The Case Against High School Sports

In the article The Case Against High School Sports by Amanda Ripley illustrates how high school sports have more of a focus in high schools which is bad because it is taking a lot of focus away from education which should be a students first priority. Ripley shows how much more the United States focuses on sports than any other country which could be the reason for our low education ranking.In the article Ripley shows Premont High School where school sports are little to nonexistant. Singleton, the superintendent, believes that without sports schools would have more success in education.

Everything that Ripley states in The Case Against High School Sports is true because the article shows the great success that Premont has shown since shutting down sports. Singleton saw how much more calm the school was, “It was calm. There was a level of energy devoted to planning and lessons, to after-school tutoring. I saw such a difference.” a huge boost in grades also came with the closing of sports when 80 percent of students passed their classes nearly 30 percent higher than the previous fall. singleton saw such a change in focus at the school and much more success, “Learning is going on in 99 percent of the classrooms now,” Coach Russell told me, “compared to 2 percent before.” Another amazing thing about shutting down the sports was how much money the school saved to stop from being shut down. Singleton noticed how much money he could save the school to put into education when he did not have to get new bleachers or helmets. When schools spend $1,348 per cheerleader but are only $328 for math instructions they are spending a lot of money on less important areas than they should. Education should be the number one priority of students not sports because this can really affect their grades and attitude.