The Case Against High-School Sports
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The Case Against High-School Sports
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Re: The Case Against High-School Sports
#2Every dollar spent on art classes or chess club is also a dollar not spent on math, but few are suggesting those endeavors aren't worthwhile. Sports are a big target, but they're a big target because they're wildly popular and a huge part of the culture in many U.S. locales. Do you think youth football, soccer or baseball would go away if schools stopped funding them? Public schools are, for better and worse, one of the most democratic institutions in our society, and the activities they offer students reflect that.
When done right, there's a benefit to running youth athletics through schools: Practice time and other scheduling can be balanced against academic requirements, coaches (who are often also teachers) can monitor how performance is being affected on and off the field, etc.
Like anything else, there are tradeoffs and in a nation with tens of thousands of locally-run school districts some places will go way too far in one direction, but it's Utopian to imagine that, say, kids in rural Texas will stop playing football.
(And this is all without mentioning the many positive influences of well-run athletic competition on students: Health, teamwork, the rewards of focused effort...)
Re: The Case Against High-School Sports
#3The author notes about herself, "When I was growing up in New Jersey, not far from where Jenny now lives, I played soccer from age 7 to 17. I was relieved to find a place where girls were not expected to sit quietly or look pretty, and I still love the game. Like most other Americans, I can rattle off the many benefits of high-school sports: exercise, lessons in sportsmanship and perseverance, school spirit, and just plain fun. All of those things matter, and Jenny finds it refreshing to attend a school that is about so much more than academics. But as I’ve traveled around the world visiting places that do things differently—and get better results—I’ve started to wonder about the trade-offs we make."
And then she reviews the history of high school sports in the United States, and points to some key examples of places where high school sports are a big part of the local culture (Texas) and what happened when one high school there shut down its competitive sports program: "That first semester, 80 percent of the students passed their classes, compared with 50 percent the previous fall. About 160 people attended parent-teacher night, compared with six the year before. Principal Ruiz was so excited that he went out and took pictures of the parking lot, jammed with cars. Through some combination of new leadership, the threat of closure, and a renewed emphasis on academics, Premont’s culture changed. 'There’s been a definite decline in misbehavior,' says Desiree Valdez, who teaches speech, theater, and creative writing at Premont. 'I’m struggling to recall a fight. Before, it was one every couple of weeks.'"
Simply put, the author is giving a balanced account that does not accuse sports of being all bad, but simply suggests from real-world examples that SCHOOL sports are overemphasized in the United States. Having lived in two different countries, and having decided to have all four of my children involved in competitive, organized team sports through local "travel" soccer programs, I have to agree. The trade-offs the author recommends make sense for a balanced United States education policy.
Re: The Case Against High-School Sports
#4Every dollar spent on art classes or chess club is also a dollar not spent on math, but few are suggesting those endeavors aren't worthwhile. Sports are a big target, but they're a big target because they're wildly popular and a huge part of the culture in many U.S. locales. Do you think youth football, soccer or baseball would go away if schools stopped funding them? Public schools are, for better and worse, one of…
Just want to say how refreshing it is to hear someone mention 'Trade-offs' rather than 'solutions.'
For me, that is typically a way to spot the difference between economic thinking (former), and political thinking (latter).
Re: The Case Against High-School Sports
#5The author notes about herself, "When I was growing up in New Jersey, not far from where Jenny now lives, I played soccer from age 7 to 17. I was relieved to find a place where girls were not expected to sit quietly or look pretty, and I still love the game. Like most other Americans, I can rattle off the many benefits of high-school sports: exercise, lessons in sportsmanship and perseverance, school spirit, and just…
The problem is that multiple changes we made at the same time in that school:
1) Giving Teaches more time for training and planing 2) Making students wear uniforms 3) Aligning the curriculum with more rigorous state standards 4) Drop the sports program
Then spends the rest of the article giving all the credit for the improved test scores to a lack of sports.
Re: The Case Against High-School Sports
#6I played sports all through college, and looking back I wonder why i played for my college team and not a local club. Particularly looking at the culture and impact of sports at the college level (most notably football and basketball). It seems to me that decoupling sports from schools at both college and high school level would realign incentives better.
Re: The Case Against High-School Sports
#7Once again, all high-school sports are lumped together as if the problem, rather than the spending typically found for Football. The story glosses over this fact, despite the fact that the school that was the primary focus didn't eliminate all sports. In the end, they cut out spending so much on sports.
Another factor is the way testing is done. For far too long I've been hearing about the problems of standardized testing, and the problems it holds. These rankings: how are they determined? Are they any better then standardized testing?
Finally, we ignore the fact that math and science are not the end of the road. I've seen more done by sports teams to help the community then by any chess club (and yes, I was on the chess club). Working with under-privileged or special needs children, being involved with the community, and all together, learning to be leaders and contributors in society. What values are we losing by removing sports?
Yes, their might be other ways to obtain those values. But we are throwing out the baby with the bathwater here. At the end of the day, what seemed to matter was proper budgeting, increasing standards, and overall, the attitude of the administration.
Re: The Case Against High-School Sports
#8This is an absurd argument (Stop spending money on sports and rather spend it on real education)
rather, we should spend less money on things like policing the rest of the world/inflating the defense sector's wallets and channel THAT money into education/infrastructure/healthcare/many other things
Re: The Case Against High-School Sports
#9The author notes about herself, "When I was growing up in New Jersey, not far from where Jenny now lives, I played soccer from age 7 to 17. I was relieved to find a place where girls were not expected to sit quietly or look pretty, and I still love the game. Like most other Americans, I can rattle off the many benefits of high-school sports: exercise, lessons in sportsmanship and perseverance, school spirit, and just…
The problem is that multiple changes we made at the same time in that school: 1) Giving Teaches more time for training and planing 2) Making students wear uniforms 3) Aligning the curriculum with more rigorous state standards 4) Drop the sports program Then spends the rest of the article giving all the credit for the improved test scores to a lack of sports.
You made an excellent counterpoint. The improvements in performance were not solely due to dropping sports programs. It may be difficult to tease out the impact that each of the major changes had on performance.
I did participate extensively in high school sports. I think that the benefits far outweigh the costs. In evaluating solutions like dropping sports programs, I believe that other options for performance improvement should both jointly and individually be considered, e.g., minimum GPA for sports participation, uniforms, longer school hours, mandatory summer school, etc.
Re: The Case Against High-School Sports
#10Every dollar spent on art classes or chess club is also a dollar not spent on math, but few are suggesting those endeavors aren't worthwhile. Sports are a big target, but they're a big target because they're wildly popular and a huge part of the culture in many U.S. locales. Do you think youth football, soccer or baseball would go away if schools stopped funding them? Public schools are, for better and worse, one of…
Probably because those endeavors (art, math, chess) are cheap compared to football. When looking at the budget, the most expensive items are going to get more scrutiny.