The ideal model of s chool sports doesn't require athletes be excused from classes more than a couple of times a year, and it doesn't give athletes any privileges to have assignments delayed and examinations waived. This is reasonable and achievable for school administrator s to demand, even in a sports-crazed society. Whether cheerleader or critic of school sports, effective school administrators must present interscholastic athletics as just one part of an expansive buffet of extracurricular activities that gives students special places to plug into school and feel a part of school life. The programs will help motivate some students to stay in school, do well in school, even like school. The programs will help other students develop special interests and skills, including academic, social and athletic.
Extracurricular participation is a school's best predictor of adult success.
But if you want to run a public school that works, there's no better place to spend your money than on a strong athletics program that involves as m any students as possible in as many sports as possible. Mr. Boswell is correct so far as he goes. He should have included non-athletic activities in his statement. This is what prepares students for successful and fulfilling lives. And only when we involve as many students as possible as meaningfully as possible in as many different activities as possible have we reached the full potential of our schools, and through them, tapped the full potential of our students.