Saturday, September 20, 2014

"The Case Against High-School Sports"

     If sports weren't involved in school it would have a negative effect on students. And I’m not just saying that “oh it will keep kids off the streets,” even though that is an example but there are many more cases that show that sports do benefit in a student’s life at school. In the article,"The Case Against High-School Sports" Ripley says that,"...93 percent of South Korean students graduate high-school,compared with 77 percent of American students--only about 2 percent of whom receive athletic scholarships to college." But she never stated that Massachusetts produces math scores comparable to South Korea and Finland in a 2011 report from Harvard University. Further more Mississippi scores are closer to Trinidad and Tobago. Even though Massachusetts' schools provide sport programs, Finland does not and Mississippi loves football while in interscholastic sports are nowhere near as prominent.
     Also, in the article Ripley writes a stereotype of coaches of how they aren't useful in a student's life. She states that,"American principals, unlike the vast majority of principals around the world, make many hiring decisions with their sports teams in mind--a calculus that does not always end well for students." Well as with sporting events, athletic coaches gain additional opportunities for communicating and serving as mentors that potentially help students succeed and also make up for the cost of coaching commitments.
    Last but not least sports lead people away from the road of obesity. If sports were taken away from schools in America the obesity rates would skyrocket. The chart to the right shows how much of overweight and obese adults with a BMI greater than 25 has changed from 1980 to 2008. Just by looking at this chart you can tell that as these years go on the BMI will keep increasing especially in America. So taking away sports will not help this what so ever, it will just cause more of a problem. If sports weren't involved in school it would have a negative outcome on the students' lives.

Ripley, Amanda. "The Case Against High-School Sports." Oct. 2013: 72-78. Print.

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