The Case Against High School Sports By Amanda Ripley

students now rank 22nd instead of 19th. And most shocking, they fell from 10th to 20th in reading (Parker,2). If you compare American schools to other renowned top schools world wide such as in Europe and Asia you would see a remarkable difference with the amount of time and money spent on sports. Ripley stated that one football player costs about $1,300 a player. Math, by contrast, cost just $618 a student. And the school district could save $150,000 in one year with cutting school sports and extracurriculars (Ripley,3). Our Johnston School District also has a large price as our state's Athletic Director Gary Ross:

Abstract: Society is affected every day by many different kinds of sports.  These sports often govern society's way of life.  People all over the nation turn their TVs to sporting events, such as golf, during the weekends.   Scott Stossel states that "more than six million Americans enjoy watching golf on the weekends."  Parents  use sports as a teaching tool for their children.  Kids learn teamwork and discipline from team sports programs and  sports have also helped many students with their grades.  Kids who want to compete in school sports are taught to keep their grades up or they won't be able to play, but the greedy coaches and schools often look around grades to keep their "star athletes" in the games.  Adults have

The Atlantic article, “High-School Sports Aren’t Killing Academics,” by Daniel H. Bowen and Colin Hitt make a statement on the sports programs in schools. They oppose the thought that participating in sports programs results in a student’s academics suffering, but instead believe sports programs provide academic benefits. Their article targets the article, “The Case Against High-School Sports”, by Amanda Ripley who argues that participation in sports at school cost students’ academic success. The duo constructs their argument around Ripley’s claims and counter her points to strengthen their own. Their argument has a mix of supporting information and points that weakened Bowen and Hitt’s claim. This is due to the methods and evidence they provided which didn’t appear as convincing when trying to persuade readers.

In “The Case Against High School Sports,” Amanda Ripley tries to argue her point that sports should not be a part of high school. She claims that sports take away from education, and that they are too expensive (Ripley 1-2). Throughout her article, she often switches her topic. She shifts her focus from all high schools to one specific high school, and then to one specific college. Ripley presents an abundance of points, but lacks evidence to support them. Although Ripley makes relevant claims, she tries to support them with logical fallacies and irrelevant evidence.

In “The Case Against High School Sports,” Amanda Ripley, a journalist for The Atlantic, states that America is spending more money on high school sports rather than on academic purposes. “High School Sports Aren’t Killing Academics, “ written by Daniel Bowen, a postdoctoral scholar at Rice University, and Colin Hitt, an assistant professor at the University of Arkansas, discusses the benefits that come out of sports programs to improve the classroom and the school’s social capital. Co-founder of a sports recruiting social network, Kai Sato’s article “The Case For High School Sports,” focuses on how school does not just involve scoring well on a math test but to educate us to be productive in what lies ahead. Ripley’s article discusses how

The impact of preserving sports in high schools has been surrounded by much controversy as people suspect that it is the reason behind the poor academic achievement of students. Opponents to high school sports feel that allowing athletics to be a part of schools sidetracks the focus of the student body, which goes completely against the main purpose of schools. Indeed, this assertion is completely true and based upon plentiful evidence. High school sports undoubtedly come at the expense of student academic achievement since they divert the attention of students away from academics and they come with far too many financial costs, both of which incur negative impacts on the academics within a school. The bottomline is that sports are harming the education of students, so a school must make the decision between composing quality sports teams or providing high level academics; both of these choices simply cannot occur simultaneously.

Amanda Ripley, in an article for The Atlantic, “The Case Against High-School Sports” (2013 by The Atlantic Monthly Group), claims that high-school athletics are encroaching upon students’ education, questions the effect that the sports have on academic progress in the United States, and “wonder[s] about the trade-offs we make.” Ripley supports her thesis with multiple points of argument, including international academic ranking statistics that reveal the United States’ inadequacies, relevant stories and history illustrating athletics’ effect on students, and a paragraph in which she implores the reader to “[i]magine, for a moment, if Americans transferred our obsessive intensity about high-school sports...to high school academics.” The author’s

The topic of most concern for both parents and school board members is the risk of injuries. Tackle football may be fun for children, but the hits can be hard, resulting in excruciating injuries that can have long lasting effects that aren’t fully understood, such as reason as to why some kids don’t recover from a single injury or why some children have more catastrophic

"The Case against High-School Sports." The Atlantic Oct. 2013: 72+. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 19 Feb. 2016.

Amanda Ripley argues in her article, “The Case Against High-School Sports,” that American high-schools should concentrate less on sports and more on education. Through anecdotes, Ripley discusses the benefits as well as challenges of removing sports from high schools. Ripley contrasts the American education system with more successful Asian education systems throughout her writing. This article's argument is mainly developed through anecdotes and the juxtaposition between American and Asian schools. By employing these strategies, as well as appealing to Pathos and Logos, Ripley forms a strong argument against high school sports.

Positives of Premont’s decision to suspend sports include a 30% increase in non-failing students, higher attendance at parent-teacher night, and a decline in misbehavior. Premont, as a result of suspending sports, gets to stay open. High School sports have a negative impact on the school district, and are a large expense especially when compared to academics. High school focus on sports harms academic performance and allows athletes, who are the minority, to “control” the school. America is stagnant in the development of academic performance as a result of sports.

The bang of the head, the crack of the bone, the tear of a muscle, are all things that high school athletes put themselves at risks for. Every time a high school athlete steps foot on a field, rink, or court they put themself in a risky situation. Although the risk may be there, athletes achieve many valuable lessons throughout high school sports. The valuable lessons promote self-confidence, socialization and team spirit, as well as decreases stress. While playing sports, athletes are at excessive risks of being injured. Although high school athletes have a risk of being injured, the benefits of high school sports programs outweighs the physical risk because of its benefits to teenagers mental health, benefits to teenagers physical health,

It keeps kids active and according the website webmd.com in 2009 the kids participate in the most activates felt the most encourage to be active and felt highly skilled full in the given activates and enjoyed it.

Sports are a big part of many middle and high school students lives. Sports helps kids in the future academically, socially, and medically. Due to budget cuts to schools, schools are now taking away school sponsored sports in effort to work with the new budget. Sports are vital to students and athlete’s lives. They are too important to be taken away.

When Superintendent Ernest Singleton of Premont Independent School District in Premont, Texas canceled sports, students grades went up tremendously from 50 to 80 percent (Ripley 11). A former Premont quarterback who started playing club football on weekends said, “There was all this extra time, you never got behind on your work” (Ripley 11). This data shows that if schools eliminate sports, students can have additional time to increase their grades. Clearly, if schools eliminate sports, students can have a chance to improve in any academic failures that they are