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| Yes | 71% | 396 votes | Total: 557 votes | |
| No | 29% | 161 votes |
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Are high school competitive sports worth the time and expense? Yes, sports are well worth the time and expense. It is a well known statistic that students who are involved in sports have a tendency to do better in school. Students in a sports program have a better chance for getting a scholarship for college. Playing sports builds self esteem and confidence, most of all it helps to keep them healthy.
Students that play a sport in school are more likely to be healthier. In a time when our children are becoming obese, being in a sport can help them to learn how to eat healthier foods. They learn how to keep their bodies fit.
Students learn what exercises will benefit them the most to stay healthy. Being in a sport keeps most teenagers from drinking. Kids in a sport don't have time to hang around with nothing to do where they can get themselves into trouble.
Being in a sport helps them learn good social skills. Team players have a lot more friends. They are more known by the teachers and school administrators.
They learn how to work as a team. Sports are not for a person who thinks only of themselves. This helps them with their schoolwork. It also helps to keep their grades up because if they want to play, they must keep a C average.
Students learn good leadership skills. Learning good sportsmanship will help them as they mature and enter the work force, even if they don't attend college. By being a squad leader it can help a student learn how to take the initiative and be a leader. This teaches them to think.
Students that play sports are taught self discipline. Learning self discipline is important in any endeavor that they might involve themselves in as they mature. Self esteem is also achieved. Being a high school student is a time when young people question themselves about how good they are. Many ask themselves if they will be able to get into a good college.
Playing a school sport, even if they are playing second string, helps them to build that self esteem. It helps them to achieve something other than a good grade that will go unnoticed by the school faculty or other students.
By being on a team everyone gets noticed. That one time they get to play in the game gets them noticed. They are not just a statistic among the other eight hundred students in a school that no one knows their names or even whether they exist. For a student to look up into the seats and see their parents, family, and friends cheering them on makes them feel the pride and love that their family and friends have for them. This helps them feel proud of themselves and the drive to achieve more.
Most colleges look for students that have participated in sports or other activities during high school. Having played sports in high school will help them to get accepted in a college. Participating in sports can also help them to earn a scholarship. With the prices of schools today, any help would be appreciated.
There a lot of parents that would be very happy if their kids could get a scholarship to college, even if it were only a partial scholarship. Whether it is right or wrong for colleges to use sports to judge who will get a scholarship is another question. Colleges believe that by choosing a student who is good in sports will only help their school in building a good team and winning a championship of their own. The point is that this is just the way the point system works.
As far as the cost of a sports program, many schools have fund raisers. Many schools have sponsors in the area that are more than willing to donate money for equipment needed. There are a lot of parents that donate their own time cleaning the fields, painting lines, and other things that are needed. The school system does not necessarily need to bear the whole cost of a sports program.
Parents work hard helping their children achieve greatness. The time and effort shows just how important their children are to them. There are many sacrifices that parents make for their children to play a sport, both in time and money.
When it helps their child, any good parent would say yes it worth all the time, money and effort involved.
Learn more about this author, Marion Garcia.
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No
I think it is important to have a legitimate discussion and debate on this subject. It does little or no good at all to get the testimony of countless numbers of kids who benefited from the interscholastic sports programs offered in high school unless we hear from those who might not have been able to participate for one reason or another. Those youngsters who were and are directly involved in the athletics program are the direct beneficiaries of a system that primarily rewards the physically endowed who are motivated. This has probably been created because initially the schools were becoming focused on the intellectually endowed children and those less capable were somehow being overlooked. The unfortunate part about discussing this subject is that there is a lot of acrimony expressed by both sides and directed toward those with the opposing view.
The length of the school day and or the school year must be considered if something is to be done to the current public school program. Failing that, then there needs to be some consideration given to eliminating large segments of the curriculum in order to fit as much as possible into the available time that we have.
When the public schools began to take shape in the nineteenth century their purpose was very specific. They were to produce the curricula necessary to educate the hordes of immigrants, mostly from Europe, to become literate in the English language and productive members of our society. At that time the three Rs was the curriculum at the elementary level and there was a broadening at the high school level in the areas of geography and some science.
Elementary school teachers in the twentieth century had to obtain certification in what is called the, "Common Branch Subjects," which included some expertise in art, music, physical education and library. These teachers taught all subjects including the special areas in what was called self contained classrooms. The typical elementary classroom was equipped with a piano, an easel or two, a box filled with balls and other playing gear for recess, and a library shelf containing an array of books usually bought and paid for by the teacher.
High school teachers were specialists in the subject areas they taught and this included specialists in Art, Music, Physical Education and Library. As school populations grew after WWII curricula expanded dramatically and so did the demands on the teachers' ability to fit all into the confines of a school day.
The high school athletic programs were doing more than providing a respite from the rigors of academics and providing instead a whole new way for some students to find a lifetime pursuit. In addition, colleges also placed great value on students involvement in sports, music and art offering scholarships to those who excelled. Teachers at the elementary level began to call for specialists in art, music, physical education and library so that the children would receive instruction from professionals in those fields. This would then provide the classroom teachers opportunity to focus more of their time and energy on the academic portion of the curriculum. Interscholastic sports then became an integral part of the school program and in some ways the whole performing arts segment of secondary education became bigger than the academics. In essence the offspring (special subject areas) have grown up to consume its parents (academics). Incidentally, how many elementary school gyms have you been in where they are designed around a basketball court? Clearly 80 or 90 percent of the students can't even reach the basket with a regulation ball.
No sane person would suggest that all special subject areas (Art, Music, Phys. Ed. and Lib.) should be abolished in the public school system, but consideration of some modification seems very much in order. The amount of money spent on interscholastic sports alone is something that should be viewed separate from the academic portion of the school budget. The remaining physical education program should then be devoted to the concept of the students' healthful lifestyles and exercise regimens for healthy lives rather than the lead-ups to sports such as basketball, football, soccer and volleyball. Art and Music should be devoted to the encouragement of a healthy view of their cultural aspects, and library should be staffed by people who are skilled in the new technologies for information retrieval.
It is important to note that the curricula in all subject areas have been expanded while at the same time making accommodations for the ever increasing needs of the special areas. That means there has been a real increase of the time needed for academics. What has happened is in order to absorb the additional material in the academic areas it has become necessary to put more content in the same amount of time. Not only has the curriculum for each subject been enlarged, but room has also been made for the specials. While all this has been going on neither the length of the school day nor the length of the school year is allowed to be considered in any planned solution. This is a lot like trying to put five or more pounds of salt into a two pound bag without having it split wide open in the process.
Given the parameters of the current school day and year where would, or should, we look to make the necessary reduction in the stuff we have in the curricula and number of subjects offered? If we insist upon talking about the failings of the bureaucracy and some of the things we could do to shave the administrative costs this too may be something we can discuss, but major surgery is needed here. It's not just a question of money, but maintaining the public school system as a viable academic institution is equally important. A band aid applied to the current hemorrhaging taking place in the schools is simply not enough.
Learn more about this author, Joseph Zavarella.
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