Are HS football and cheer leading REALLY more important that the 3 R's?

[unclebilly]

I recently traveled through 3 states and was appalled by the lack of common sense and inability of some young people to do really, really simple math.

I imagine this could be because, in my opinion, football and cheer leading are the priorities in some high schools rather than 'Reading, wRiting, and aRithmetic'.

Case in point, a girl in her early 20s needed to use a calculator to figure out the change from a $10 bill on a $6 burger. No tax was involved. I know that every region has its share of dummies, including where I live.

[Rick V]

When I played football in HS back in the early 80's we had to maintain a C+ in every class, or we got the boot. Now a C+ isn't much and isn't hard to attain but it was a set in stone mark. On report card day you had to show the coach your report card as you entered the locker room. Sub-par grades and you went straight to cleaning out your locker. You also had to bring your last report card from the end of the year to be able to play the next year. Summer school was not an option for our coach.
People are not taught math anymore because they are allowed ti use a calculator in class, at least around here and it shows. Public schools suck! I am not going to give my opinion as to why or this will parf-out.
I do agree, it is sad

[onewhippedpuppy]

I'm not sure how the sports angle has anything to do with the lack of fast food worker mathematic ability. As Rick noted, you have to at least be an average student to participate in high school sports. Maybe a little personal bias showing?

The better question would be why a high school graduate cannot do simple math in her head.

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

...The better question would be why a high school graduate cannot do simple math in her head.

What the heck does math or basic reading comprehension skills have to do with cell phones and Facebook

[stomachmonkey]

One of our local TX High Schools just spent $60 million on a new stadium.

[masraum]

Calculators are REQUIRED in math these days. You don't have to know how to do the math, you have to know how to use the calculator.

School sports have been important for a long time, that's nothing new. The way things are taught, what is taught and how things are graded is what has changed.

[unclebilly]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

I'm not sure how the sports angle has anything to do with the lack of fast food worker mathematic ability. As Rick noted, you have to at least be an average student to participate in high school sports. Maybe a little personal bias showing?

The better question would be why a high school graduate cannot do simple math in her head.

This was not a MacDonalds employee. This was a girl helping her parents at their BBQ concession at the race track. This was NOT her full time job, I hope.

[stuttgart46]

IMHO it's become a lot better in regards to academics and athletes. My sons are both high school athletes and keeping up with your academics is stressed on a regular basis by their coaches. Most colleges aren't just looking for another dumb jock. Football has advanced to as much of a chess match as it is about brute strength and you need some smarts to keep up. My sons have mandatory tutorials that are part of their football program that they must attend twice a week. It helps them keep up with their homework without compromising time in the weight room and practice field. For the coach, it ensures (or helps) to make sure that his stud QB makes grades.
I wish it had been like this when I was in HS.
Now, are there still dumb kids out there that slip through the cracks? You bet.

[intakexhaust]

Funny thread. So we decide to visit a county fair and enjoy some eats at the Lions corn stand. Younger girls running the concessions and they all seemed to be writing the amount cash received from customers, doing the math and writing what they gave back in change.... Jokingly, I mentioned they have an 'ap' for that. The girl taking our cash replied 'really'?

[flatbutt]

Silly question. No of course not. But you can easily be forgiven for thinking so. Our local gas pump jockey cannot make change ...period. I gave him a $20 for $12 worth of fuel. He gave me $10 in change. Of course I corrected him. But he never knows the correct change.

[gr8fl4porsche]

Same thing happened to me this weekend.

Went to a local festival and bought a lemonade. $ 1.75. Handed the teenaged girl a 10 and she said 'oh no'. Had to ask the lady behind her how much change was due. She then proceeded to give me $ 5.25 back.

[Zeke]

Sounds like these girls all went to the same school that Lindsay Lohan went to.

[Evans, Marv]

Back a long time ago (1980's) when I was teaching high school level math, the District said students no longer had to really learn math operations by hand and could use a calculator to do work and tests. I flat said my students doing the more basic courses wouldn't use a calculator until they had demonstrated competency by bring able to do it "by head and by hand." Even after they were allowed to use a calculator for everyday work, they still couldn't use one on tests. I had no problem with those in higher level math using a calculator. They thought I was a dinosaur and said I "marched to a different tune", but the students that came out of my basic level math course(s) did better as they went on to higher levels, and other teachers always told me they were happy to get my students in their classes. I think those who make decisions like that on the administrative level are also math dummies. In fact later when I was on a level to work with other administrators, my suspicions were reinforced. We also have to realize not everybody is good at math - even basic, just like not everyone is good at art, writing, sports, etc. The bell curve applies to almost everything, but sometimes stupid policies can bias results toward the lower end of the scale.

[sammyg2]

No, football is not more important than the 3 Rs although both are important IMO.
Cheer, notsomuch.
I played football and baseball from the age of 6 all through high school and maintained well over a 3.5 GPA without working that hard at it.
My daughter played soccer and volleyball all through school and graduated with honors. My son plays soccer at least 2 seasons a year and gets straight A's.

It doesn't have anything to do with sports, it only has to do with parents allowing school work to be less important.

Stupid and lazy parents tend to create kids who are even more stupid and lazy.

[romad]

How does football factor into a schools inability to teach math? What 20 to 45 kids play football depending on the sizes of the school and thats the reason everyone else can not do basic math. Regardless, basic math is taught at the elementary level, what you continually fail to teach in high school has nothing to do with sports.

[vash]

so the football field is 100 yards long. ball on the 60...40 yards to go..

got it. your change should have been $40.

[KFC911]

Originally Posted by vash

so the football field is 100 yards long. ball on the 60...40 yards to go..

got it. your change should have been $40.

Ball on the 60? Even I get stumped on word problems like that

[Rick Lee]

When I lived TX, football was a religion. The high school football coach wanted to build a house in our neighborhood, but didn't earn enough to qualify for the mortgage. So he asked for and got a raise. But there was a law at the time that no one in the school dist. could earn more than the superintendant. So they gave him a raise too. True story. Our little town of 2700 (now 30k) regularly had its team play in Texas Stadium and we got out of school for the day to get bussed down there to watch.

[M.D. Holloway]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

One of our local TX High Schools just spent $60 million on a new stadium.

Yup! And what a palace!!!

We put in millions upon millions into our HS stadium last year where the FB teams and Band and Cheerleaders are local heroes...the kids acceding in math, writing and other scholastic endeavors are curios...

But then again, on any given Friday night would the Math team pack a stadium with 15,000 residents? The FB / Band / Cheer does...

Got to give the people what they want I guess.

[RWebb]

our best HS (state champions, BTW) linebacker got a PhD in Wildlife Biology, but could not support his family so he then got an MD and is a happy "country doctor" in Miss.

but.. I agree overall - sports have gone from something used to train the body while the mind is being trained in the classroom, to a be all, end all

educational reform should be forcing some + changes and I think it is