Earlier today I put up a thread just wanting to know what is high school football like where you live. I got a lot of great comments. One in particular got me thinking. How important is football in high schools, as well as other high school athletics, like around the country? Has high school athletics become more important than the academics? Is all the energy and funding being taken away from our math and science departments to fund that $20 million dollar sports complex? Can there ever be a balance for both education and fine arts and athletics so one side doesn't feel cheated over the other?
For me this an interesting arguement. I am a math teacher as well as a huge sports nut. You can find me every Friday night at our school's football games, Tuesday and Friday nights at basketball games, during the weekends for baseball and softball series. I also make it point to attend choir and band concerts, academic meets, and club meetings. This argument has been huge in the state of Texas. Especially when it comes to football. See, in Texas when it is high school football season the whole state shuts down from August to December. There are great rivalries and traditions all over the state. From the Midland-Odessa area to Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Houston, and up and down the eastern portion of the state. The bigger areas have their own districts. Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, and Houston have several districts where it's all Dallas schools or all Austin schools and so on. When it comes to the small towns, they will literally be a ghost town Friday afternoons and eve nings. I say all of this to say that football in Texas is a god. Not only in high school but in all levels. Now you have basketball, softball, and baseball almost coming to that same plateau. This in turns lies the problem. Where does the academics fit in?
This arguement came to the forefront in Texas in 1984 when Governor Mark White passed a bill called No Pass No Play. If you were failing at the end of a grading period, you couldn't play or do anything in any extracurricular activities. This put all the coaches up in arms. They didn't what to do. You heard of stories of coaches to trying to get teachers to pass their star athletes so they can play. Principals would even look the other way when it did occur. A lot of teachers were having to feel the pressure of not only teaching, but making sure the athletes passed so they could play. This pressure wasn't only from the coaches. Within the past 5 years this rule as been revised. Now instead of an athlete, cheerleader, band student, whatever failied a class he/she would be able to play after only 3 weeks if he/she was passing instead of waiting the whole grading period to play again. So, again I ask the question what has become more important? Is it athletics or academics?
You can also apply the question to funding. It seems everywhere I look there are more bond issues being voted on for districts to build major sports complexes. I have seen where high school football stadiums look better than some universities in Texas. But yet I don't see many bond issues to have money for band programs needing new instruments or math and english classes needing more technology to help with their teaching. In Texas the junior colleges are getting better football teams because athletes can't seem to get into 4 year schools because they don't meet entrance requirements. A lot of it has to deal with academics.
My next question then is where is the balance? Where can we find equal ground so everyone wins? I really don't know the answer to this question. As a teacher of mathematics I would love to see more money go to resources for teachers to help students meet entrance exams into 4 year colleges and universities. The technology is not in a lot of the smaller districts because the funds aren't there. In some districts, calcultors can't even be bought. That is a major problem. The state exam for high school requires that the students use a calculator on their math exam. These are the same districts, however, that have wonderful team uniforms and sports complexes. On the other hand, I want to see my school win a state championship in any sport. Do whatever it takes to win. Except for cheating of course. So, can there be a balance?
Again, I don't have all the answers. I have only tapped into the top of the iceberg here. I would like to know if people see the same thing in their schools. I wonder what it would be like to have athletics and academics all on the same playing field.
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