5) The Culture of Sports Needs to be De-emphasized

A few years back, I stood inside the main doors of a Kenai peninsula high school with the principal and commented on the number of plaques honoring each student who held a school record in each sport the school offered. I wondered out loud why those with the highest SAT scores or who were selected as National Merit Scholars were not also included. At another peninsula high school a team that recently won a small schools state sport championships were regaled with a school-wide tribute. Classes were stopped and all students and teachers were expected to bridge their hands and cheer as the team ran the gauntlet under the extended arms. Yep, a couple of central office administrators and school board members showed up to show their admiration. At this same school, students have won national and international academic competitions without so much as a handshake of recognition from the principal. Sport is the tail that wags the dog of education and that attitude causes more harm than does good. Oh, I am all about fitness and know the value of team and individual sports, but if we really want schools to focus on the acquisition of reading, writing and computational skills and if we want our students to understand science and to appreciate the struggle of humankind to make the world a better place, we need to de-emphasis the culture that views academic success as secondary to success in sports.