Core Classes In America Essay

Core Classes Are Undervalued in America

American high schools often offer an array of classes and extra curricular activities for it’s students. However, it is clear that these activities may be more valued than the typical core subjects. America, compared to other leading countries, undervalues the importance of the core subjects in high school by making sports seem like a priority. Sports is the number one thing preventing core subjects from being more valued in America. Many students and parents look to sports for scholarships and careers, rather than a core subjects such as math, english, or science. In turn, less coaches are also teachers, who don’t care as much about grades as a teacher-coach would. Teacher coaches are more likely to push their players for their best grades, rather than someone who is just a coach. Because of this, many students in sports make the least required grade to stay on the team, rather than performing their best in both school and their sport(s) of choice.
Europe, on the other hand, has virtually no high school sports teams.
You go to school to learn, and if you are interested in a sport, you join a community club outside of school, they are not considered teams. This pushes students to focus more on education while at school, other than their sports teams, like in America. In an article I read, “FOCUS ON: THE EUROPEAN HIGH SCHOOL EXPERIENCE”, many European students who had transferred to an American high school for a year or so noted that American high schools had much more “school spirit”, and that it was mostly directed towards sports teams. Many of the students were also shocked and surprised to see a real live cheerleader in their American schools, since in Europe, cheerleaders don’t exist simply because the sports teams don’t
exist. America also spends more U.S. tax dollars on a high school athlete than they do on a high school math student, compared to European schools, who spend nothing on their athletes because they just don’t have any. In the article, “The Case Against High-School Sports”, the author uses a Texas school district principal as an example of the money spent on high school sports, to show how high of a priority they really are. The school district mentioned in the article had shut down it’s middle school, had no art or music employees in the elementary school, and had sealed off the science department, but still had the typical sports teams each year. The new super-intendant decided to cut all of the athletic teams and saved the school around $150,000. Football at that high school costed around $1,300 per player, while the average math student cost around $618. This is a clear example of how the sports team was more valued than the core subject of math, especially more valued than the cut off science department. Schools in Europe never have this problem, because they do not have the sports teams to take away from the funding of their academic students. In conclusion, it is clear that American high schools value sports more than core classes and subjects, compared to other leading countries. Our school districts should start looking at European countries as an example of how our schools should truly run. It is only a matter of time before Americans realize how sports are really impacting our youths’ learning and educational experience.