Juan Gutierrez

Direct Self Placement Writing

14 June 2014
Our Nation: Academics or Sports?
Recreational activities have always had deep roots in our country, ever since the 1900s
Americans and everyone alike have always used sports as a medium to entertain themselves and
much more. During the 1900-1950s, sports not only began to gain a huge amount of popularity
and support, but one way or another it began to signify a sense of manhood, as Amanda Ripley
implies in her article "The Case Against High-School Sports". As time passed, sports began to
reach the content hearts of many more people than originally expected. Now anyone across the
country could enjoy the rather satisfying pleasure of cheering along millions as their favorite
team scored a homerun, touchdown, or even a goal. Although sports are a very entertaining
medium to enjoy a nice weekend with the family, have millions of Americans, ranging from
young school children to adults, began to over sympathize with sports to the point that it leave
holes in our educational support system. As Ripley states in her article, students all throughout
America, are becoming more and more involved in after school sports. One way or another the
time dedication is a heavy one, and at the end of the day students only have enough time to come
home, eat, shower, and before you know it is already know it, its 10:00 or further into the night,
and there is still a lot of homework left to be completed. Overall, with the growing popularity of
sports and the intense dedication needed, the pieces of the puzzle are all coming together and are
indeed beginning to show the full picture. In terms of the way we run our educational system,
we simply cannot afford to over glorify sports over education. If we wish to do better
academically overall, we need to the proper middle grown so that a peaceful equilibrium can be
met.

In many cases, the overall impact sport dedication has left on out own educational efforts
as students, has in fact devalued and destroyed our own educational system at an individual
level, Now students are beginning to pay more attention to the time they spent after school
instead of the time we need to spend during school. According to a study by an organization
named AFS, as showed in Ripley's article, 9/10 students now a days care more about sports than
their own education. In a country where we try to be the best we can be, our overall test scores
across the board are not living up to our own expectations. As demand increases more and more
schools are deciding to allocate funding for sports teams instead of the classroom. As Ripley
develops throughout her article, many school administrators rather have a winning team. With
technological advances all throughout, more and more people are beginning to enjoy the wonders
of sports across the globe. As the popularity grows and grows, so does the enthusiasm back
home. Generations of families line up to see Fridays night game compared to just a few parents
at the local parent teacher conference. In fact, we have reached a point where parents rather go
see their favorite team play, opposed to spending a few hours on their children's academic
progress.
Like I have mentioned before, these customs are not something new to our eyes, these
practices date back a century ago when the cult of domesticity was in full affect. In an effort to
put everyone and anyone, no matter the race nor the gender, into a special niche. During this
times, it was declared that the proper role for a women was the care taker of the house, while the
man worked to support the family. On the other hand the young boys would ultimately use sports
as medium to acts a real men. Now utterly insane, these values were the typical norm during
those times, and it is where the fascination of sports truly come into play. With limited
recreational activities, Americans would spend a majority of their weekends at local parks and

other similar places. Not only were they enjoying the time out, but at the same time they where
also fortifying values that in some cases like this one, we can still see the overall affects of them.
Throughout the article Ripley's main point and argument were quite clear, America is just
not standing up to par with other countries in terms of academics. The facts of the matter are, as
Ripley states, we are consistently having lower and lower test scores throughout America, while
at the same time, other countries only seem to be getting better and better. The question should
not have to be if it is due to culture. We can clearly see, with the details we are given in the
article, that other countries just dont pay as much attention to sports at the school level, mainly
high school. Today we live in an educational system at the high school level, that is very social
and outspoken. Ever so often there will be exceptions, but this may not be the case for many.
Society has developed a system were in personal experiences the athletic and strong are praised
overwhelmingly more then their "nerdy" counterparts. We have come to acknowledge the feats
of a team more than the classroom. The praise has reached a certain point that many
administrators reputations is literally on the line. People are begging to care even more, almost to
a exaggerated level, about the sports at schools. Not only does this put more pressure and
principals and administrators, but it also makes them allocate more funds for teams rather than
classrooms. At some schools, like Premont, they allocate funds upwards of 1,300 for football
players and in comparison only 618 per student in a math class. In these situation, the money is
clearly there, the problem is just in terms of where it is going. There is no reason why there
cannot be equal funding so that one category does not completely destroy the other financially.
We can still have the wonders of sport entertainment and the wonders of academic success at the
same time.

Many schools across the country have leaded towards not only supporting the sports, but
also bringing the vibe and feel of sports to the academic field. Having kids come take advance
placement test with songs like "Eye of the Tiger" playing as they enter the testing room. It is
tactics like these that allow the educational system to not only produce well educated students,
but at the same time also bring forth the best in them to raise the educational standard. Like in
many situations there needs to be a balance between one force and another. Like a ying-yang,
without equilibrium it will not work out. Which is why there needs to be a proper distribution of
money between sports and education. Along as this exists both teams can truly be happen. There
will be no need for major extremes like cutting out all sports teams, or only have learning take
place in 12% of the classrooms. Overall, this balance will not only bring forth better test and
team scores, but it will also allow for the student to allocate their time much more properly.
Ultimately, the debate behind sports and education has been long and tough, while many
say that students need something to fall back on when studies do not go to well, and others say
education is the only choice- is there really an option left. Depending on the situation, far
outweighing one can ultimately lead to disastrous consequences down the road. For example, in
todays market competitive sports is a big and fairly diverse scenario. If a student does not get the
scholarship he or she may want for higher education many of them will not have much to fall
back on. Many times full time athletes, although there are exceptions, do not have the necessary
grades to get in to a college. Through no fault of their own, they are putting themselves into a
situation that relies heavily on their abilities as an athlete. Without this not only will their
immediate plans be shut down, but also there future. On the other hand, academic alone can be
very good in many situation, but there is also an element of teamwork and companionship you
achieve in sports. Personally the only option left to me is the safe middle grown. Having both of

these activities teaches students to balance out their life and make wise choices so overall both
have their own advantages. As long administrators are able to budget their finances and carefully
rule out expensive sport like football whilst still keep other much cheaper sports, they will have
enough money to properly provide for the education of their students. Overall, with this
equilibrium, we will not only be able to produce better well rounded individuals, but we will also
be able to lay out the foundation of a better tommorrow.