skin, and to do it before college. Perhaps the only thing I regret is having to explain what the hell competitive academics is. And the fact that I still can't face My Antonia.
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