America Education in Sports

There is no doubt that sports are an important part of American culture from Monday Night football to the World Series millions of people tune in to watch. Sports truly bring together our families and our nation. For some families that have a family member that works multiple jobsthe only time they might get to see that family member during the week is when his favorite sport team is playing on tv. But also athletes like Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, and Drew Brees are role models for millions of youth across the globe. I believe the direction America should be taking is lost at a young age.

From the time we start playing our first sport every teenager including myself thought I could go pro. Although I had the work ethic and I was coachable and I was not the best athlete or the worst I did all the little things to leave my impact on the games I played in. As I got older and I started playing in more Basketball games and I saw everyone I played with and played against wanted to play Basketball professionally. If you did the math 30 NBA teams 12-15 players on each roster you had to be great to play. Not to mention the NBA recruits outside of the country too. After realizing I needed to find something different to do to be a more productive member of society. After watching the Olympics there is no doubt American Stands on top in sports overall. We have some of the best Athletes in the World. But why do our Public education system sucks compared to other countries?

In American we have a broken education system and it has to be fixed from the foundation. The ways schools are funded are completely wrong. If you live in a poor neighbor you might not have books. If you live in a rich neighborhood you will have access a lot of resources. Recently I took trip to Beijing, China and I got to see the rigor of the Education system. We meet a student who was still in Elementary school and the amount of homework he had I did not get until my junior year of high school. He also had to get many tutors to get help with classes and he finished school around 5 pm. After seeing this I knew that the rigor provided to him is something all students need to go and be successful in the world. There is a big difference on how education is being presented around the world. In China based on test squares and other things they have it separated on which Students will go to traditional colleges and which ones will go immediately into the work force. I know I would like this idea but in some places around the world they provide free education to their students don’t put their students in debt.

But in America, sports have hindered the education of our youth. Growing up if you went to a school that was known for doing well in a particular sport and you were a star athlete you sometimes get a pass on grades. Derrick Rose is a current NBA Player and from my hometown of Chicago. He was a star athlete in high school. When he got to college it surfaced that he didn’t take the ACT which is a required test for all high school students to take to get into college. I have nothing personally against him I just think it’s a bad example to set for our youth. This is one of thousands of cases that happen across our country of star Athletes getting a pass so they can keep producing in the sports they play. I like how recently the NBA made it where its players have to do at least one year of college before joining their league. But I believe more can be done. I remember when there was a time when athletes finished their college degrees before declaring for the draft.  Now so many students jump into the NBA after one year of college not earning a degree to help fill the education gap the United States have.

Although, many athletes have stories that inspire the millions of fans we need to push the importance of education. They come from the same backgrounds, grew up in fatherless homes, faced violence, overcame adversity, or lived in the same neighborhoods. Just as Americans I can go dominate in the Olympics and bring back 110+ medals. Our children should be able to compete with students from around the globe academically. There should be more incentives for competing in the math team and Academic Decathlon.  As many Americans I watched proudly and eagerly as the USA competed in did great in the 2012 Olympics. It gave you the feeling we are a real power house in almost every sport. I wish the same emphasis was put when students competed academically.

I don’t blame our athletes for the problem at hand. I commend them for being the role models they have become for all of us. I blame the system we have let manifest and conquer our country.  We need to spend the same money, time, and resources we use for sports training and put it into educating the youth in America. Until education is a number one priority in our nation we cannot take the title we have as been the Most Powerful Nation. Applied Knowledge is key to being successful.  If we train our children academics like we do training in sports there is no doubt in my mind the United States will bridge the worldwide education gap we have. Sports are still that one area you can still bring families together everyone has a favorite sport, player, and team.  Having the smallest interest in sports gives you the ability to hold a conversation with anybody which allows you to make new friends and creat friendly rivals.