<p>^^In our public school the triumvirate of football, basketball, baseball is under pressure because the kids are consistently choosing other sports like soccer, volleyball, lacrosse etc.</p>
<p>I thought the quote from Spelman’s president was interesting. “it occurred to me that none of these women were going to play basketball after they graduated. By that I don’t mean play professionally—I mean even recreationally. I thought of all the black women I knew, and they did not tend to spend their recreational time playing basketball. So a little voice in my head said, Well, let’s flip it.”</p>
<p>I do think more emphasis on sports/activities that people tend to play throughout their lives would be a good thing in many cases. My kids’ school is weird in that it has no football team (or baseball or basketball). But they do have teams in golf, tennis, soccer, swimming, track among other things. And their PE offerings include a lot of those as well. My son has taken golf as his PE. Part of their reasoning is that they want kids to have exposure to sports/activities that are lifetime activities. I know lots of adults who golf, play tennis, swim, and run on a regular basis. I do know a few who play basketball–all men. And I know a couple of people in adult soccer leagues. But nobody I know plays football once they are an adult.</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.”</p>
<p>Another underlying premise that’s not being challenged is the entire “US Ranks behind X, Y and Z in various academic measurements”. That’s because countries X, Y and Z shuttle a large percentage of their 12-13 year olds to non-college paths. These kids never take the higher level pre-college tests. The US in general, tests everyone. Of course our rankings are going to be lower.</p>
<p>Also keep in mind the value of school spirit. At my kids HS, the kids show up to most games all painted up and ready to support their classmates. This builds a strong community. Alums that graduated 25 years ago still show up for Friday Night Lights. We had an alum donate a new football stadium and fitness center. It has become the crown jewel of the campus. Kids from every sport have an amazing work out facility that is humming 7 days per week. It gives me great satisfaction to pull up to school and see hundreds of kids either working out or practicing.</p>
<p>^I agree! I love picking up my daughter from cross country practice and seeing hundreds of kids running, playing soccer, etc. The fields are just full of kids. I wish I had participated in sports in HS, but back then the academically minded students usually didn’t.</p>
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<p>That’s a shame. I wonder if that was a regional thing? Most of the kids I grew up with in the midwest did participate in athletic endeavors - maybe not football, basketball, baseball, but certainly tennis, swimming, etc. etc. Thinking back our “college” applications had alittle bit of everything - sort of like today.</p>
<p>We weren’t academic dilettantes either with a wide variety of college experiences including big unis, Ivies and small LACs.</p>
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<p>Completely agree. Our large urban high school doesn’t have any facilities of its own–we have to use a neighboring school’s stadium as the “home” field–and the team is rarely any good but the school spirit is amazing. Football also brings together families of a wider variety of backgrounds than you see in other sports such as soccer or cross-country (although I am a huge XC fan too).</p>
<p>There are kids at most schools that wouldn’t bother to show up to school at all if it wasn’t for wanting to play on a sports team.</p>
<p>These kids show up and do whatever they have to in order to play their sport.</p>
<p>They learn the most important of life’s laws: cause and effect and personal responsibility. You didn’t keep a C average you don’t play. It’s no ones fault but yours. </p>
<p>I would hate to lose the chance to educate as many kids as we can.</p>
<p>I’m with Dietz.</p>
<p>Someone mentioned that US kids fare terribly compared to those in other industrialized nations in terms of obesity and general health, and then concluded that the sports emphasis is good because it must be that it reduces this. I would argue the opposite. US sports are often elitist and carry the implication that some kids are better than others and those are the kids who should be out there on the field. A much healthier system would emphasize that sports are for everyone to do in moderation, not for the few to do in excess and the many to not participate in at all. That could increase the motivation of those who are not athletically gifted and make it easier for them to get their share of exercise without risking their self esteem. </p>
<p>Any actual high school contests, which should probably only be intramural and not competitions between high schools, should not be taking time from academic preparation but should just be a normal part of kids getting their daily exercise.</p>
<p>I will add that my S was the best doubles player on his school tennis team his Sophomore year, but he stopped playing his Junior year because he had a very heavy schedule (5 AP’s + 3 more) and the tennis kids had to miss one day of school a week during the tennis season in order to play in tournaments, and he thought that was insane. He is not playing his senior year either.</p>
<p>I think there is a lot of value in sports, as well as other co-curriculars (drama, music groups, etc). However, the idea that sport have become too big and take too much of a priority is probably valid.</p>
