Sports and education at odds

A recent letter to The Olympian states we need more athletics in our schools. After visiting several countries and talking with students and teachers I discovered that those same nations that out-do us in academic performance lack an athletic department. Most of these nations relegate sports to a separate booster club that also owns the sports facilities.

Schools such as these have no expense for interscholastic sports. They do not have a coach as the highest paid school employee. They do not have 75 percent of school real estate dedicated to sports. One thing they do have is educated students and that is what we often lack.

When I taught school in Spain my students all spoke four languages, could read music, and took advanced math. They did not have sports in school interfering with the learning.

This story was originally published October 25, 2016 at 6:37 PM with the headline "Sports and education at odds."