Separation of school and sports

Separation of school and sports is an idea whose time has come.

Some have accused me of wanting to abolish school athletic programs solely because of the instances in which 'The Simpsons' was preempted for Bearcats games or because NKU wouldn't discipline a star basketball player who assaulted me. Quite the contrary. I'm a fair-minded man, and I don't want my emotions to interfere with my positions.

What I want is for the functions of academics and athletics to be split. Sports programs would still exist. They just wouldn't be school-sponsored. Ideally, every team would still exist as long as its continued presence could be justified.

Few countries besides the United States have school-sponsored organized athletics. They do have sports teams that are independent of schools and are funded by community members. America also has some programs like this - for example, Little League Baseball. And it works. This independence and community spirit seems to strengthen the redeeming values of competitive sports.

It's not uncommon for a student athlete to be let off the hook for an offense that would get any other student either expelled or jailed. We all know it happens. School and athletics should be disestablished from each other because each has too much influence on the other.

Schools spend more effort on winning a coveted championship than on academic endeavors. Thus, top athletes are coddled. Star athletes will often enjoy the benefits of grade inflation, because the school doesn't want them removed from the team. Regarding school discipline, there's also 2 different sets of rules: one for athletes and one for non-athletes. What school wants a star player kicked off the team for getting in trouble at school?

School sponsorship of organized sports is a bit too much like the taxpayer funding of professional sports venues. While greedy major league team owners demand that the taxpayers buy them stadiums, vainglorious school bureaucrats demand that those who pay taxes or tuition buy them entire teams.

I've paid taxes and tuition to attend school, and I'd rather my money go to my education - not to sports. This stance isn't against athletics; it's about making sure I get what I pay for.

It'll take a lot of guts to decouple athletics from education. But there's a lot of things that took a lot of guts. It's been true of every successful movement. The sooner we get the ball rolling, the sooner we can bring about this long-overdue change.