"Athletes' lives are more valuable....." Really?? SMH........

[VandVsmama]

Just to offer a different point of view from the schools that only celebrate athletic achievements, this school plays music & has a little celebration before every AP exam for its high school students.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=619567561461104

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Just to add to my prior thought, I never played varsity football or basketball at all. I was in the band, math comps, and lesser sports. But, I recognize what the top sports meant to our school & why they were so celebrated. Nobody - not even my parents - ever saw me in a math competition, but there were literally thousands of people in the bleachers for a home football game.

At the college level, a good football/basketball program brings in big bucks for the school as Eliza pointed out. But, it goes beyond that. Having good teams is a HUGE recruiting bump for non-athletic students. Attending the games is a big part of the "college experience" for a lot of kids. DD15 is the anti-athlete. She's also a huge football fan.

So yeah I agree athletes aren't "more valuable" than others, but I also see why big-time sports get more attention than the chess club. That's just common sense.

 

[galaxygirl76]

Just to add to my prior thought, I never played varsity football or basketball at all. I was in the band, math comps, and lesser sports. But, I recognize what the top sports meant to our school & why they were so celebrated. Nobody - not even my parents - ever saw me in a math competition, but there were literally thousands of people in the bleachers for a home football game.

At the college level, a good football/basketball program brings in big bucks for the school as Eliza pointed out. But, it goes beyond that. Having good teams is a HUGE recruiting bump for non-athletic students. Attending the games is a big part of the "college experience" for a lot of kids. DD15 is the anti-athlete. She's also a huge football fan.

So yeah I agree athletes aren't "more valuable" than others, but I also see why big-time sports get more attention than the chess club. That's just common sense.

Not to mention the money it brings into the community. I live in a college town(just outside of Iowa City, go Hawks!) and see first hand how much business the store I work for and the one my husband works for do on football (and in lesser amounts) basketball game days.

 

[asta]

I haven't read all seven pages so I don't know if this has been mentioned but one of the most discouraging things about the college admission process was seeing first hand how several selective and, in a couple of cases Ivy League, schools admitted students with a lesser academic record because they were athletes. These schools would not even give a look at my daughter who worked hard, took very demanding classes, had high board scores. She got the quick rejection letter while several athletes from her school who never took a hard class were admitted. I know that is sour grapes speaking but it was still discouraging.

I think the lady mentioned by the OP sounds horrible. I don't think I could be around her.

 

[Colleen27]

Same thing with college sports. I went to the University of Pittsburgh during their heyday (Dan Marino, tony Dorsett). Our college football team brought in millions of dollars for the school, which paid for a lot of non football stuff, I know for a fact that every band, cheerleading and a few other non athletic scholarships were funded from proceeds from the football program. Penn State football program pretty much provides the scholarships for all the other sports right on down to quiddage (joke).

I have a hard time with college athletics because of how few schools actually make money on them, and how much pressure there is on schools to compete athletically even at the expense of the students who are there for academics. It really chafed to get hit with an 8% tuition increase this year, one semester after the school completed a brand-new $30mil basketball arena and send the softball team on an expenses-paid "tournament" trip to Daytona over spring break. It is also frustrating to see student-athletes get a pass for missing as much as 1/4 of the meetings of a particular class, while hauling my butt to school sick because the professor penalizes us mere students for missing class. And this isn't a D1 school raking in money on TV rights and merchandise or sending anyone on to the pros; it is a regional college that only students and alumni root for.

 

[Lilacs4Me]

I have a hard time with college athletics because of how few schools actually make money on them, and how much pressure there is on schools to compete athletically even at the expense of the students who are there for academics. It really chafed to get hit with an 8% tuition increase this year, one semester after the school completed a brand-new $30mil basketball arena and send the softball team on an expenses-paid "tournament" trip to Daytona over spring break. It is also frustrating to see student-athletes get a pass for missing as much as 1/4 of the meetings of a particular class, while hauling my butt to school sick because the professor penalizes us mere students for missing class. And this isn't a D1 school raking in money on TV rights and merchandise or sending anyone on to the pros; it is a regional college that only students and alumni root for.

I see both sides since I have children on both sides of the coin - and I know you are talking college, but I think it applies to HS, too.

My athletic son who plays HS varsity sports routinely leaves school early (excused, of course) on game days during his season since they sometimes travel up to 2 hours to get to the game location. He is also in DIS-level classes (haha) where he has no business missing the class and getting behind for the sake of leaving early for the game. That hurts his academics during the season, which hurts his GPA and any academic scholarship chances for college. The HS kids love the "special-ness" of leaving early, and the teambuilding that goes on on those busses are amazing for a kid like my son who would not have that if he didn't play this sport (he acts like a 40 year old most of the time, not a social-crazy sophomore kid). I love that he is getting the opportunities and experiences he gets with his sports, too, so I try to find a balance.

My DD will most likely never leave school early and hop on a team bus to anywhere. Possibly, she might since she likes to swim and play basketball. But she loves art more, and is in chorus in middle school which she says she wants to continue in HS. She will most likely not directly benefit from the $10 million dollar athletic complex our HS just put in this past summer, but my boys sure do/will! And, by having top-line facilities and the sports teams to use them, the value of our school district continues to climb, which is beneficial to all of the students, even the ones who never step foot on the football field or the girls soccer locker rooms.