School budgets fail but sports programs remain.

[SEAL76]

At the college level Football (american) and Basketball bring money to the school because of alumni donors (who must be jackasses) and due the money that sport networks as well as the major networks pay for broadcast rights. I doubt that sporting activities bring in a dime at the highschool level. If anything they are a drain on the school budget. Sports should be eliminated in any district that has not passed the budget and is in financial trouble. Yet there are few districts that will do this. I just wrote about this and am wondering if there are others out there who have seen this. My own district refused to cut sports programs. They fired teachers instead. They also cut programs that the neediest students benefit from. Anyone else out there seeing this insanity?

[Millhouse]

Welcome to the forums. No, I personally have not seen it, but form follows function, and in this case I am not in the least bit astonished that this is happening.

[Lewis]

I think that it is f*cked up that happens, that school should get its priorities in order.

[Earl]

SEAL76, welcome to the forum! Your posts are most informative.

[Ray]

No, I don't have any knowledge of the negotiations that go on during school board budget meetings. I don't know if that sort of thing is accessible to the public here or not. Of course I agree with you. Sports should be cut first. Even before luxuries like school field trips.

[Fat Man]

Well, I guess that here in the USA we decided that we don't need to educate our kids in science and math, that it's much cheaper to put up basketball hoops and buy new football uniforms and helmets than it is to resupply a chemistry or physics lab with new equipment.

Hell, why not!!!

We can always import techno-geeks from over seas to keep the wheels of our modern technological society turning.

Much cheaper to teach our kids sports and how to fold paper footballs.

And of course, the more serious students who want to study science and math, they get harassed and beaten down, then after suffering an emotional and mental breakdown, they get sent to the psych-ward where they are beaten some more and even raped.

Then when they come out, their minds are really messed up. That's how we get our grocery baggers and shoe shiners to serve the jocks.

Here in the good ol' USA we have decided that athletics are more important than academics.

To fucking Hell with education, sports is more important!!!

No wonder our country is going down the crapper!!!

[Polite24]

School's get a lot of money from athletics

[Fat Man]

School's get a lot of money from athletics

Yeah, and they spend most of it on athletics.



You're just full of it!!!

[Ray]

School's get a lot of money from athletics

There is no justification for sports in school. So what if they make a few bucks selling popcorn at games? Apparently it's not nearly enough to make them self-sufficient.

If sports make so much money, why are football teams and band members contantly holding car washes to pay for whatever it is they do? And why are they always selling that crappy overpriced chocolate? They're like beggars.

I say this should be a lesson in basic economics. If it can't sustain itself (which it can't), let it collapse under the weight of its own misguided silliness. No one wants to watch a bunch of teenage clowns dressed like astronauts run around a field.

[Millhouse]

School's get a lot of money from athletics

Unfortunately, I have to agree with the popular vote here. Schools get some local outfits to make things like jerseys, pennants, etc., sports paraphernalia, then the money gets funneled further into their sporting programs. If they actually contribute to a non sports or non profit charity with the money, it's only because, like the NHL, NBA or NFL, they have more money than they know what to do with, and it's a drop in the bucket compared to the money they used to funnel into their sports program.

So basically it's teaching our kids early on that sports should always come first, even in financial terms. It's just a high school sized model of what the big, 'popular' professional sporting industries are already doing, basically.

But whatever, I'm fully expecting your answer to this to be nothing more than 'you guys need to grow thicker skin'.

[Polite24]

School's get a lot of money from athletics

There is no justification for sports in school. So what if they make a few bucks selling popcorn at games? Apparently it's not nearly enough to make them self-sufficient.

If sports make so much money, why are football teams and band members contantly holding car washes to pay for whatever it is they do? And why are they always selling that crappy overpriced chocolate? They're like beggars.

I say this should be a lesson in basic economics. If it can't sustain itself (which it can't), let it collapse under the weight of its own misguided silliness. No one wants to watch a bunch of teenage clowns dressed like astronauts run around a field.

Man, what a flawed post.

No justification for sports in school? Really? How about because kids enjoy them and they do no harm to anyone, except maybe some of you who felt insecure in high school because you weren't a member of those teams. School would be dull without sports. The kids would hate it.

High school sports can't sustain themselves? Based on what? They hold car washes and such to raise extra money for things, not because they can't keep themselves afloat.

You have some pretty good arguments sometimes, but this one was way off the mark.

[abitagirl]

Well, maybe if sports in school were treated as simply an extracurricular activity, not considered more important than education, didn't get all the funding that should be going towards things like updated textbooks, lab equipment, etc., if the players weren't treated like gods and didn't bully other kids for not being jocks while getting away with it just because they play football, I wouldn't have a problem with them.

[Millhouse]

Man, what a flawed post.

No justification for sports in school? Really? How about because kids enjoy them and they do no harm to anyone, except maybe some of you who felt insecure in high school because you weren't a member of those teams. School would be dull without sports. The kids would hate it.

High school sports can't sustain themselves? Based on what? They hold car washes and such to raise extra money for things, not because they can't keep themselves afloat.

You have some pretty good arguments sometimes, but this one was way off the mark.

See the pretty letters highlighted in bold? I love how you repeat this motif and point it out yet blow it off like it isn't important.

I'm going to say this one last time, if you don't get it, then you are either an asshole or a retard.

IT'S IMPORTANT TO US.

Got it?

I didn't think so...

You preach a form of pseudo tolerance when you claim that it's 'horrible that these things happened to you and there's no excuse for it', but the truth of the matter is, you fail at it like any other miserable human being that doesn't give a shit as long as no one stands in your way, in your space, taking up your personal time and bothering you. You fail miserably at it.

Your point of view is sickening to me. I'm going to put some more words in bold for you now. In order to learn true tolerance, you have to be able to understand that not everyone is going to do what you want them to do just because you think it's right, and you need to learn to live with it every so often. It's called humility, and a lot of young people lack it in this day and age.

I honestly am beginning to suspect that you have no more emotional 'compassion' for our group than any of the other sports bores that posted here, the only difference is they are direct. You attempt to hide behind false platitudes and a veil of pretending to understand, all nicely packaged in a 'nice guy' front, but at the end of the day, you're still on their side. You don't meet us halfway, you don't compromise, and you have about as much compassion as any of the other more direct sports bores do.

Unlike you, I will step out and say how I feel about this. Your attitude is highly offensive.

[Earl]

No justification for sports in school? Really? How about because kids enjoy them and they do no harm to anyone, except maybe some of you who felt insecure in high school because you weren't a member of those teams.

There you go again. You automatically assign a base motive to anyone who dares to make even the mildest criticism of sports institutions. As far as you're concerned, anyone who would make any observation critical of sports is evil or must have a warped mind. Sports is your god. To you any objection to the excesses in sports is nothing short of blasphemy. That is why you cannot tolerate this website. I doubt seriously that any one of us ever wanted to be a member of any athletic team, which means that you are telling a lie. Your boldfaced comment is outrageous.

Why don't you go bully a nerd? Your coach and the principal will protect you.

[Earl]

Actually, some of us doubt that you really are what you say you are.