It goes without saying that athletics are enormously influential in the social sphere of high school. While academics are more impactful on one's future, immediate popularity is something numerous teenagers covet. Countless students try out for sports every year for multiple reasons, one of the most prevalent being the aspiration of becoming a school celebrity. While that is indeed an excellent benefit, the reason I initially joined the tennis team was to have a group to be a part of. But there was always this one thought that loomed over me. Why does it mean more to be on the baseball team than it does to be a member of the tennis team? Whereas students would gather and attend football, basketball, and baseball games to support the school's athletes, the tennis benches remained empty all spring. My teammates, too, realized that our sport was not favored. Naturally, we harbored resentment towards members of the admired teams. Though belonging is a natural human desire, malicious actions are easier to perform once a group has been formed. Mob mentality blinded our team and caused us to behave in ways that we would not dare alone. It is my opinion that the envy experienced by my team is an inescapable feature of society; I will present and examine this feature and what is says about our world, but I'm going to begin by reflecting on the spiteful activities my team conducted. It would first be helpful to give a physical description of a typical player on our tennis
3 Strikes, The Bond Is Out: The Effect Of Sports On Relationships in A Separate Peace
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
A prominent reason why high school sports is detrimental to academic accomplishments of students is because of how sports act as a powerful distractor to education. When a student starts to play sports in school, their mindset shifts from being focused on learning to now focusing on improving at their sport of choice. Sports are just another thing that consumes the time and attention of people. This simple fact clearly presents a problem because it means less effort can be dedicated towards academics. A perfect example of how sports teams magnify this effect of reducing academic effort is presented in the article “Why Student Athletes Continue to Fail” when it explains “Tight-knit student athletes will seek ways of fitting into a culture that they perceive as neglecting academics (by defaulting into majors of dubious merit and spending less time doing homework), knowing that their habits are observed by teammates” (Oppenheimer). Clearly, this statement demonstrates that school sports create an environment where students feel pressured to adopt a callous attitude towards academics. Since sports teams form a strong bond between the members of the team, the impact of peer pressure is emphasized because each student wants to behave like the others simply to feel connected to the group.
Recently American test scores have been down but the first thing people blame for this epidemic is sports. Instead of looking at the infrastructure of our school system. Sports are ingrade in American culture and how we life so to just take them away would be dractace. Sports should stay in schools because the keep kids out of trouble, help kids get better grades, and it helps them later on in their life.
At school, peers can change adolescents’ attitudes about a sport that was previously enjoyed. Even students who are talented at a particular sport may quit it because
High school sports make student athletes strive for better success in their education. Sure some Schools have a minimum G.P.A requirement of 2.0, and to get that all your classes have to be “C” or better. Well that’s better than letting them have a 1.0 and letting them play. It makes them have something worth studying for, For example my friend Bryan Garcia does not like school or work but he is always looking for ways to make his grades better so that he may play with the John F. Kennedy soccer team. Also not all the states in the United States of America have a G.P.A requirement to play in a sport activity, twelve out of the fifty states in the USA require a G.P.A to play."A High School Athlete 's GPA Vs. Average High School Student 's GPA." Everyday Life. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Feb. 2016.”Sports participation is associated with higher GPAs, lower dropout rates and stronger commitments to school compared to the average,non-athlete high school student”. Also they made a study for Kansas in 2008-2009 between athletes and non-athletes,Academic Performance Of Athletes And Non‐Athletes, and Page 41. COMPARING THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETES AND NON-ATHLETES IN KANSAS IN 2008-2009 (n.d.): n. pag. Web.”high school athletes earned higher grades,graduated at a higher rate, dropped out of school less frequently, and scored higher on state assessments than did non-athletes”. Student athletes have a greater chance of graduating with a 3.0 or more. They are more
In a culture where sportsmanship is lacking, it is critical that stakeholders in high school athletics work together to reestablish sportsmanship and ethics to the forefront of education-based athletics. In fact, “ The National Federation, the governing body for public high school sports, would like for the number one priority of high school athletics to be GOOD SPORTSMANSHIP” (as cited in Churdar, 2015, p. 2). Sportsmanship means respecting the opponent, the officials, and the game. There are many people and groups who influence the actions and beliefs of athletes either in a positive or negative manner, so it is important that these groups maintain a high view of sportsmanship and take proactive measures to ensure that good sportsmanship is a priority for high school sports.
