Sporto

Jon Chait has one of his occasional off-topic columns, in this case an examination of how to reform college athletics.  As someone marginally involved in high school athletics (few of my wrestlers go on to college), it's an interesting dilemma that extends beyond just college athletes or even just football and men's basketball. 

One trend we are seeing is specialization - in effect professionalization - at younger and younger ages.  Little kids are becoming "soccer players" or "hockey players" or "lacrosse players" at very young ages.  They then overtrain in those sports, which leads to burn out and injuries.  There is an interesting theory about overtraining in girl's soccer and ACL injuries.  Or the effects of concussions in various sports. 

Because so many kids see sports as a way to leverage their admission into a college (or a "better" college), sports is stripped more and more of its educational value.  The original model for school sports was the old English Boarding School model - one that our school attempts to preserve.  The idea was that competing on a team, even a Fourths team, would build physical strength but also teamwork and character lessons around winning and losing.  As Wellington said, "The Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton." 

Sports, in this view, are part of the moral and ethical education of the child, as well as the physical education of the child.  What we have today is an increasing push of the professionalization of sports onto younger and younger kids.  It's toxic.  It teaches the wrong things.  Most countries place sports outside of schools.  There are clubs that develop athletes.  That, I'm sure, creates its own set of problems.

Those problems, however, would not be the problems of how we educate our children.