Reply #54: Athletic programs and our lack of quality secondary education. [View All]

[Kitty Herder]

Hear me out.

The school district from which I graduated valued athletics far more then education.

I can see how someone who graduated from my high school could be that uneducated. Any education we actually received there was purely accidental. Most of our teachers weren't teachers. They were coaches. Most had degrees in Physical Education. I had a classes from the both the main football coach (civics) and the main basketball coach (computer science) and they both played computer games all through class while we students were expected to read the textbook. All they ever actually did as teachers was give quizzes and tests. Everyone cheated. In my civics class, the cheating wasn't even hidden, but Coach didn't care. There were about four of us who everyone copied answers from. I was fortunate to actually get some education in civic because I was one of the four. I had to read the text and study or face the wrath of my peers if I did poorly on the test. That was a pretty good motivator. But those who simply copied my answers got no education in civics at all. So out of a class of around thirty, about four of us actually learned something.

The A.P. biology teacher(volleyball coach and P.E. major) frequently missed about half of the class period and only got us through half of the textbook before the end of the year. I read the text on my own. In spite of my teacher, I scored a 5 on the A.P. test. She sent me a note thanking me for making her look good. :puke: :mad:

After my high school experience, I have come to the conclusion that if we want decent secondary education, we need to remove the athletics programs from our schools. We can have independent community athletic clubs for kids to join after school like they do elsewhere in the world. It certainly wouldn't solve all the problems with our education system. Far from it. But it would help in places like my hometown. I know it's not the only place in the country that sacrifices education for sports.

There are other, more important reasons for the poor quality of education in this country. Like the fact that a dumbed down population is less likely to question authority and is more suited to the menial jobs that are the fate of the majority of the population. But I'm bringing this up because no one likes to talk about it.

Alright. You can flame me now.