Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Time to End High School Sports?

When I read this article I simply had to write down my opinion about it. I completely disagree with what is being implicated here. In Time to End High School Sports? it talks about how the central mission to public education is to gain skills necessary to contribute to global society. High School sports very much fits in.
What people tend to forget is what they really learn in sports. Yes, to some they feel that sports are simply a way to let go of young teens energy and a way of passing time perhaps, but I beg to differ.

You learn underlying principles that you could equally learn in other classes. For example, you learn about teamwork.
Teamwork I believe is an important quality to have even when out of college and finding a job, your employers don't want to hire you if you have lousy teamwork skills or can't work well with others. You need to drill that into one of your ethics of work. Likewise you need to drill that in sports too! If you don't have that sense of teamwork and working together then how else can the team win in games?
Leadership is another point that you find in sports. As a leader you have to make decisions that affect the whole team and how they perform in order to win a game. You want to have a leader who works well with others and can make the right choices. In the real world, isn't leadership just as important? Doesn't one want to become a leader to show their worth? Doesn't that mean that as a leader one has to make the right choice and decisions that would help make the firm/company more successful or have more satisfied people?
Respect for the leader is another joining point. The team should have respect for the leader - if not then the team would be unorganized and would be constantly disagreeing and not able to win anything. In the real world respect is important if you want your company to profit.
Sportsmanship. Now, of course people think that only applies to sports, but what really is the meaning of sportsmanship? As dictionary.com puts it, Sportsmanship means conduct and attitude considered as befitting participants in sports, especially fair play, courtesy, striving spirit, and grace in losing.
Now tell me, do you STILL think that applies ONLY to sports? I don't think so. Shouldn't we all have that kind of an attitude in the world today? Being in a mean and fast pace world, you want to make a difference in people's lives, so wouldn't 'grace in losing' strike people's attention? As people say, 'no one likes a sore loser', so why not have grace in losing? If you lose that doesn't mean that's it. Pick yourself up, find what you lost in, see what you can fix and strive to succeed the next time. That's the positive attitude to have in work too is it not? How about a 'striving spirit'? Wouldn't employers want that striving spirit in your work too? It is only with that spirit that one can truly succeed is it not? What about 'fair play' - people don't like others having to cheat their way to the top, so fair play is important if you want to feel your worth when you reach that top.
Another point that goes along with striving spirit is the determination and dedication. Determination and dedication is very much noticed in sports too. It is only with dedication of the team to work together in winning and their determination in winning that title that they succeed. This should be a valuable work ethic everyone should have too. Everyone should have that determination to prove themselves worthy in their line of work or even able to do more, and the dedication that they are willing to put all they can to show what they can do and more.

I did read the typcial reasons that were given in the article and maybe they're right. Maybe there are money shortages and entitlements, but when you look deeper into what sports really is about, one can realize that they're not just where people play around, but ingrained values and ethics that need to be reflected in everyone's life - skills that people can contribute to global society to make better people out of us.