Is there a connection between school sports and the grades kids get in school?
I left private industry for a while and taught high school. It was both rewarding and frustrating, but I learned a few things. Some coaches put pressure on teachers to bump the grades of varsity athletes, in order to keep them eiligible for play. Coaches can be very hard to say no to, especially in schools that have big sports programs. I did not personally experience this myself, but you hear things in the teachers’ lounge. I know of at least one case where a teacher bumped a kid’s grade in order to make him eligible for an athletic scholarship. If that’s not the answer you were expecting – there is some downward pressure on grades, too. Kids who play on the school’s teams have less time to study because of practice and games. On the other hand, participation in sports can be a good thing, especially when it keeps a kid in school activities when he would otherwise be hanging out on the street. I don’t have any hard data to back up my thoughts, but in the long run, despite the problems
