sports. why are some people so negative towards them?

vigorous physical activity is as essential, if not more so, than reading, math, music, etc for children.

 

I think he's saying that sports can be good for kids in that they promote exercise, activity, group socialization, and healthy competition.

As he said, most kids don't know what's good for them. Given the choice most wouldn't eat vegetables, brush their teeth, get exercise, dress properly, read books, etc. This is why their parents or guardians make them do these things, because they know better than the kid does.

 

and hippies, allegedly

 

kids know better than hippies.

 

whoa, you took a true statement and made it truer.

 

I'd honestly rather have a fat kid than an illiterate.

They'd get punished either way of course.

 

course

 

So would I

I will always be grateful that my parents took us for hikes and took us fishing and many other super fun things, rather than just push us into a team sport.

 

It isn't one or the other... and if you haven't done both from a young age, how can you really know which you'd prefer?

 

Yet somehow I continue to live a happy, healthy, physically fit, life free of team sports. However do I manage...

 

never said physical activity at the expense of reading/math, so they wouldn't be illiterate.

 

You do that. And I'll keep coaching low-income boys' basketball and youth hockey because I genuinely think it makes their lives better (and nobody else wants to do it).

 

Eh, we have different opinions and I do think it is sad that you don't seem accepting of other lifestyles and seem to think that your lifestyle is the only proper way to live, but luckily we are not married with children so it really doesn't matter.

 

I love watching pro sports and playing them once every while. competitiveness is seemingly built into human nature. I feel it's best we release are competitiveness through sports rather then furstration, war and civil disputes.

 

I could care less whether adults decide to play sports or not. I think it is a positive lifestyle choice compared to many others, but it is their own business if they decide to do other things.

I just think it is sad when kids aren't given that opportunity because of their parents' decisions.

If that is being unaccepting of others' lifestyles, then sue me.

 

What truely pisses me off about sports is when I look at the money spent on football fields or basketball gyms and then look at whats left over for the math classes or language programs. Sports and physical activity can come outside of the school setting. Eduacation in math, science, languages is wholely dependent on the school.

I realize that the actual sports themselves aren't the problem. Its the mindset of adult jocks that create this inbalance. None the less it pisses me off that a dumbass jock boy, and its usually boys, will get all the recognition and praise while the kid who has stellar skills in language, math whatever will get nothing.

This country's continued survival is gonna depend on the academic skills of our youth not some knuckledraggers end run bullshit. I'm in full agreement our kids need physical activities but sure not at the expense of actual learning. Who do you want to go see if you need medical help...the kid who excelled in sciences or the kid who had the most letters on his lettermans jacket.

Sports in and of themselves are fine but the execution of physical activity in school pisses me right off.

 

My parents decided to let me do what I wanted to do, so I took gymnastics for a year and a half (ended up quitting because they just taught me the same things the second year and it was a waste of money and time). It wasn't a competitive thing, just a bunch of 5 year olds bouncing on trampolines and rolling around on mats. Aside from that, I was just an insanely active kid from the time I was old enough to walk until I was a teenager. They didn't rob me of any opportunity to play team sports as a child, I was the one who chose not to. My brother, on the other hand, played soccer, baseball, and basketball. Out of the two of us, I'm more social, I'm better at working in groups, and I've been in better shape than him up until recently when he started blaming his lack of girlfriends on his body (rather than his poor social skills). Sports are not the only answer to strong, healthy, and sociable adults. I think all children should have the opportunity to try sports, maybe they should even have to play a sport for a little bit, but if they don't like it, they shouldn't be forced to continue to play. Forcing kids to do what you want them to do always ends up backfiring terribly when they get older.

 

I agree with Sitka almost completely in this thread, and I'm glad people are getting involved in youth sports.

Though I can see where Varapario is comming from. Right now in Texas where I was born and raised, which has the highest drop out rate in the nation, the governor ran for reelection in '08 bragging about the how the Texas economy wasn't suffering from the budget crisis.

Soon after it turned out that the Texas numbers quoted were 'overlooked' and Texas faced a giant deficit. Incidentally they have an emergency fund of about ten billion which could have payed off the education deficit 3 times over. To address this, they slashed education which has mainly targeted drop out rate assistance programs, librarians, and student assistance services. Meanwhile the number of coaches for sports have been almost immune from the layoffs in Texas.

Some people need to readdress their priorities.

Otherwise than those specific scenarios, sports are a great thing. They keep the body healthy and the mind fit, and they're one of the best ways for kids to bond; the only positive experiences I reminisce about from public education were friends and sports.

 

I dunno.

Should kids be able to decide they shouldn't learn history in school because it isn't interesting?

Should they decide whether to participate in PE during school because it isn't interesting?

Maybe they should become physically active and learn history even if they aren't riveting to them.

 

Lode I do see the value of team sports and for a lot of people those are ideal but heres where it breaks down for me. The team (whichever kind of sport) has room for only so many players. The whole concept of sports is winning so the players chosen are gonna be the best players. The kids who aren't coordinated, interested, big enough, fast enough are gonna be on the sidelines. So you might say, thats the reason for them to try harder. What if they are already doing their best? What if they're too small or whatever? Sidelines! What do those kids learn...that they aren't good enough! Sports primarily depends on physical skills assisted by mental ability. I see sports, the way they are practiced in the US as a weedout of kids who aren't interested, skilled or whatever. My question to you is; what do we offer these kids? What can they do to have fun using both mind and body? These are the kids I'm concerned for. Somewhere in that vast herd of kids who aren't "first string" is a kid who is just late in developing, a kid with a brilliant mind who is bored by the sport concept, the kid who is a loner because his/her mind is occupied by the beat of a different drummer. There is where sports fail in school. There is one reason why I dislike the way sports are used and viewed.