<p>In our public hs, varsity teams practice 6 days per week - only because the state regulatory agency won’t let them practice 7 days per week. Many kids on varsity teams play a single sport, year-round, investing much of their “free” time in travel teams and specialized coaching. Doctors have said for years that this is not healthy - repetitive motion injuries among students have skyrocketed. Kids are better off playing different sports and using different muscles throughout the year - but a kid who takes a season off from hockey to play basketball is seen as less-dedicated to hockey and treated accordingly. (Ironically, the much-maligned football is one of the few sports where kids DO play other sports in their off-season). </p>
<p>The argument that school should open later for kids’ learning, and that sports practices/games are part of what is preventing that from happening, also seems valid to me.</p>
<p>I now work in a private school. Even our varsity teams practice/play at MOST 4 days per week. In our league, thursdays are always left open for participation in student gov’t or other activities. There are no weekend practices, and only occasional weekend tournaments. If kids need to travel to an away game, that team is dismissed early - the rest of the school does not end sooner to accommodate the soccer team. (And our rotating schedule ensures that athletes don’t miss the same class too many times). Spring sports do not have playoffs/tournaments because they’ll interfere with finals. The team in first place at the end of the season is the champion. Seems to me to be a much better balance.</p>
<p>There have been many studies done showing that participation in high schools sports correlates positively with academic achievement. Here is one: </p>
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<p><a href=“http://www.kshsaa.org/Public/PDF/AcademicBenefits.pdf[/url]”>http://www.kshsaa.org/Public/PDF/AcademicBenefits.pdf</a></p>
<p>The study also provides an overview of other recent literature on the subject with similar results, if you feel like reading it.</p>
<p>I think the bottom line point of this article - one with which I do agree - is that sports and it’s place in the schooling system has gotten out of balance.</p>
<p>Our kids played little league and community soccer for a few years. It was fun. There was a beginning and an end to the season. S talked his HS into giving him a locker in the gym even though he was not an athlete. He’d run in the mornings on days when it did not interfere with his sleep or studies. His cameraderie came from theater…which also had beginnings and endings with long pauses in between. It was frustrating enough to not be able to take a winter break vacation because it was during the middle of ‘musical’ season, that I can’t imagine (and wouldn’t have allowed) one kids activities to also prevent spring, summer, Christmas and long weekend family activities. As the HS football coach told his team parents - you can take a 2 week summer break, if you really feel that you must! </p>
<p>Getting up at 4:30a.m. to be in the pool at 5:30 a.m. and then again in the afternoon from 3:30 to 5:30 is child endangerment IMHO! Running football practices twice a day for the better part of the year is - well it’s nuts. IMO.</p>
<p>Frankly, another thing that may be contributing to the lack luster performance of our kids on the international level - is they don’t sleep. How sick is it that our kids will boast of staying up until wee hours of the morning due to work loads (both academic and EC), leaving them to function on half of the 9 hours of recommended sleep. </p>
<p>YMMV but from what I saw close up during S and D HS years, sports become not just an EC, they become what drives the family, the school and the attitudes of what is valuable.</p>
<p>You are projecting your own values onto how your community’s sports are run. The ones who participate probably like it that way. Would you make the same argument about school work and class time interfering with family time? Why not? Probably because you think those things have more value than sports time. Many people think they are equally important.</p>
<p>I agree with the article. I’m not against sports; I just think they are overvalued compared to other ECs. For example, look at this statement from an earlier post:</p>
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<p>IMO, that’s wholly untrue. There are a gazillion academic competitions. However, the schools that emphasize sports may choose not to participate. Here are a few academic competitions:</p>
<p>debate (Lincoln Douglas, policy, public forum, parliamentary, etc.), speech (domestic and international extemp, duo interp, declanation, humorous interp, original oratory, etc. ) ‘We the People,’ Doors to Diplomacy, Shakespearean oratory, Federal Challenge (economics), mock trial, Model UN, Model Congress, Ocean Bowl, Quiz Bowl, Academic Decathlon, lots of math competitions–AMC, AIME, USAMTS, Mandelbrot, ARML (only a few schools have their own teams), C-Span’s student Cam, FIRST robotics, the various Olympiads (physics, chemistry, etc.) </p>
<p>That’s just the tip of the iceberg. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t mind the funding for sports teams if schools also funded academic contests and rewarded participants in the same way as athletes, but very few do.</p>
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<p>LOL, that is part of the camaraderie…anyone in the midwest who swam in high school and slogged to school in the winter to be in the (cold) pool at 5:30 has an instant bond. I can’t tell you how many business discussions and social events have ended up with a small group of us regaling those days. The same thing happens with men who did two-a-days in football. Every sport has it’s story. This has been going on forever. Pick your sport, you don’t HAVE to swim. </p>
