Our World Is Far From Perfect. I Am Not The First And I

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

Amanda Ripley, in her article “The Case Against High School Sports,” describes how she believes high school sports is a detriment to the education of America’s children. Ripley compares American academic performance to that of other countries, and explains how American schools place focus on athletics that other countries’ schools do not. Ripley’s argument against high school sports has many inconsistencies, but produces a valid argument in spite of that. Because sports are a priority in the U.S. and not so much in other countries, Ripley implies sports are the reason why other countries have a higher score on a test regarding critical thinking in math. Ripley acknowledges the benefits of sports very briefly.

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.

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.

As a student, I have intimate knowledge of the subject as I engage with education frequently. I experience how athletics affect students’ lives and what the alternative to athletic participation results

The National Collegiate Athletic Association is charged with the regulation of athletes, and all athletic programs in affiliated universities and colleges across the United States. The N.C.A.A. is the association charged with developing and implementing policies regarding athletics in colleges and universities. With such a role, the association is mandated to specify the minimum academic requirements for a student to participate in any sporting activity. The association claims that it aims at creating a balance between sport and education. The heart of the association 's mission is student-athlete success in classroom and on the field. N.C.A.A. comes up with policies that provide a student-athlete with the opportunity to learn through sporting activities. This is a noble endeavor, but some institutions as presented in the article by Sarah Lyall (1) have misused it. In the article, one can see that the University of North Carolina denied some of its student-athletes the learning opportunity envisioned by the N.C.A.A. Sarah Lyall (1). By offering the students free grades, U.N.C. was doing the students a great disservice, which only served the interests of the university.

Across the nation, these sponsors uniformly regarded sport as an educational and developmental undertaking (Hearn, Thomas K.). The main premier sports for men are football, basketball, and baseball. These sports help teach teamwork and let people interact with others. This change in the culture of sport is destructive of the aims of athletics as part of the mission of the university (Hearn, Thomas K.). Sports weren’t this advanced when they first started the game.

When high school students that play high-profile sports are applying for college, they have nearly a thirty percent advantage in getting admitted compared to non-athletes in the pool of applicants, despite having SAT scores that are around one hundred points lower than average. A study collected from football and basketball players at the University of North Carolina found that nearly sixty percent of these students could only read between a fourth- and eighth-grade level with ten percent only able to read as well as a third-grade student. This culture has been cultivating for several years. During the first intercollegiate game documented between Rutgers University and Princeton University in 1869, it is said that four of the players on the winning team (Rutgers) were failing classes. Nonetheless, this Rutgers and Princeton game is idolized. Athletes are conditioned to believe if personal physical performance is high enough, then expectations for academic performance will be lower. This ideology proves to carry on into many other aspects of the players’ life, including the judicial

Athletes in college receives a lot of attention, through their practices and performance on and off the field.be. They uplift the names of their colleges and give it a name that would otherwise not be acquired. They make their college mates proud of their college, and they may boost enrolment of many others, which would benefit the school. Athletics stand a position to earn a school other benefits, not only to the players but other students too. They may win study scholarships for their school mates by their exemplary performance (Owens et al 20).

College football also negatively affected the athletes between 1890 and 1930. With the extreme development of competitive college football, college athletes started their career as early as secondary school. So, instead of focusing on school work and applications for future colleges, these athletes would make sure they were the best at the sport even before they entered into college. Once the athletes entered into college, they had a hard time balancing schoolwork with athletics because in the previous years they were so focused on getting better at football. As said in the preface of the Carnegie bulletin, “No college boy training for a major team can have much time for thought or study” (Savage et. al. xiv). Also,

Sports have always been a hot topic in the academic world. They are seen as a great extracurricular activity that creates a sense of community between players. On the other hand, sports are viewed as a distraction from school. Everyone can agree that sports have become the focal point at many schools leading teachers to feel academics have become secondary. The seemingly endless debate is addressed by Dr. Mark Edmundson in an article of his that was published in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

The impact of college athletic programs on academics has always been a controversial and contentious topic. It seems that athletic programs have some contemplative effects on academics of colleges and universities. Different people have different ideas about how college athletic programs should be carried on. College presidents, administrations, student athletes, parents of students, and athletic trainers are along with these people who point out different facts about the fallouts of athletics on academics. A bunch of people suggest that athletic programs should be dropped from college system, while another group suggests that athletic programs should be taken care with more advertence. An analysis on the effects of college athletics on

There has been amplified debate on the treatment, education, training of the college athlete. To avoid exploitation of athletes, “The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), formed in 1905, set bylaws requiring college student-athletes to be amateurs in order to be eligible for intercollegiate athletics competition” (Schneider n.p.). Intercollegiate athletics have dramatically changed over the last several decades. Currently, intercollegiate athletics generate tremendous amounts of revenue, remarkably in football and basketball. College sports in America is a

Urbanization in the late nineteenth century caused white middle class Americans to face a crisis of gender, racial and class status (Harris, 2014, p.1). With fear of young men and women absorbing improper values and behaviour from the urban life, middle class reformers developed increasingly sophisticated physical education programs to promote clean sport and the development of character (Harris, 2014, p.2). As an instructor at the YMCA in Springfield, Massachusetts, James Naismith was originally tasked with keeping physical education students active through the winter (Harris, 2014, p.3). The goal was to provide them with a challenging, vigorous activity that could be played indoors while still promoting a clean sport, Christian values and

Globalization, by its most primal definition, is extremely beneficial to First and Third world countries alike. Ideally, Globalization would create more jobs in the countries involved, increase trade between nations thus lowering the price of goods, and spread information about the dire effects of sexism, racism etc in order to improve the lives of people being affected by these institutions. However, the truth is that the world is not perfect. The world is currently run by capitalist and racist people who use Globalization as a code word for colonization. The best way to explain the mindsets of many politicians in First world countries would be to compare them to Samuel Huntington. Samuel Huntington had a very Us vs. Them mindset, he believed that the Western world shouldn 't attempt to have harmonious relationships with smaller less developed countries or countries filled with minorities. But instead, should use brute force to dominate these countries in an attempt to have complete control and power over the world. "This" is the mindset that makes globalization so harmful. It is impossible for officials in smaller countries to know the intentions of the most powerful countries before allowing them access to their minute wealth, land, and resources. Also, they risk having their cultures and beliefs being muted and Westernized. With more access to smaller countries, first world countries tend to spread propaganda that makes western ideals seem more desirable while "other"