universities should not have competitive sports teams

My opponent need only reread the definition of "education" to understand that a process of learning does take place in sports. My opponent's inability to hear the rules does not change the fact that sports involve a level of understanding and a processing of information amongst the players as well as other people viewing the sport. It would be unreasonable to assume that my opponent's personal educational experience applies to everyone else. Therefore, his personal experience while watching a football game, or any game, is irrelevant to the general understanding of "sports education". "Besides that college sports are not very educational, they also take away precious time from learning. This is especially true for the athletes themselves. Their education suffers from competing in sports." Again, this deals with the student and how he or she is able to wisely delineate their time. It is unfair to say that any given student who plays a college sport is automatically going to be incapable of keeping up with his or her academics. And for the students who do have trouble with time management, there are resources that exist for the sole purpose of providing effective strategies to pursue college academics as well as athletics. At the end of the day, how academically successful a student becomes is not based on sports. It's based on the student. This links directly to the article my opponent posted. Yes, as the article points out, there are athletes who are not academically successful. And this could very well be due to the fact that sports are their main priority. But that does not prove that sports within themselves are the culprit, nor does it warrant them being removed from college programs. It simply means that the athlete's priorities are not focused on academics. The articles prior to this round suggest that sports can be a distraction for *some* students. But again, this is a problem with the student and not the sport. Furthermore, eliminating sports from colleges would be unfair to the students who are capable of properly managing their time and priorities. "But not all of them are college material, or at least not bright enough to make it through a top university, with a top athletic program." There are always going to be people, even those un-involved in sports, who are not necessarily college material. And that claim by itself is highly dependent on the type of college we're talking about to begin with. But "Decoupling" sports from college is not going to solve the problem of academic failure. Why? Because it is ultimately a problem with the student, not the sport. "The emphasis of a university should be on education." To argue what the emphasis a school should and should not be leads to an entirely different debate. However, it is important to keep in mind that universities, as I somewhat already pointed out, do have different focuses on different *types* of education. There are research-oriented schools, there are art-oriented schools, and yes, there are sports-oriented schools. So for some students, excelling in sports within institutions of higher learning that happen to focus on sports may very well just be their specific aspiration. And maybe even excelling in sports in a school that doesn't particularly focus on sports is a part of their goals. I've talked a lot about priorities, but I never actually indicated what and how certain priorities are better than others. Who are we to say whether a student's decision to pursue sports is a good or bad thing? The outcome depends heavily on the person, and such a choice that has many possible outcomes should certainly not be the grounds on which we choose to eliminate sports from college. "But when the football coach earns more money than the university president, what kind of message does that send?" There is no evidence provided that supports the claim that football coaches earn more money than the school president. But even if that is the case, this information does not support my opponent's reasoning as to why sports should be eliminated from schools. Before a conclusion is reached in this debate, it would be helpful for my opponent to indicate whether he agrees with the definition of "education" provided, and what *type* of education he is specifically referring to. It would also be helpful to indicate whether he is referring to a specific university or all universities. Due to the wording of the original resolution, I will assume he means to the latter. However, it is an important point to consider since, again, different universities have varying focuses. Some focus on sports, others do not. Therefore, if sports are indeed a direct inhibitor of academic success, it is still indefinite as to whether all sports departments should be removed from all schools, or just the schools that have a relatively high focus on sports. My opponent also has yet to provide evidence as to how college sports directly affects student academic success, as well as reasons as to why that is a means to eliminate sports from all universities. ------------------------------------------ I look forward to my opponent's final arguments. Sources: 1) http://www.collegexpress.com... 2) https://www.google.com...