Amanda Ripley's The Case Against High School Sports

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Sports have been in the majority of American schools since the passing of compulsory education laws and are currently defining the U.S.’s culture from the viewpoints of other countries. In Amanda Ripley’s essay, The Case Against High School Sports, she explores the idea that American high schools display too much emphasis on sports, and are detrimental to the actual education of their students. Stereotypical sports- such as football, baseball, basketball, volleyball, etc.- have an even greater interest in southern states than they do northern states. Texas is especially known for their achievements in athletics, which is a possible reason why Ripley chose Premont, Texas as her example and study subject for her article. Although the article contains various faults, it has been used to persuade and acknowledge the idea of downgrading the importance of athletics to parents and administration. …show more content…
The majority of those students state that their countries rarely associated sports with school as much as the U.S. does, and Ripley believes that was one piece of evidence to why the United States is currently ranked thirty-first in the international math exam. Foreign countries’ emphasis on scholastic performance leads to students either playing club sports outside of school or none at all. Ripley quotes one observation from sociologist James Coleman: “A visitor entering an American high school would likely be confronted, first of all, with a trophy case. [...] the trophy case would suggest to the innocent visitor that he was entering an athletic club, not an educational institution” (para 1-6,
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