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I think sports are great and improve academic performance in some situations. However, I sometimes wish it were like the other parts of the world where if you want to excel in a sport you go train with a club, a world renowned coach outside of school, or attend a university that focuses on sport training. Nowadays the pinnacle of most people's lives seems to be playing a varsity sport in high school. It is to deeply ingrained in the psyche of american society to be banned. I guess what I'm saying is that I would like some separation in our education system. Let school be for learning.
This article dispels the myth that sports are profitable for colleges. They are not. Sports costs colleges millions, and it's getting worse. Many people feel there is a breaking point coming. Athletics cost colleges, students millions
As colleges and students face exploding spending, tuition and student debt, many question all of the money spent on sports.
Quote:
The Knight Commission says Division I schools with football spent $91,936 per athlete in 2010, seven times the spending per student of $13,628. Division I universities without football spent $39,201 per athlete, more than triple the average student spending.
Nearly every university loses money on sports. Even after private donations and ticket sales, they fill the gap by tapping students paying tuition or state taxpayers.
IMO, sports should be within the purview of the city or community and not a function of high school or college at all. Far too many athletes practice their sport to the exclusion of everything else. It is my belief that a very large - 40%(?) - percentage of the kids we see playing football on Saturday on TV have no business at a four year college.
Learning to play a sport well is a wonderful thing. I encourage it. But it is too expensive for our schools and the cheap ticket to social success is proving lethal to the education and employability of our high school students.
Fascinating, even. As the article documents, there are superintendents who have the wisdom and fortitude to make the tough decision and drop the programs on their head so that the school can proceed with preparation for future employment.
When it starts in earnest, there will be an avalanche.
Completely anecdotal, but the best sports high schools in my area are also the highest performing academically, and vice versa.
I agree with the premise that America has an unnecessary love of high school sports, but I struggle to get on board with the thought that eliminating them will cause academic performance to go up significantly.
My kids go to a private college prep high school. About 5 years ago the administration decided to cut the football program. It had become a beast that took away from the focus of the school, which is academics. It was a risky thing to do because there are other large private schools in our area with well developed football programs. Many families left to go to those schools, but I don't think our school board regrets the decision for a moment. We still have a good selection of sports to choose from, but removing the football seemed to get things centered again.
I do think sports are a good thing for kids to do in school, within reason and if it doesn't interfere with school performance.
I'd like to see an equal amount of money devoted to the arts.
Not going to happen. Viewing the arts, for average student or citizen, is not near entertaining enough to make them stay after school, let alone pay to see it.
Interesting read. But high school without sports? In many of the smaller towns it's as American as Chevrolet and Apple Pie and I think it would be devastating in some of these places. It brings the community together, it bridges the racial gap, particularly in the deep south (former Georgia resident).
However, I think private prep schools would survive just fine, because it's the academics that are the biggest draw for the well-to-do. The top kids, the ones that make the National Honor Society are usually not in the football program or any sports for that matter. These are the students that private schools attract.
For the record, I was a football jock in high school and I always hated that I had to work my butt off while other players got to "coast". They should have had a GPA requirement in order to "letter". That would have took care of the problem right there in many cases.
There was a similar thread on this issue in another forum, where not just the sports programs were eliminated but the fine arts too. I think it was somewhere in the southern California area.
The article states that 50% of kids in a school are playing sports and 17% of students took an AP class. How is eliminating sports going to increase the percentage of students who are taking AP classes?
It seems silly to eliminate something that benefits 3X as many students unless you can show that eliminating sports will actually increase graduation rates. Sports often benefit kids who struggle in school. So how will eliminating the thing that keeps some kids in school benefit the school community?
I can get behind almost anything if someone can explain how it makes sense, but I can't see how this one makes any sense at all.
They should have had a GPA requirement in order to "letter". That would have took care of the problem right there in many cases.
In my state there is a GPA requirement to participate in athletics.
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