Athlete-Student or Student-Athlete? (470)

Image by Intiaz Rahim via FlickrMore Athlete Than Student: "
by Stuart Singer, The Teacher Leader

College athletes serve as role models for many high school students. Recent trends in NCAA eligibility and university attitudes raise concerns about the educational behaviors being modeled.
In his State of the Union Address, President Obama received a standing ovation when he said there should be more prestige in winning the science fair than the super bowl. Currently in this country that is clearly not the case. His sentiment is particularly relevant for high school educators in light of recent trends in athletics at universities. College athletes can be powerful role models for many high school students. In the past when these collegians demonstrated on a regular basis that sports could be a path to a college degree such adulation was a positive force. Unfortunately, the current environment on many college campuses is not sending the same message and has a potentially negative impact on education.

-A reasonable solution
-A turn in the wrong direction
-What can high school educators do?

Points to Ponder (P2P)

1. What is the role of interscholastic sports at the K-12 level?
2. Does the school you want to teach at have an athletics policy online?  If so, please review it and link your readers to it.  
3. What is your schools's athletics policy? Is it standardized across all sports? Do certain teams/sports/coaches receive preferential treatment?
4. What is your coaching philosophy with regards to academics? Do you have it in writing yet? If not, why?

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