Should football be taken out of schools?

Does it matter what your motivation is for teaching? i.e. coaching, hours, time off, love of the kids, love of the subject matter, etc. I believe that if you do an honest job teaching that it really doesn't matter what your motivation may be.

i have no problem with this as long as all extra curriculars go then to. this includes year book, debate, marching band. we should also eliminate woman teachers as many woman like teaching just so they can have summers off to be wtih their kids and the great health insurance.

WE have a librarian who thinks this way. funny thing is, he is always last to come and first to leave when it come to the school day.

The school where I teach does not have an athletic period. They do have electives where the kids can "choose" PE but most dont. So all athletics end up happening either before or after school and the "School day" is meant for instruction time.

With the exepction of my typing class, I learned more from Football than I did from all my other High School experiences combined.

If it becomes a club sport, now wouldn't it come down to who has the largest sponsorship / payroll, because now you are just going to have a bunch of volunteers or you'll have a collection of the cream of the crop coaches (because you're paying them).

Does athletics improve the student experience?
Does athletics impact the school's reputation?
Does athletics affect the bottom line of a school district budget?

I don't see where the answers to those questions would be "no", precipitating a change in moving to a club milieu.

In regards to football, are you packing 3,000+ in the stands on Friday night and selling concessions to listen to the English department recite Thoreau?

MONEY is what it always boils down to, and there is no larger draw in HS or College, than the football program

I would assume Teacher/Coaches get geeked up for their sport (basketball/volleyball/golf) are that way because they have an interest in it and it provides them a true opportunity to control the curriculum (which may not be the case in the classroom).

But then again, I'm not a teacher.

Where I was at a few years ago, several community leaders wanted to make Jr High ball a club sport. Great concept, but if you did that you would probably eliminate 80% of our starters because they couldn't afford it.

If kids aren't required to meet academic standards to stay eligible, do those 'borderline' kids lose motivation and give up? Does your school now become "at-risk" because of the failure rates?

Sometimes, kids need football more than football needs them.

Should we eliminate the Spanish Club as well? What about band?

Does athletics improve the student experience? I would have to say that for some it would be yes, because it is the only outlet they have as far as a positive experience in life, someone telling them they did a good job and patting them on the back. It gives them a sense of belonging that they may not have had otherwise because I am sure they wouldnt be a part of band, academics team, etc.... It is their chance to get away from all of the sh!tty happenings in their lives.

whitemike...recreational programs could receive the funding rather than.
Lochness--I would say that was an extremely ignorant statement. Facts are not knowledge, thought process, hidden curriculums..all are probably more beneficial than the lower levels of blooms taxonomy, which is where most H.S. classes operate (Meaning you learned...you just didnt realize you were learning)

airman, I would say many other of the extra curriculars would need the school setting to survive. your response comes off as "HEY, i like my situation..don't rock my boat". Which is ok, but is it really examining a situation?

Just to be clear, I am not arguing one way or the other, just trying to look outside the paradigm.

This is simply a broad generalization with a negative inference which is then used to theorize about the place and status of high school football. I don't see any benefit of casting a "vast" majority of teacher who coach into such a mold.

In my high and mighty opinion I think anyone who gets hired to coach SHOULD BE good enough to teach in a district as well. I think teachers and coaches SHOULD BE held to the same standards when it comes to how they teach and treat players (STUDENT athletes)= now, that said there would be some real pluses to coaching a club team and some negatives too.

On the schools side, one has to identify the PURPOSE of a school sport..money? thats part of it, but providing a complete education is really what its all about.

anyhow, I say no...football should not be removed from the schools and I say no, college athletes should not be paid ...(that one really irks me for some reason)- just an opinion which is mostly uneducated.

BEFORE this gets way off tangent...

This thread was NOT created to be a "coaches slacking on teaching threads" and by saying that many are teaching to coach does not insinuate that they are not quality teachers.

The point was...since many of the replies on that "level of coaching thread" seemed to aim that the given their druthers, most of the coaches that replied (obviously not a scientific sample) would rather coaching job's without teaching.

good point Tog - In my experience MOST of my collegues are nice people. I think MOST of them have the kids best interest at heart, however, there are sometimes people who are simply FRIED and can no longer "do right by the kids"...its time for them to move on from teaching.

I also think teachers, like a parent, can have good days and bad days.

I love teaching
I just don't love all the bs that goes with it

tog--yes, I agree..the profession is becoming less and less desirable as accountability standards set by people with no concept of how to evaluate them continue to roll in.

Just thinking of a different paradigm. Other than "thats how it has been for 150 years", is there any reason for it? The knee jerk response is to spout off all of the values and such that athletics are supposed to bring to the table.

However, while watching a recent PBS special on college athletics (Amherst was one of the schools profiled) some interesting points of view were presented. One of the most interesting counter arguments was that at the college level, all of those values that college sports is supposed to develop, is already deeply ingrained in the athletes because that is what got them there. Not just football, which is a H.S sport...but sports such as Volleyball/Basketball/Soccer/Baseball (which are all probably 50-50 or 60-40 H.S /Club) and more importantly sports such as swimming, tennis, golf, gymnastics.... which are nearly 100% club.



Does anyone else know how athletics are handled in other parts of the world?