Amanda Ripley's The Case Against High School Sports

Amanda Ripley argues in The Atlantic in her article “The Case Against High School Sports”, that the United States place too much attention on sports rather than academics. Ripley argues that sports programs at schools should be reduced, maybe even cut out completely. She states that there are a lot of countries that outperform America on international tests, and it is because they put more of their emphasis on academics, where the United States puts more of an emphasis on athletics. Ripley says that high school sports negatively affects academics. (1). I disagree with Ripley on this topic; I think that sports are important for young kids because it teaches them very valuable life lessons and it keeps them out of trouble.
Ripley’s first point in her essay is that other countries outperform America on international test scores, in part because they aren’t as involved in sports. She does a lot of comparing between the US and South Korea. She talks about how South Korea ranks 15th in the world

in a international math test. By comparison, America ranks 31st on the same test. Ripley says, “Jenny’s classmates played pickup soccer on a dirt field at lunchtime” and that they, “brought badminton rackets from home and pretended there was a net” (1). She then goes on to say how if they were in the newspaper it was for academic achievements, not athletics. (1).
Ripley then goes on to talk about a high school in Texas called Premont. Premont was a school that cut out their sports programs in 2012. One thing the school thought cutting sports would help with is money, as this could save up to 150,000 dollars in one year. Ripley talks about a bunch of students who attended Premont, and how this decision to cut sports was such a big surprise and shock to them. Ripley also talks about how the academics were affected when sports were no longer around. Ripley writes, “That first semester, 80 percent of the students passed their classes, compared with 50 percent the previous fall” (2). Premont is not the only school to experiment with this, and there are also some colleges following suit now as well.
Ripley makes a lot of solid points for her “Case Against High School Sports”, but I’m not buying it.

Stephen D. Keener, writer for the New York Times, says in his article Sports Teach Kids Valuable Lessons, “The lessons young players gain between the foul lines have guided some to become astronauts, emergency first responders, bestselling authors, military heroes, professional athletes and even president of the United States” (Keener). Keener talks about how playing on a sports team as a child can teach the kid very important characteristics, like: teamwork, leadership, and sportsmanship. Any kid who wants to get a job when they’re older is going to have to know how to work well with people, which is where learning the skill of teamwork is so huge. Considering Ripley’s point about sports lowering academics, Keener argues, “These lessons directly translate into the classroom and beyond” (Keener). These are some very important lessons I think that kids can benefit from

sports.
Another reason sports are very important to today’s youth, is because of the fact that it keeps kids out of trouble. Susan Miller Degnan writes in her article “Our Children Our Future-- Athletics: a Winning Solution” that sports can be very helpful in keeping kids off the streets. She talks about how sports saved a man named Daron Chiverton from selling drugs, taking drugs, and flunking out of school. Chiverton then goes on to say that sports saved him from “God knows what” (Qtd in Degnan). Degnan then goes on to write about Bill Hawley, who is a police officer who runs a truancy program in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Any kids who are caught skipping class are brought to him. When questioning these kids, Hawley has found that “At least 70 percent of the 1,806 students who passed through Hawley’s program last school year were not involved in sports” (Degnan). Hawley’s study shows that sports do in fact keep kids out of trouble.
Ripley has some interesting opinions regarding sports, but I don’t think she looked deep enough into the matter. Studies have shown that sports teach kids valuable lessons such as: teamwork, leadership, and sportsmanship, and athletics also help keep kids out of trouble. Sports can be a big part of someone’s life, and high school students need them to help them have fun and succeed in their young lives.