School Sports should be banned from public districts.

To deny the availability of School Sports is to deny that option to those who cannot afford Alternatives As a believer in equal opportunity (however not in equal results), I believe that all children, regardless of their parents' income, deserve the chance to experience the full extracurricular-packed high-school experience, if they want to. Suppose a poor family enrols their child in a public school, and this child has a deep interest in football. No justice would be done to that child or his/her family by removing that option and pointing them to the expensive alternatives. A 2013 study shows that well over 50% of students in grade 8, 10, and 12, participate in school athletics. http://www.childtrends.org...; (I'm not sure if this image will display properly or not, but you can view it at that link) Source: http://www.childtrends.org... Surely not all of these students are able to afford the high costs of separate leagues. School Sports cause increases in Academic Performance Although contrary to Pro's claim, students perform better when given the ability to participate in sport activities at school. School Sports allow students to make friends that will be able to help you in your academics as well. This, of course, is only possible when the school provides these sports programs, because you will be meeting the same people in some (if not all) of your classes as well. In fact, a study from the CDC found that an increase in extracurricular physical activity at schools is “positively related” to academic performance. More than half of the associations examined in these studies were positive (52% overall), and almost none were negative (2%). Of note, GPA was positively associated with extracurricular physical activity 12 of the 22 times it was measured. Two studies also examined the association between extracurricular activities and dropout rates and found that participation was linked to decreased high school dropout rates. Source: http://www.cdc.gov... Students who participate in School Sporting activities have better Mental Health Almost all school, no matter how great it may be, are guilty of placing heavy work-loads on students, leading to stress, anxiety, and depression. For a student coming from a poor family, it doesn't help that said student has to carry the worry of his/her parents' financial stress on top of their already existing burdens. My main position on this issue, is that the banning of school sports would prove to be detrimental to not only the academic performance of the students, but also to their overall well-being. “Adolescents involved in school sports have better mental health as young adults.” “The results found that those who were involved in school sports had better scores on all three mental health assessments compared with those who did not play sports at all. Playing school sports during adolescent years was significantly linked to lower depression symptoms, lower perceived stress, and higher self-rated mental health in young adulthood.“ Source: http://www.cfah.org... My suggestion is also that allowing students to participate in school sports would serve as a preventative measure against mental health issues, which would end up saving money.