DSP Essay

           If you were to ask anyone in America what the purpose of school is, the most likely reply would be academics. However, the reality of a typical American school’s priorities would suggest otherwise. As evidenced by the article “The Case Against High-School Sports” by Amanda Ripley, the new focus of American high schools appears to be its sports instead of its academics. Americans have an “obsessive intensity about high-school sports” that should rightly be transferred to the most important mandate of an educational institution – academics (Ripley). My belief is that American schools should shift their focus from sports to academics due to adverse effects of school-sponsored athletics on the athlete, the school’s budget, other students, and the community as a whole.

            The distraction caused by school-sponsored athletics greatly affects not only the athlete but the athlete’s parents, school staff, the community, and the other students. The community seems to spend far more money and time on athletic events than on anything involving education. A large number of non-athletic students are more likely to study less when they could focus on attending athletic events like football games, track meets, and tennis matches. During a study of 30,000 students at the University of Oregon “both men and women reported that the better their football team did, the less they studied and the more they partied.” “Educators became coaches and parents became boosters” which distracts the parents and educators from their real purpose in the school system: helping their students learn. This presents another problem since American principals are following the idea that “you hire a teacher, and you sometimes lower the standards because you need a coach.” This idea ensures a lower quality education for all students and puts their futures at risk.

Even more appalling is the “choke hold” sports have on a student’s day-to-day life (Ripley). “Despite research showing that later start times improve student performance, many high schools begin before 8 a.m., partly to reserve afternoon daylight hours for sports practice” (Ripley). Early releases during the school day force students to make up for lost time sometime else and sporting events that require athletes for an entire school day either force the teacher to revise their lesson plans, reduce the material, or stay after or before school to catch those athletes up to the rest of the students. Pep rallies during school cut short classes, requiring teachers to further reduce the material. This deprives the student of a more valuable education which the student rightly deserves.

Unsurprisingly, the costs of school athletics far outweigh the costs of academics. As sports become increasingly expensive, some schools like Owosso High School have chosen to dedicate more and more funds to athletic programs and downsize academic costs like teachers and paper. Recently the Owosso Public Schools district has funded major renovations in its athletic locker rooms and its football stadium. The stadium renovations alone cost about $625,000. Whereas there have been no improvements in classrooms, academic equipment, teacher salaries, or even the amount of paper allotted to each teacher. According to Ripley, “many schools have shifted more of the costs of athletics to parents rather than downsize programs. Others have cut basic academic costs to keep their sports programs intact.” This type of action is unfair not only to parents but to students and teachers alike. Those that implement these measures deprive students of the proper educations that they attend school for.  According to Marguerite Roza of Educational Economics a high school in the Pacific Northwest spent $1,348 per cheerleader as opposed to $328 per student for a math class. In a similar situation, “football at Premont costs about $1,300 a player. Math, by contrast, cost just $618 a student.” The miscellaneous costs of running a school sports team are outlined in a quotation by Roza: “For example, when teacher-coaches travel for game days, schools need to hire substitute teachers. They also need to pay for buses for the team, the band, and the cheerleaders, not to mention meals and hotels on the road. For home games, schools generally cover the cost of hiring officials, providing security, painting the lines on the field, and cleaning up afterward.” Singleton, who has been a principal for 15 years, was horrified not only by the financial cost of school sports – a whopping $150,000 – but of the behavior of the students. As he says, “the kids were in control. The language was filthy.” 

For all those high school students that participate in sports there are many more that don’t. In fact, according to Ripley “only 40 percent of seniors participate in high-school athletics.” In a particularly stunning case “4 percent of the student body…played sports” at Spelman College, also according to Ripley. Those who are primarily concerned with their academic lives watch as their athletic peers are glorified and richly rewarded with praise and applause right in front of them. They are forced to wait to be rewarded as well as their peers until their senior year while the athletes get recognition throughout high school. I was one of those academic-minded people in high school and I always dreaded pep rallies because only the athletes would be recognized for their achievements. During my senior year, I was paraded about among unknown adults that would only forget me and my accomplishments sooner or later and given paper certificates in comparison to the trophies the athletes were given. Most of my peers never even knew I was the Salutatorian unless they were also in the top ten or were one of my few friends. However, if you asked any senior who the top athletes in the building were they could easily come up with the correct names. 

Some may believe that exercise increases mental capability however the price is just too high. As far as psychological issues go, the pressure on students to do well on both academics and sports leads to unnecessary stress. Often times the athlete will choose to spend more time on improving their physical capabilities rather than complete their homework. When their lower scores are revealed to them they may panic which creates even more stress. More in football than in any other sport, the medical risks for students such as head injuries that occur in “about 15 percent” of players “each season” (Ripley).

In order for a student to succeed in this tough economy, he or she must have the necessary skills for the work and an advantage over other applicants. However, as sports become their main priority among students in America, Asian countries support a rigorous education that readies their students for the future, providing a great advantage over American students. According to Ripley’s article, “93 percent of South Korean students graduate from high school, compared with just 77 percent of American students.” This statistic should be an eye-opener to anyone who disagrees with my opinions. If almost 25 percent of American students don’t even graduate, what are the odds that they will have a successful future?
 

Those who disagree with my opinion may argue the benefits of high school athletics like exercise, teamwork, socialization, increased school attendance, better behavior, “school spirit”, “sportsmanship”, and “perseverance” (Ripley). What they may not consider is that there are other less expensive, less distracting ways to achieve these behaviors. In fact, educational group projects can teach teamwork, dance and gym classes provide exercise during school, and sports teams outside of school can teach sportsmanship for those who would like to continue playing. In order to encourage students to attend school, educators could provide rewards for attendance like a missing assignment pass that allows the student to have extra time to complete a missing assignment. As for socialization, schools are in and of themselves social places where students can build friendships and meet new people.