<p>Again families chose the degree to which kids participate. I said “no” to those non-school affiliated league teams that spend every weekend traveling because it was important to my H and I that we spend weekends doing things as a family that didn’t involve sitting on out butts watching one kid play something. Other families consider that family time. That’s a choice. </p>
<p>The coaches at our public school publish and make sure every family knows that sports associated with the schools have the motto: family > school/church > sports. But make no mistake it is parents who shape high school athletics so if you think the athletic department has it’s priorities out of line do something about it. Personally I think if someone sticks their nose in the air and says “ick” to high school sports they 1) aren’t doing anything about it other than complaining and 2) depriving their kids of something that can be valuable. The sports moms and dads are certainly out there but believe me they are in the minority, not the majority. Most parents are coming from 2 working job families and have their priorities in pretty good places. There is a place for both. I have hugged the sports moms and dads who run the concessions booths, raise funds for uniforms, show up at every single event, take pictures and post to FB, put together the sports banquets and have given my kids a ride when H and I couldn’t. They were essential to something my kids experienced.</p>
<p>jonri,</p>
<p>I doubt there are many parents who would argue against increasing the opportunities for academic competition in high schools. Athletic and academic competitions are not mutually exclusive. It is impossible to lay blame for why some schools have few (while having many sports), without knowing how the individual schools and activities are funded. </p>
<p>For example, our high school sports are outstanding, and they receive very little funding from the school. Coaches who are not also teachers are paid very little or nothing, with most of their compensation coming from the parent booster clubs. They all practice after/before school hours.</p>
<p>According to our principal, every club that meets on campus during school hours is required to have an adult employee present as an advisor. (I don’t know if this is a state or district requirement). This really means the teachers need to do it, and then you run into teacher union contracts, how many hours they can devote and how they will be paid for it. If the kids who want to do academic competitions are willing to meet outside of school and fund all their activities themselves, they can do it, just like the sports kids. It is up to them.</p>
<p>That is how it works where I live. I’m sure it varies widely across the country.</p>
<p>I think sports are o eremphasized. I’d like to see kids get admiration for academic and athletic accomplishments in the way that athletes get for their athletic accomplishments. In our area, any athlete who gets any level of scholarship or signs a letter of intent(even if its for Podunk valley community college) gets his or her picture in the paper, usually with the parents and the coach as the kid signs the letter. It seems like kids who win major scholarships, arts awards, academic competition don’t get the same thing. I’ve never seen a kid who won a questbridge scholarship, major debate competition, national merit scholarship, youngarts award get the same type of recognition either in or out of school. </p>
<p>Many have talked about how the community comes together for sports events. It would be nice to see the same level of community support for artistic endeavors- band concerts, school plays, etc. in some communities this exists, but it seems like sports is more universally supported.</p>
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<p>Ain’t that the truth! Regardless of the law, many schools find loopholes to avoid it.</p>
<p>I think sports are overvalued compared to other EC’s because they are SO different. Participating in a sport is physically and emotionally challenging. My son plays hockey and lacrosse and often comes home from practice battered and bruised. The competition for both playing time and against the opponent really takes a lot out of a kid. If my kids team loses a hard fought struggle where they have laid it all out on the line, it is very difficult to then come home and pick up a book. BUT, this is the reality for scholar athletes. That doesn’t happen to the kids in the Latin Club or Student Government. This is not to diminish these activities, just shining a light on the very significant differences between athletics and other EC’s.</p>
<p>I see no reason why sports has to be part of high school at all. My kid did gymnastics, big time - huge time commitment - completely outside of school. Football teams and leagues could easily be organized outside of school; same with basketball, etc. I am NOT anti-sports, and believe they can be, and often are, a big part of a child’s education. Sometimes even the critical part - whether it supports academics or not. I don’t undervalue sports, but I still don’t think they need to be part of institutional schooling.</p>
<p>HOWEVER, to take the other view: our schools do sports really well, and academics not so much. Maybe we can take the academics out of school, and leave schools to do the things they do really well: sports, nutrition, public health, and (or it used to be) recess. Our current design for high school comes from 120 years ago, when girls sexually matured three years later than they do today, and boys around 2 1/2 years. They are not designed for the levels of maturity youth could have now, if given the opportunity - apprenticeships, internships, job shadowing, small business training, etc. We hothouse our kids, at great loss to ourselves and to our communities.</p>