Elmhurst Steve wrote:
The individual that began this thread is probably someone that never had any real athletic success and was jealous of the people that enjoyed the attention and praise that went to those that did. They give attention and devote funds to athletics for the same reasons that musicians and actors make piles of money.....they entertain people (on a smaller scale obviously). They do things far better than the average person could and earn praise for doing so. Get over it.
Goodness, this post is astounding.
First of all, public high schools are not in the business of entertaining people. Though high school ends up being more about socialization and desensitizing kids to the idea of sitting through day after day of crushing ennui for a lifetime, the ideal is still that they impart knowledge and prepare students for work, further education, or basic functioning as an adult (and more on that last point later). Getting the townies to go out and watch the kids play some ball on a Friday night is so far down the list of what secondary public education has to do that it doesn't need to be on the list at all.
Also, as I established in this thread and that one where Hawg Ass got all bitchy with me, I didn't go to a school where there was elite athletic achievement to be noticed and praised. Our football team won one game all year once. I'll even dig up my high school yearbooks:
2000-01: varsity football was 1-8, the basketball record is conspicuously absent but does have a player quote defending the coach from being asked "is this the worst team ever" by saying the team was in fact "diligent and hard-working," so I have a preeeeeetty good feeling we sucked that year
2001-02: no record for the football team, basketball was 13-8
2002-03: football was 6-4, no record for the basketball team but I remember we had a postseason game
2003-04: football was 7-2, no record for the basketball team
Ironically, what I took from this research more than the futility of our athletic department was the futility of our yearbook staff. And you should see the typos! While I had no real athletic success in high school (though I was a surprisingly effective addition to the 8th grade wrestling team!), neither did the real athletes.
Anyway, the point is that aside from the fact that we never really won anything, this was a small-town school with about 1,200 kids during my time there, most of whom had known each other since kindergarten or earlier. It's hard to see the stars of the football field as immortals when you remember them wetting their pants in church when you were little kids, to say nothing of the fact that they generally weren't doing anything
far better than the average person, anyway. They
were the average person. We weren't recruited for college, and we certainly didn't recruit people to come into our school district. Our Best Running Back In School History played D3 football somewhere. There wasn't anything that much more illustrious about being on a sports team than there was about being in the jazz ensemble or going to nationals for DECA or whatever else people did. Hell, it all overlapped anyway. It just wasn't that important, though it was clear that they got funding as if it were. So no, I never really sat around envying anyone involved with sports.
Also, if you feel that "They give attention and devote funds to athletics for the same reasons that musicians and actors make piles of money," then why is it that the performing arts are always the first to get their budgets slashed? After all, musicians and actors sometimes make piles of money! And they entertain people (on a smaller scale obviously), with no one incurring a traumatic brain injury in the process.
Look, I don't think high school sports should be eradicated (except football, which absolutely should be). I would have run cross-country if I could have balanced it with band and classes. Sports are important, especially in a world where everyone is becoming a fatass. They shouldn't be the out-of-control monster that they are in a lot of places, though (though again, that's most often football). It should just be something you do to stay in shape, build some character, and enjoy your youth. It shouldn't cost so much money to do, though, not while your building is left to crumble and you can't hire great teachers.
_________________
Molly Lambert wrote:
The future holds the possibility to be great or terrible, and since it has not yet occurred it remains simultaneously both.
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
