Academic Decathletes Take Big Win in Stride

They’re Taft High School’s A-team.

That’s “A” for academic achievers, champions of what could be called the Mind Bowl.

On the day after they learned they had won the Los Angeles Unified School District’s academic decathlon, the Taft team savored it all in a state of sophisticated calm Wednesday, as honored guests of the Rocketdyne aerospace plant in Canoga Park, where they were given lunch and a tour.

On the school’s Woodland Hills campus, their achievement seemed understated. A handmade sign in the lobby, “Academic Decathlon--No. 1 in L.A.,” shared equal billing with “Girls Tennis--No. 1 in L.A.”

However, Taft’s youthful decathlon coach, humanities teacher Michael Wilson, 36, exuded so much pride over his team of nine seniors--all but one of them boys--that he still bore some of the razor-edged intensity of football’s late Knute Rockne or Vince Lombardi.

“Imagine you’re on a football team,” Wilson said, his eyes flashing, “and you’ve got three months to practice for just one game. That’s what these kids just went through.”

And just how severe was the pressure of competing all day Nov. 14--in 10 academic disciplines that tested their ability to write, speak and think--against peers from 54 other high schools?

“It was hectic--intense,” Adam Caress said, relaxing with his teammates in a Rocketdyne conference room.

Suddenly, their coach intervened. “Tell him what it was like going into the Super Quiz,” Wilson said, referring to the day’s final event--a rollicking, “College Bowl”-like competition.

Chris Hoag, who wore his track and field letterman jacket and sat next to Caress, shrugged. “You get the feeling you don’t know anything ,” he said. “We felt we were marching to our demise.”

Teammate David Bronstein, among others, didn’t seem to mind that their accomplishments aren’t as celebrated as those of Taft’s athletic teams. “I’m not an athlete, but I like to compete,” he said. “So this is a way for me to compete.”

All day long two Saturdays ago, starting at 7 a.m. until the Super Quiz ended at 6 p.m., the students took written exams in economics, fine arts, literature, social science, mathematics and science. They were interviewed by panels of three adults. They wrote essays. They gave speeches--both prepared and impromptu.

A sample economics question from a booklet that Wilson shared with his students during their marathon, three-hours-a-day practice sessions:

Which of the following indicates the single most important source of revenue and the single most important type of spending of state governments?

a. Personal income tax and education.

b. Personal income tax and highways.

c. Sales and excise taxes and welfare .

d. Sales and excise taxes and education .

e. Personal income tax and defense .

(Correct answer: d.)

At day’s end on Nov. 14, the Super Quiz tested students’ knowledge of 30 great achievers--the topic for 1992-93. A sample practice question:

During her term in the Texas Senate, Barbara Jordan was instrumental in enacting a law to extend the minimum wage to workers not then covered. In that regard, her objective was similar to which other achiever?

a. Thurgood Marshall .

b. Martin Luther King.

c. Ben Nighthorse Campbell.

d. Antonin Scalia .

e. Cesar Chavez .

(Correct answer: e.)

By winning, Taft qualified to represent Los Angeles in the statewide tournament March 12 in Stockton, in hopes of returning to the national tournament. Taft won the national title in 1989 and placed second in 1988 under Michael Wilson’s predecessor as coach, Art Berchin.

“I felt like I was coming into this job after Vince Lombardi,” Wilson said of Berchin, who still teaches English at Taft.

Of all the congratulatory notes Wilson said he received, the most amusing, he said, came from a student who said: “My parents now tell me, ‘Look, you go to a good school! What’s your problem?’ ”

Someone asked Wilson what the victory does for his friendship with Mark Johnson, the coach of Taft’s arch-rival, El Camino Real High School, which placed third, behind runner-up University High School.

Ever the competitor, Wilson said dryly: “Well, it was pretty clear to both of us they didn’t have a chance.”