Argumentative Essay On After School Sports

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

Amanda Ripley argues in her essay “The Case Against High School Sports,” that high school sports should be removed in favor of a higher focus on education. Ripley presents her argument why removing high school sports would help “America’s mediocrity in education” (1). Ripley draws the comparison between the educational capabilities of South Korea and the United States. Ripley presents the story of one Texas high school, an area considered the heart and soul of American football from movies such as “Friday Night Lights.” While Ripley presents multiple arguments against high school sports, there are some other arguments that can still be made, such as the heavy financial burden on our schools and the potential injuries to our students.

Amanda Ripley states that, “In the spring of 2012, Premont Independent School District threatened to take out all sports,” she goes on to say that, “sports are embedded in American schools in a way they are not almost anywhere” (10). Amanda Ripley states that, ever since Premont took out sports, “80% of students passed their classes, compared with 50% the previous fall” (Ripley 11). It shows that without school sports, students pass more classes. Clearly, without sports students pass more classes and are able to focus on school.

Saving money, especially for schools, is extremely important because they can use it to expand a student’s horizons towards academic activities. According to an article by Amanda Ripley, Premont Independent spent more than $520,000 on activities, supplies, and traveling for sports (11). Ripley continues saying that hiring substitutes for teachers and chaperoning trips for sports can become quite costly (11). This shows that having sports could be a bad choice for schools to make if their goal is for students to

Back in the day, everyone had to go to school so they used sports to bribe them to want to come. Sports made them feel like they belonged. Although students now have taken it farther than back in the day. Students could thrive in academics if they really tried. Sports gives them another reason to forget about their homework and not study. The school’s have no limit. Maybe if their coaches made sure their athletes worked hard in class and were passing. Only 50% of students were passing all their classes. 45% of the students failing were star athletes at Ripley high school. The schools would never want to bench their star player.

According to research conducted during the year of 2012 at Premont Independent School District in Premont, Texas, after suspending school athletics, “ 80 percent of students passed their classes, compared to the 50 percent the previous fall,” (Ripley 10). As explained in her article, school sports “are a distraction…” also, “during football season in particular, focus shifts away from learning,” (Ripley 10). Obviously, this information proves that athletics disrupt students’ priorities, and does not allow them to focus on their learning. Therefore, districts should minimize sports at schools to support their students and their

For years, students have been playing sports and loving it, but as a result, some peers haven’t been doing well in their academics. Students are too busy playing sports, so they don’t have enough time to do their homework. Therefore, sports should be taken out of school because students will be more focused on their grades, the district won’t have to pay great deals of money, and that America will not lag behind other countries academically.

Most schools consider sports as an essential, which leads students to assume athletics are more important than academics. This being said, many individuals don’t identify sports as the reason why America lags behind other countries academically. Therefore, eliminating school athletic programs could benefit many districts by, saving money, raising academic levels, and providing the opportunity for students to become more involved in other activities.

Almost all schools worldwide have a policy about having to have a certain letter grade or GPA average in order to play or even practice with the team. If they don’t match up with the requirements then they're out of practice, a game or sometimes even the whole season. In order for students to not receive this consequence means that they are always on top of their grades, making time to study and do their homework. If schools were to ban sports then they wouldn’t always be worried about keeping their grades up. High school sports have advantages in furthering student education as well.

School sports may seem like a good idea to some people, but it takes away from education, and isnt education and learning what schools were made for, to teach the children of America? School sports are not a good idea for many reasons, the first reason is,maintaining the fields, and paying for transportation is too expensive for school to pay for,that money should be put towards education and learning. When teacher-coaches travel for games, the school is left to hire substitute teachers, and to pay for the transportation of the teams. Not all students are benefitting from school sports, many students have a hard time paying attention in class because they are too focused on school sports. Sadly, some schools are being shut down, or in jeopardy of being shut down. This is often because they cannot meet educational standards, and have little money left over from school sports. Schools sports can cause a drop in education,it is taking a toll on many schools and students, schools should get rid of school sports.

A great amount of people have different beliefs about whether there should be sports in public schools. Numerous articles state that sports teams should be banned to help students aim for academic achievements in class, often this is not possible due to a lack of money for classroom activities. Therefore, after school athletics should be eliminated to cut costs, improve America’s high school graduation rates, and give the students more time to rest.

Over the years studies have shown that students have made a better impact on grades without sports then in the past with athletics. In a 2014 Shawnee High School sports article by Amanda Ripley it was stated, “80 percent of students passed their classes, compared with 50 percent the previous fall” (11). Without football a previous Premount

Being on an after school sports team could lead to failed classes. Although many students enjoy after school sports because it is necessary for good health and can relieve stress; it has been proven that sports could badly influence your grades due to lack of study time and they are unnecessary expenses for schools to pay. Therefore, after school sports should be stopped because they take money out of the classroom, they can cause academic failure, and they are a reason for kids to focus on something other than their educational work.

Although many students strive to have a higher or maintained GPA because of sports being a priority some students find it very difficult to maintain their grades in order to have the so called eligibility to play. As well as having higher GPA’s student athletes have lower dropout rates that non high school athletes according to the ‘’North Dakota high school athletic association. Students who are involved these athletes have on average missed 4.9 days of the average school year but students who don't participate missed on average 10.8 school days in the average year. Not only is it obviously important to partake in school but also show up to school to begin with.