Do High Schools Put Too Much Emphasis On Athletics?

There are several reasons that a strong emphasis on athletics

, especially on such "big ticket" sports as football and basketball, are harmful to high school education.

Curriculum is what game-theorists term a "zero-sum game." In other words, to have more of one element in your curriculum, you need less of something else. This means that time devoted to athletic programs is time subtracted from academic programs. Similarly, budgets are fixed, and the money devoted to athletics is money not being spent on more important activities such as tutoring underperforming students or offering a wider variety of foreign languages.

The second issue is that, paradoxically, athletics can have a negative effect on students fitness. With a documented obesity epidemic affecting even students in primary schools, it is increasingly important to introduce students to lifetime fitness habits. School athletic programs tend to introduce a limited group of talented students to a small group of team sports and relegate the rest to the role of spectators. Rather than invest in training a small group of (generally male) students to play football, or, even worse, sports like baseball that have no fitness component at all, schools need to emphasize activities such as nature walks, bicycling, snowshoeing, and other activities that can be done by students of all ability levels for their entire lives.

Finally, a strong emphasis on student athletics can create a toxic atmosphere at a school with successful athletes participating in a culture of impunity. The fetishization of the "star athletes" or popular cheerleaders can impact other students' self-esteem negatively, and put pressure on those who might have a potential to take leading athletic roles to develop eating disorders or other unhealthy habits.

Overall, a strong focus on athletics will generally harm the ability of a school to achieve the best academic results possible within budgetary constraints, as well as potentially decreasing its ability to offer generally beneficial fitness programs. Additionally, the culture of athletics may harm both the health of the student athletes and the self-esteem of the non-athletic students.

by: Mike Daniels

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