A 2016 study by the NCAA revealed that there are nearly eight million students who participate in high school athletics in the United States, yet only 480,000 of them will compete at NCAA schools ("Probability of Competing Beyond High School"). Of that approximate 16% who become a student-athlete, an even smaller percent will graduate and become professional athletes. For example, data from the 2015 NFL Draft demonstrates that there is less than a 2% chance of playing in the NFL. During the 2015 Draft, there were 72,788 NCAA football participants, only 16,175 of those were draft eligible for the 256 slots which equates to a 1.6% chance of being drafted to the NFL. According to the NCAA, of the 256 NCAA players selected in the 2015 NFL draft 236 were from Division I FBS institutions, 17 were from Division I FCS programs, two were from Division II programs, and only one was from a Division III program. Student-athletes from the power five conferences accounted for for 200 of the 256 draft picks (SEC=54, ACC=47, Pac-12=39, Big Ten=35, Big 12=25) ("Probability of Competing Beyond High School", 2016). With there being a small percentage of playing professional sports after college, the importance of a college degree has become a priority for many student-athletes.
In the article, The Case Against High-School Sports suggests that American schools are putting too much focus on sports than on education. After analyzing the gathered information, I have concluded that sports are being pushed over education in the United States. In this article, I found myself agreeing with many of the points the author was making. The United States is far behind many countries in our educational system; we don’t seem to take education as seriously as we do sports. We also spend an unbelievable amount of our average school funding on athletes, while sometimes spending less than half on each student. Lastly, we have plenty of evidence of schools improving with school sports cuts, but we haven’t been successful in creating a real balance.
America has high school sports for many reasons. One sports allows young individuals to practice life lessons, sportsmanship,and allows kids to work on there social skills as well. Sports allow students to practice time management, character building and for many the high school athlete is also one of your higher academic students as well. Now this is not always the case , but for the most part kids who are involved in sports have to be responsible for academics in order to particpate . In the Article " The Case Against High School Sports" I can see why the principle shut down sports in the school. I think having good teachers and being able to fund good teachers has to be a priority. I am not sure what the principle did would work everywhere
The goal of this paper is to be able to establish a causal link between the presences of sports in a postsecondary school affect the number of male students attending these schools. The reason we would want to answer this question is should we incorporate sports more in schools to increase male attendance and level out the gap between male and female enrollment. State Universities that are wanting to become established and increase their male enrollment, as well as their presence in the athletic arena will have a great interest in this correlation. The answer to this question is interesting and valuable from an Economics point of view is to influence postsecondary school’s to help make the decision if they should incorporate sports teams
Being involved in high school athletics has had a huge impact on my life. It has not only taught me the meaning of hard work and persistence but giving me the opportunity to build confidence on and off the court. When i was younger i would tend to keep to myself, always sitting through class hoping to never be called on because if I were to be called on, there would always be a chance to do or say something wrong. It wasn't until later, when I came to the conclusion that I feared failure, and at that time I would rather stay quiet and give in to that fear rather than face it. It was ultimately through sports that I came to the conclusion that you can't always do everything perfectly, and in the end all I could do was take the little control
This study deals with high school athletics and their long-term effect in the lives of those who participate; it also deals with the positive and negative aspects of athletics during high school, and the treatment of those who participate. This study was conducted with qualitative data obtained from five personal interviews with previous high school athletes. These five people come from a range of places, ages, and experience. Conclusions are that participation in high school athletics is a contributor to a better social life and experience during high school. Good friends and influences are obtained through the pursuit of high school athletics. The long-term effects
Sports and the general physical activities have been associated with a plethora of benefits. Not so much in correlation with education though. The debate on sports and academic performance relates as to whether sports affect academic performance positively or negatively. Mostly, academics, especially in high school and colleges, require an enormous time commitment. In the same way, sports demand time commitment. Apparently, academics and sports run linearly and either would consume the time of the other. Such would be the argument put forth by the claimants of the negative effects of sports on academic performance. The opponents to the positive correlation of sports and academic performance ground their arguments largely on the time commitment that the two require claiming that sports would consume a student’s time for study hence affecting their academic performance. Proponents of a positive correlation between sports and academic performance summon an extensive range of evidence showing that students who participate in sports perform well in academics. The proponents’ arguments are fetched from the proven benefits of exercise which improve a student’s overall well-being and motivate their academic performance. Opponents would, however, argue that the studies that find athletes and sports persons good at academics do not show how such correlations occur in that other factors could be the actual causes of the correlation and not sports in themselves. Regardless, opponents to the claim that sports affect academic performance positively cannot deny that sports affect the overall well being of any human being. As such, there is no denying that sports affect academic performance positively where a balance among the two is maintained.
Do sports have a role in the lives of students? In an article posted by the Atlantic authored by Amanda Ripley on October of 2013 titled "The Case Against High-school Sports", Ripley questions the added value of sports to high schools and its students, outlining that the focus on sports has resulted in poor international test results. The article further used schools in various cities and countries, such as Shanghai, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Finland as exemplary examples, stating that at some institutions in these cities and countries have shifted or eliminated sports in the school system and are heavily focused on being purely academic institutions, which as stated in the article yielded higher rankings in international standardized test.