Why would a school place athletics on an equal or even higher footing than academics?
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Anonymous
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I don't understand this obsession with high school sports. 99.9 percent of the most successful high school athletes won't play professionally. Maybe one out of ten kids at a very athletically oriented high school will play in college. In this era of global competition, all these lacrosse and football players with lcool hair and big muscles are going to end up middle aged bald guys with beer bellies working for an Indian or Chinese kid with a Ph.D in chemistry.
I'm even more confused when I read that schools import athletes from other schools just so their teams have winning records - so your son or daughter isn't even playing. You just get more talented people to do the work for you. It's not how it works in the real world. |
Anonymous
| $$$$$$$ |
Anonymous
| This is not a hard question. |
Anonymous
| These so called schools, have forgotten their purpose. |
Anonymous
| Yup, $$$$$, at least at the college level. Winning teams sell lots of school merchandise, expensive tv airtime, bowl games, more $$$$ from proud alumni, attract higher academically scoring students (helped by scholarship generated by said alumni) and higher ranked athletes (adding more prestige for the school)--all of this helps the schools to improve the athletic AND academic programs. |
Anonymous
I see this arguement making sense for sports like basketball and football, and to a much lesser degree baseball, but lacrosse? The NDA college dance team competitions and college womens gymnastics bring in more money and tv time than lacrosse. |
Anonymous
The post specifically referenced the high school level -- is there data about whether winning HS teams prompt more alumni donations and/or applications? I could certainly imagine that if a high school program is strong, alumni might come back to watch, followed by warm feelings for their alma mater, followed by donations. But I don't know if that is borne out by reality for independent schools. |
Anonymous
| Have you ever been to a Gonzaga basketball game? I know lots of alums who attend with their little kids and hope that the kids get accepted there. |
Anonymous
| $$$ explains the school's motivation but not the parents. I'll never understand why parents get so over invested in sports. You're supposed to learn something to move ahead professionally. The sports thing is really short sighted in terms of a kid's career and long term happiness and sucess |
Anonymous
| Because OP most people are not going to be making their living doing PhD Chemistry --- you have to be very academically talented and you get to compete with the best from all over the World for the good jobs. For the average Joe there are rapidly diminishing marginal returns to science education once they are good enough to get into a middling decent college. And even there, most just won't get the science. So, the kids might as well have a good time doing sports and learning about competing and teamwork --- skills they will actually use in their middle-management and sales jobs that are in their future. |
Anonymous
Good point. I've seen parents complain about playing time on the JV level, or who is elected JV team captain. It is hard for me to imagine anything less significant in the universe than who is team captain of a jv high school team. (Okay, maybe the Khardashians come first in colossal insignificance, but jv team captain is right up there). |
Anonymous
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While I think a lot of schools need to have caution on how they handle athletics to the right balance and not above academics, there are different perspectives "then 99.9% won't play professional sports and will end up middle age guys with beer bellies working for a PhD kid in India or China".
I work in a global environment working closely with global executives from the major countries. Though admittingly none have PhDs in Chemistry, many have math degrees (a few masters /PhDs) and other rigorous academic backgrounds. Interestingly the majority (est. over 75%) have played the equivalent of high school sports in US or other countries and as applicable university sports or club sports. Most are actively fit today. Sports can provide discipline, goal setting, and team work. It provides a platform for the physical activity needed to meet the demands of global life - working mutliple time zones, traveling internationally, balancing stess and life. Many still use athletic activities as an outlet for creativity or thinking. And, sports can be a relationship builder in and across geographies. (in part - that's why I'm aware so many played sports - its often an opening trust builder). Do parents go overboard - yes? do high schools go overboard? yes . But dismissing sports as taking away from one's capacity to be prepared for the global future would be a mistake. |
Anonymous
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18:57 - this is a measured view about the value to a student. But these qualities aren't built only through rah rah sports programs. These qualities are built through team sports, individual sports, and really any individual endeavor such as music, dance, etc.
In my experience, I hear parents pushing for ramping up sports to make their kids happy. Not much of a parent. |
Anonymous
| If you look at at alumni what do kids from places like don bosco or gilman accomplish compared to kids from academic schools. I'm using those examples because I don't to get distracted by local names. Honest question, why do parents get so over invested in sports programs which often seem secondary to academics. Many kids at these schools don't need scholarships and would be better off in the long run with better academic skills. |
Anonymous
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NCAA athletes graduate at a higher rate than the rest of the student body.
Lacrosse players have the highest graduation rate of any group of athletes. Kids from don bosco (since that is the example the previous poster used) will be provided free tutors, mentors and immediately be part of a smaller community when they enter college. It has been shown that kids that exercise make better grades than those that don't. Do you really not understand exercise? Some kids just don't want to spend 6 hours a day sitting all day long in school and then go home and sit all night long doing homework and then wake up Saturday morning and do some Kumon tutoring and SAT prep. These kids don't have to worry about making the highest SAT score they just have to make a good enough score. They don't measure themselves on meaningless SAT scores or GPA's. They have build leadership skills and team work that can't be built in the classroom environment or sitting all day long in your quiet room reading. They have spent years learning how to build relationships and then having to go on the court or field and play against their neighbor/friend. They have learned to do this fairly. They have learned how to win gracefully and lose gracefully. They have showed that when they are dedicated to something they not only will work hard in practice and the games but they will practice on their own. They are physically fit and have built muscles that will help them thoughout their whole lives. Why the hate for sports so much? Do you want to get rid of plays and arts programs? I mean really are any of these kids going to be professional actors or professional artists? There are no studies that show that an A student is more successful in life than a B student. Why the obsession with academics? Why do parents where the letter AP and IB like badges of honor. |