Do schools focus more on athletic programs than academics?

Question

Why is that recently it feels as though more and more of our tax money being spent by public education is going toward new stadiums, gyms, fields, etc. rather than than building a new highschool for the overcrowding classrooms or upgrading new facilities that are in dire need of attention? Towns are suffering by paying more taxes to build a 1.5 million dollar staduim and now the the public schools decided that they need a bigger school and gym. It seems as though athletics is more important than an education for most public schools.

Answer 1

First you must clarify about spending money on public school athletic programs vs. professional athletics like the NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL, or the like...


Next, as public schools are mirrors of the local communities they are located within--athletics can be extremely important to the community.

Successful athletic program bring money to the surrounding community, bring the community together, which is likely to increase property values.

These non-tangibles drive the need for successful athletic programs. They bring in the $$$.

And $$$ is what makes the world go round.

While, the concept isn't "right," but it might be a necessary "evil."

Good Luck....

Answer 2

Yes, I am a retired elem teacher and I would suggest that you get ahold of the school district's budget, you are allowed to have a copy even if they say you aren't. They will bluff you. ANd even once you get it they hide stuff. But here are a couple of examples. First of all, remember, the school district is like all retailers in they will always do first what makes the district look good, this is so so so true. No administrator will ever admit it, but I lived it over and over and over. ONe year we needed another 1st grade teacher as we were over 30 in the classroom, but they chose instead to hire a marvelous wrestling coachfrom another state who demanded his assistant be hired too,so they hired the asst. to be paid full on teacher wages to monitor the weight room and no 1st grade teacher. I can prove this. Also, the school I worked in for 15 years, in 1989, it was torn down and rebuilt, oh la la, and when we got back to our new school in 1991, we teachers were somewhat horrified, because it was built for Aesthetics to please the architect so it would give him a good name. Seriously,they had the urinals in the K bathrooms at adult level and had to come back and re-do those, They made 12 nice cubbyholes, even tho every classroom had 25-30 students, each needing their own cubbyhole and we couldn't add any furniture or anything because it would disturb the aesthetics. And as far as sports, I started the girls high school soccer team, Chp 9 for equality for girls. The AD was also the footballcoach and he fought it until it became a "legal" issue. He completely suited up 120 football players for his team and didn't want to spare enough small change to have a girls soccer team. So yes yes yes.

Answer 3

The bigger trend, in most places, is to cut athletic programs.

It may be that where you live, those buildings were old and dangerous and needed to be replaced.

Although there are schools that over-emphasize athletics over academics, I don't think this is the most common situation.

Uh, needing a bigger school IS supporting academics and helping reduce over-crowding.

If a school has grown, then everything needs to be bigger (classrooms and gym) to accommodate that.

Answer 4

Because in America, we see fame as better than education. We would rather be rich and famous, then rich and unknown. We are the most vain country of all. Without hometown heroes, hometowns are just a place to live, with nothing important to them. Look at it this way; would you rather be the star of your school, or just some smart chick that nobody knows. 95% of americans would pick to be the star of their school.

Answer 5

I totally agree with you. I think more people are concerned with too many people being overweight and have forgotten about the purpose of school in the first place. Most children who are overweight are not going to be signing up for athletics in the first place, so we are wasting our time and money.

Answer 6

well in my public high school there is only 300 students and we don't even have PE i think that public schools that over crowded use PE as a way to keep the students occupied idk =]]]

Answer 7

what else are we supposed to spend it on
the everso popular million dollar penci sharpener

Answer 8

I think it is by what school you go to.