The Negative Impact Of High School Sports On Students

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.

According to Ripley “80 percent of students passed their classes [after their district canceled sports], compared with 50 percent the previous fall” (11). She goes on to mention that Nathan, a prior quarterback for the same district, said that you couldn’t fall behind on schoolwork because sports weren’t taking up your time (Ripley 11). This information is important because it demonstrates that athletics are causing student failure, which is undoubtedly reprehensible. It is plainly shown that school sports are causing academic failure which will greatly deteriorate student’s futures, and in turn, the world’s

The thought of eliminating sports from schools have become very popular in the last couple of years. Recent studies have shown that sports bring down children academically. Therefore, schools should eliminate sports to allow students more time to study, bring up kids grades, and improve financial issues. People who have gone through school know how important it is to study in order to familiarize themselves with the material taught. In “Should Your School Get Rid of Sports?”, Amanda Ripley states that a former quarterback that attends a school with no sports says, ¨there was all this extra time, you never go behind on your work¨ (11).

At the end of a long, stressful day at school, you look out to the field where you will soon be with your friends, enjoying the sun on your skin and working off the stress of your cooped up day at school, with your favorite sport, of course. The article “Should Your School Get Rid of School Sports?” has two very strong point of views. Part one, “Yes! It’s Time to Scale Back” by Amanda Ripley argues that we should get rid of school sports. However, part two, “No! Sports Are More Important Than Ever” by Tim O’Shei argues that we should keep school sports. School sports can be expensive, but there are many more benefits and reasons for having sports at school than getting rid of them.

Introductory Paragraph Sports have been in schools for many years, however schools may change their decision about sports. During recent studies, over 20 different countries have shown higher graduation rates than the US, and many feel this is because of after school sports. Therefore, athletic programs should be eliminated in schools because it can put districts in debt, students will stay more focused on their homework, and kids can spend more time with their family.

Whenever someone goes to a school they are going to see that they have a sports team; however, people do not know how much these activities actually cost. According to author Amanda Ripley in a recent article about sports, she states that a grass field can cost more than $20,000 a year (2). “For travel games, schools pay for the busses for teams and also for the band, cheerleaders, and hotels” (Ripley 4). This evidence shows that schools have money but they’re using on sports; instead of using the money on sports they can use it on the education or new technology for the school. Therefore if districts want to save any money they should really consider suspending after school sports.

One reason schools should get rid of sports is, they are too expensive. For example, Premont Independent School District, was in trouble, the state threatened to shut the district down for financial problems and academic failures. This shows that the district was paying too much money on sports and not enough on the district itself. Another example is, the district’s elementary school hadn’t had a music teacher in years, and the high school had sealed off the science labs, which were infested with mold,

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.

According to Superintendent Ernest Singleton from the Premont Independent School District he realized that if he cancelled all the sports, the districts could be “saving $150,000 in one year” (11). In fact, Ripley announced that new “bleachers can cost half a million dollars” also to “maintain a green field that can cost more than $20,000 a year ” (11). This shows that school sports can be expensive and if they cancelled sports kids can have all their subjects. Clearly, getting rid of sports is important because students need to be able to have all their subjects and should be able to learn more about things in

Sports are embedded in many American schools in a way they are not anywhere else. One element of our educational system consistently surprises them, “Sports are a huge deal in American schools,” says Earl Smith of the New York Times. The positives have always outweighed the negatives in the case against high school sports. As Sato Kai state, “The benefits of sports as part of the education process are abundant and sometimes beyond quantifications,” According to many academic specialists, sports offer formative and life long lessons such as: discipline, responsibility, self confidence, and accountability. These skills can furthermore excel your later life and give you a greater chance of being employed in a high level job. Participation in high school sports helps your later development as an adult and teaches you life long skills that can't be taught elsewhere.

As you can tell, without sports, crucial elements are missing within student's lives. Sports contribute to the ability of socialization among kids, encouragement on academic performance, and achieving goals. These pieces would be affected greatly if sports were eliminated from schools. Lasting friendships from team sports, otherwise misplaced academic encouragement, and goal skills would be lost. Keep school sports. Save kids the

With sports, districts could struggle to get students to their highest level of education. It is easy to see that with no athletic activities, schools can save money, time, and students could focus on their academics. Therefore, it is essential that schools dispose of sports so they can thrive in the long run of

Although schools have had sports for many years, they should be putting their focus and concern towards students academics. According to Ripley, 20 nations have better high school graduation rates than Premont high school (11). Amanda Ripley says “America lags behind many countries academically and more than 20 nations have better high school graduation rates (10). This shows how important academics are and how sports can easily take it away. This is important for schools to pay attention to if they are experiencing academic failures and increasing debt.

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.