A pox on HS Sports. School was never intended to have, as a core part of the curriculum, participation in Interscholastic Sports. Ever hear of any of our Founding Fathers playing Interscholastic Sports? No! And you never will. Even Socialist/Communist revisionists will never review American history from a sports perspective. I will repeat: Our Founding Fathers, those extremely intelligent men with the foresight to pen the most important document ever recorded by a free society, NEVER played basketball, football, baseball, lacrosse, bowling, squash, wrestling, cheer leading, hockey, or what have you while in High School. School was reserved for, and dedicated to, learning--not fooling around. Which is why our High School attendees fail so miserably when compared to their peers in other, developed countries. Firing all those "coaches", eliminating all that equipment, all that transportation, field/court maintenance, etc., would lower school costs and TAXES by at least one-third. Add to that the savings which would accrue when all those ego-driven parents send their "blue chip" children to private schools and taxes would be lowered by another third.
Fewer students translates into smaller classes-faster learning-more attention by teachers to each student. High Schools are not minor league farms for US colleges. High schools should not be feeding professional type athletes to universities which have athlete graduation rates of between 20-30%, and which pay their coaches 5X what they pay the President or the Dean or Department Heads.
And why should High Schools provide an atmosphere in which sports are extolled while academics linger far behind. Ever hear of an All Star Chemist; Physicist; Mathematician..?? Yet, if a student scores 30 points in a basketball game, he is labeled "All Star" despite having a 2.0 GPA. And in far too many High Schools, even with a 1.0 GPA. There are very. very few US High Schools which have a "No Pass-No Play" policy. Most have a "Play and don't worry about Passing" policy.
As a result, in an international High School mathematics competition, the USA was ranked 24 of 25. We beat out Mexico but only, I susprct, because the exam was given in English.
Interscholastic Sports contribute to the Dumbing Down of America. And they are acing the course.
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