Bear's Ramblings

Pet peeves plus

2005-07-14

Athletics or Education

I can remember when I went to school(yes I can still remember back that far) that athletics was an intregal part of the education process. It taught teamwork. Sports were an extra curricular activity and if your grades were not mantained at a certain level you could not play. But that has apparently changed. Now it seems that sports has taken over and education now takes a backseat.

Now a days if a youth shows talent in anyone of a number of athletic endeavers they can sometimes(depending on the school)get by without maintaining proper grades in order to partake of their chosen sport. Apparently the"team" excelling and the school looking goood is more important then the students getting a good education.

When an athlete can make as much or more then 100's or even 1000's of teachers or other people that work with our youth, it makes me wonder where this societies priorities have gone.

It is apalling to think that someone with a natural given athletic ability is worth millions of dollars when they do not even contribute any truely tangible benifit to society. When our teachers struggle to make a living it makes me sick to think of 'Super Athletes' (some of whom talk as if they are illiterate) making millions of dollars.

Since education has taken a backseat to Athletics, this countries education has gone down the toilet. I believe that we now have one of the worst education systems going. And people complain when individuals from other countries get 'our' good paying jobs. Well, think about it. In most other countries school is at the top of their priority list.  I many other countries the children are not allowed to do anything other then school until they have graduated and their education is, in many cases, far superior to ours.  Or is that their children understand the importance of a good education and therefore apply themselves. But, not here, here it is SPORTS. Here children are allowed to skip school or even to drop out at a certain age. This is appalling since the most important thing in a young persons life is an education. It doesn't have to be a formal education, but it should be that or vocational training so that the individual youth have some way to support themselves, rather then a burden on society, once they reach the age when they are considered to be adults.

It is far to often the fault of the parents who see their child making millions of dollars and not cosidering the chances that it will not happen. The chances are very slim considering the number that really get there. When they should have been working on an education they concentrate on Athletics and end up short changing their children.