Issues of Interscholastic Sports

On September 29, 2016 in my American Sport in the 21st Century class we examined the benefits and issues of high school sports. Interscholastic sports are a very important and popular part of high schools all across the country and Friday nights during the fall have become synonymous with high school football games. But many believe that the current issues outweigh the benefits for students.

Below is a list from class of the benefits and the issues parents, teachers, and students alike have formed:
Benefits:

• Interscholastic sports involves students in school activities
• Playing a high school sport can build self-esteem
• Promotes support from the community
• Maintains fitness & lifetime participation

Issues:

• Athletes may get too distracted from their academics and solely focus on their sport
• Injuries
• Many schools cut out other programs to keep the athletic department running
• Athletes may be under too much pressure to win 

While there seems to be a divide on the importance of the athletic department and academics in high schools, most parents, teachers, and coaches agree that having both is important in a students life. Bryan Toporek wrote in Education Week about schools weighing the value of the football program versus arts programs and whether or not to cut the arts. In the article John R Gerdy,founder of the nonprofit educational organization Music for Everyone, thinks that, although both share several benefits like student engagement, development of positive character traits, and teamwork, arts programs provide more educational value than football for schools. Gerdy states:

"Consider music's pluses: the capacity to be a lifelong participatory-learning activity (football, for all but a select few, ends after high school); the fact that music is a universal language (football is uniquely American); its gender inclusiveness; a far lower cost-per-student ratio; the potential it offers as an essential platform for international and interdisciplinary studies; and its effectiveness in strengthening the brain's neural activity and development (versus the possibility, if not the likelihood, of sustaining brain trauma). Finally, the effectiveness of sports as an educational tool has been steadily diminishing as athletic programs have become more about the end result--winning--and less about the process (learning)"

This relates directly to one of the issues we discussed in class regrading the cutting of other high school programs to fund the sports teams, some see it as a waste of resources while others may even lose their jobs like a music or arts teacher. For the full article click here

The video above shares some of the many benefits high school sports can offer students 

It may depend on the location of the schools to determine the popularity of sports programs; a high school football team is probably going to be more popular in areas in the Midwest than in an area like the West Coast where alternative sports thrive and arts programs could be more popular. Some high schools across the country have already begun to cut their athletics for arts and vice versa. What is your opinion on interscholastic sports? Are they worth investing in over other school programs? Did you or other classmates find a happy balance between academics, sports, and the arts?