<p>This month's Atlantic Monthly magazine features an article by Amanda Ripley: "The Case Against High School Sports." Her premise -- schools in the U.S. routinely spend 3 to 4 times more per student on football and cheerleading than they do on math and other academic subjects (unlike schools throughout Europe and Asia) -- accounts, in part, for our lackluster performance on international measures of critical thinking in math and science. Her argument will surely resonate with some -- including me -- and make others irate. What do you think?</p>
<p>Gregg Easterbrook is a moron. Not saying his point is wrong (I’m not going to read the article), but he writes for ESPN and almost never seems to know what he is talking about (He is the Skip Bayless of Page 2).</p>
<p>barrk123: We are not a sports family…unless it involves noodle polo in the pool, and have no skin in the game. However, Easterbrooks article is enlightening…and some of it hits very close to home…</p>
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<p>Don’t want to derail this thread…should probably start another one.</p>
<p>I have read very little of Gregg Easterbrook’s sports writing, but a fair amount of his non-sports writing. I also know that he shares approximately a 75% gene overlap with his brother, Judge Frank Easterbrook of the 7th Circuit (and formerly of the University of Chicago Law School). On that basis, I am pretty certain that anyone who thinks Easterbrook is a “moron” is a lot more likely that Easterbrook to have some kind of intelligence deficit disorder.</p>
<p>I’m not sure that the reason(s) some other countries do better with grad rates and tests and other academic measures is because they don’t sponsor/offer many team sports to students. The article seems to suggest that but I don’t see a correlation=causation case made in it.</p>
<p>It’s not so much that sports in and of themselves are what the author is calling into question. It is what roll sports play in the identity of an educational system. Her point is that other educational systems consider the academics when implementing their programs… and don’t give a hoot and holler about when the football teams practices or plays. We on the other hand consider the needs of the sports program and them pad the academics around that. S’ HS had a special SAT day just for the football team…no one else was able to take the test that day…just the FB team!</p>
<p>When D entered HS they had just recently changed the schedule. It used to be that every other day 1st period would start at 9:00…thus giving everyone a chance to sleep. Her freshman year they changed the schedule so that everyone started every day at 7:45 a.m. The reasoning…because the sports teams needed to be free early in the afternoon. So the schedule for 800 young women was changed to accommodate the approximately 50 or so that on each given day needed to attend a sports event. And THAT, IMO is a messed up priority.</p>
<p>“Set aside what it says about Hollywood that today even Disney thinks what the public needs is ever-more-graphic depictions of killing the innocent as cool amusement. Disney’s CEO, Michael Eisner, is Jewish; the chief of Miramax, Harvey Weinstein, is Jewish. Yes, there are plenty of Christian and other Hollywood executives who worship money above all else, promoting for profit the adulation of violence. Does that make it right for Jewish executives to worship money above all else, by promoting for profit the adulation of violence?”</p>
<p>Lets not get into the fact that even Bill Simmons has called him out. Or that the thing 2nd most associated with his name is an article tearing him to shreds.</p>
<p>dietz, I agree that sounds excessive. But this varies by school. Ours has no special SAT day for athletes or, as far as I know, the general schedule set for sports reasons. Sports teams rarely miss school to go to games, maybe once or twice for a state tournament if they get that far, certainly not for anything in normal season.</p>
<p>Not saying I disagree with the article or that sports are over-emphasized in some places.</p>
<p>Disclosure: My D does two school sports, my S did one for half of HS. I am in favor of them for my kids for various reasons - self esteem, working with a team, making good use of free time, health. But I can also see how they can get in the way and I get the expense argument too.</p>
<p>Please remember that attending high school should include more than going to class. All extracurriculars enhance the experience of going to high school. Both of my kids are 2 sport varsity athletes AND among the top of their respective classes. Spending a ridiculous amount of time in practice and games and expending a great deal of physical and emotional energy competing in a sport has been invaluable to our kids “education”. Lessons learned on the field, court or pool cannot be learned in the classroom. The most important of these is teamwork. Sacrificing your own personal glory for the good of the group. Second among these lessons is building the bond of brother/sisterhood. Developing that feeling that I play not for myself, but for my brother. I run at 5am during the summer so that I don’t let down my sisters. Lastly, the feeling of being truly joyful when a teammate excels is a such a powerful feeling. Simply doesn’t happen in AP biology.</p>
