The Prioritization of Sports in High School
By Anne Marie Yarber
There’s no doubt that sports are highly valued in America. You can’t escape them--the entire nation tunes in to the Super Bowl, kids idolize the top athletes, and Spotify won’t stop giving me ads for sports betting platforms, no matter how many times I tell Spotify I’m only sixteen and can’t gamble. Sports inspire us, unify us, and give us something to root for. They’re a huge part of American identity.
It’s natural that American high schools have become microcosms of this broader sports-centric culture. Statistics show that over half of students ages 6 to 17 played sports as of 2022. In teen movies, the heroes are athletes, not scholars. But, I believe this glorification of sports has happened at the expense of something much more important: education. And, using Hartland High School as an example, I’m going to prove it to you.
How the School System Caters to Sports
The purpose of school is education. That should be obvious, but for many students, the school day just serves as an entrance ramp to get onto the highway of sports practices. After all, the school schedule is literally designed to accommodate athletic programs. Let me explain.
A study by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) shows that school start times can indirectly affect academic performance. It reads,
...delaying school start times is an effective countermeasure to chronic sleep loss and has a wide range of potential benefits to students with regard to physical and mental health, safety, and academic achievement.
The AAP recommends that school start no earlier than 8:30 AM, and multiple states have passed legislation in adherence to this recommendation. In California, high school must start at 8:30 or later. Our school day in Hartland begins at 7:20, over an hour earlier than the AAP’s recommended start time.
An American Psychological Association article explains that when young people start puberty, they experience a temporary shift in circadian rhythm, the “internal clock” that tells our bodies when to go to sleep. This is why teenagers so infamously stay up late: they are biologically inclined to do so. Because of this, the time teenagers go to sleep largely won’t change, no matter what time they have to wake up. Why not work with teens’ natural sleep schedule instead of against it?
The answer is simple: sports. The early start times of American high schools give plenty of time for athletes to attend hours-long practices and games. Americans value high school athletics so much that they are willing to sacrifice students’ sleep, and, by extension, academic success, so that they can chase state titles.
Athletics are Recognized More Than Academics
The prioritization of athletics in high school is not only the fault of school schedules--individual districts bear just as much blame, if not more. The recognition that schools give to students is indicative of how much their accomplishments are valued.
There are many examples of recognition of athletic accomplishments at Hartland High School:
- Male and Female
- Teammate of the Year
- Scholar Athlete of the Year
- Athlete of the Year
- State Bank Athlete of the Week
- Livingston Daily Athlete of the Week
- Shout-outs on the morning announcements
- Announcements on the Student News
- Reports at Board of Education meetings
Recognition of academic accomplishments is much less common:
- Student of the Month
- Livingston Daily Student of the Week
- Senior Top Ten List
Take note: the top ten seniors are seated on stage in no particular order at graduation. Hartland doesn’t recognize Valedictorian and Salutatorian, so the traditional Valedictorian speech doesn’t occur.
Anecdotally, when my older brother became a member of the National Honor Society a few years ago, the induction ceremony was held during the school day, so parents couldn’t even attend. This is another example of academic excellence not being valued.
I could be missing some items on these lists. However, it’s clear, at least in my opinion, that Hartland is a sports-centric district. It’s absurd. The purpose of school is education, but we’re putting so much focus on athletics.
The Double-Standard Between Athletics and Academics
One explanation for the lack of academic recognition is this: some students work really hard in school, but they have some kind of learning disability or school just doesn’t come naturally to them, so they don’t do as well as their peers. If academics are pushed too much, it’ll make these students feel bad.
You could make the same argument about athletic recognition: some athletes have genetic predispositions that make it difficult for them to succeed in sports, or they’re part of families that don’t value athletics, so they don’t have strong support systems. These factors might cause athletes to be less successful than their teammates, so they’ll feel bad if sports are constantly recognized.
Yet, there are so many more examples of athletes being applauded for their achievements than students.
And while it’s true that school can be a major source of stress for teenagers, with teachers and parents expecting them to succeed, sports can be just as much of a stressor. Today, the pressure of expensive trips to tournaments and high expectations from parents and coaches can cause athletes to burn out.
In Conclusion
Sports can be great for high school students. They can give students a community, a way to practice discipline and time management, and perhaps most significantly, scholarships for college.
In recent years, though, it seems society has forgotten what the purpose of school is in the first place. I think it’s time to put the spotlight back on academic excellence and prioritize students’ long-term success and well-being.