Are high school sports a huge, costly distraction from the real job high schools face: educating young people? That’s the question posed by "The Case Against High-School Sports" in the October issue of the Atlantic.
High schools sports can teach leadership and teamwork and create tremendous school spirit. But they also divert money and attention from the classroom, where students are taught the skills needed to get good-paying jobs.
The article's author writes: "Sports are embedded in American schools in a way they are not almost anywhere else in the world. Yet this difference hardly ever comes up in domestic debates about America’s international mediocrity in education."
When a budget crisis forced one Texas school district to cut sports last year, some unexpected benefits appeared. The percentage of students passing classes jumped from 50% to 80%. While this couldn’t be attributed exclusively to the end of sports, it was a factor.
“It did make you focus,” said one former football player. “There was just all of this extra time. You never got behind in your work.”
