School is for learning

In the world’s smartest countries, school is about learning. Full stop. There is no confusion about the academic hurdles kids must clear to have full and interesting adult lives. Kids play sports, of course, but outside of school, through recreation centres, club teams or pick-up games on dirt fields with no adults in sight. 

When these same kids come to the U.S. to live or study abroad, they are surprised by the Olympic villages they encounter in our high schools. Here, school is about learning, but it’s also about training to compete in games that the majority of kids will never get paid to play. 

Those messages shape kids’ priorities. When I surveyed former exchange students about their impressions of America, nine out of ten said that teenagers here cared more about sports than their peers back home. “Doing well at sports was in the U.S. just as important as having good grades,” observed one German student. 

By mixing sport and academics, we tempt kids into believing that it’s O.K. if they don’t like math or writing

This mash-up makes school more fun, without a doubt. “The biggest difference was definitely the school spirit,” one student from Finland noted. “It was amazing to see how school wasn’t just about the grades. In my home country, school is just for learning.” 

The problem is the dishonesty. By mixing sports and academics, we tempt kids into believing that it’s O.K. if they don’t like math or writing — that there is another path to glory. Less obvious is that this path ends abruptly, whereupon they get to spend 50 years in an economy that lavishly rewards those with higher-order skills and ruthlessly punishes those without. 

If we want to build school spirit … hold a celebration for the debate team. Those kids are training for the real world

Imagine if medical schools dedicated hours of every day (and a chunk of their budgets and staff) to the culinary arts — to perfecting tiered wedding cakes and artisan breads. We could argue that this approach keeps medical students from dropping out, but we would sound insane. 

Competitive sports is not about exercise. If it were, we’d have the fittest kids in the world. It’s about a fantasy with a short shelf life. If we want to build school spirit and teach kids about grit, hold a celebration for the debate team. Those kids are training to rule the real world.

Amanda Ripley

Many ways to learn teamwork

One of the most common arguments as to why participation in sports is important for kids is that it builds teamwork. In fact, this seems to be the central and only reason pro-sports families have for subjecting their children to the little league experience. And it’s total hogwash. 

Why is it that participating in organized sports is the only way of teaching a child the value of teamwork? There are dozens of other, healthier, more positive ways to help your child learn the advantages of teamwork: 

• joining the Scouts or other positive youth groups;

• building a soapbox car or a tree house;

• activity in school drama, art, or science clubs;

• serving as a school band member;

• organizing or participating in a school event, and

• simply socializing with other kids 

All the above activities demonstrate, through experience, the importance of leadership, negotiation, compromise, followership, the subjugation of individual need in the interest of the collective, and the advantage of many people working toward a common goal versus individual effort.

The I Hate Sports Club