<p>A strong argument could be made that sports are killing U.S. universities. The European system of higher education isn’t as entwined with sports. The symbiosis in this country between sports and academia puzzles some European students when they study abroad here.</p>
<p>The US has the highest percentage of overweight kids. the highest percentage of kids with anorexia, the highest percent of kids with certain allergies, the highest on class 2 drugs for attention problems and the list goes on. The sport of Phys Ed has become “how to get out of it”… Thank goodness there IS sports in schools because alot of our kids sure aren’t getting fit anywhere else.</p>
<p>I think we spend too much on high school sports, but I don’t see how sports negatively impact academics, and an appealing anecdote will not persuade me that cutting sports is likely to improve test scores.</p>
<p>That’s the way it is…but should it be? While other countries concentrate their HS (and university) cultures on academics…we’ve diluted ours by a large sports focus. I think it is very important to stop at this point in time and evaluate if this is where we want/should be…or if somewhere along the line we got on a small steam train that is now a runaway locomotive.</p>
<p>High school sports was the life blood of my kids’ high school education. Literally. My kids’ lives were incredibly full of <em>real</em> educational experiences (not just book learning) due to sports, that included practical applications in statistics, geometry, leadership, public speaking, research, time management, physiology, logistics, nutrition and interpersonal communication, among numerous other things. And they were top scholars.</p>
<p>I don’t doubt that non-athletes can also experience those things, but to say that sports are over-valued is completely wrong, in my experience.</p>
<p>^^I agree with Bay’s comments and what our young people learn by participating in competitive sports as well as how good it is for their bodies to grow strong. I also raised scholar-athletes. Maybe I’ve been influenced by the historic statues at the union entrance of UofM of the scholar looking toward the academic quad and the athlete look toward the athletic fields. The sound minds- sound bodies resonates with me. I think our integration of sport and academics is unique and something I “like” about our country.</p>
<p>At d’s school the past captains of her field hockey team are playing or will play at the same Ivy. Another player is continuing her career at Amherst. One of this years field hockey captain’s will continue her field hockey career at one of the seven sisters beginning in September.</p>
<p>Maybe this thread is focused on football, basketball etc . As there is no exit strategy for full time professional employment in women’s sports.</p>
<p>PS: d’s school has as former students: a member of the US men’s national soccer team ( who plays in the English Premier League), a baseball pitcher on the roster of a MLB team who holds and Ivy degree in economics and a highly regarded player in the NBA, along with 2 current members of the U17 US National soccer team.</p>
<p>The academics vs. sports dichotomy is contrived. The classical ideal of a full education is mens sana in corpore sano. The body must be exercised for the mind to work well and vice versa.</p>
<p>I believe that a thriving sports program is very important. Unfortunately, what I see in my town is a tendency for a couple of high-profile varsity sports to hog all the resources. I would like to see less emphasis on winning the state football championship and more emphasis on varied programs with JV opportunities for all kids who want to put in the time and effort, enjoy the camaraderie and teamwork, and get fit. High school sports programs should benefit the many, not the few who are gunning for college sports scholarships.</p>
<p>The article has an undertone that implies that if we could get rid of or reduce sports, we could be more like Singapore or South Korea in math, for example. This is obvious balderdash. We don’t need to get rid of sports if we decided we wanted to do that. We do have to change a lot of other things that parents, faculty, and students generally are opposed to doing.</p>
<p>Some of the examples are dishonest, I believe. The comparison of the per student cost in cheerleading vs math is likely not properly presented. The total spend on cheerleading in that school doesn’t come close to the cost of the math program, but on a per participant basis it appears egregious.</p>
<p>The early quote about seeing trophy cases when you enter schools is interesting. Our HS had a national debate championship trophy in the lobby that was about three feet tall! But the reality is that there are precious few academic competitions. Sports fills that void, and people like seeing public “tests” (games) that measure the best against the best. Its fun and rewarding to be a part of, as a participant, as a coach, or as a fan.</p>