Education Discussion

I like what Aakash said about sports challenging students to achieve a higher standard. In my experience, I have learned how to work extremely hard to achieve a certain standard. Especially in the sport of running, what you put in determines your result. If you log 100 miles a week, you will very likely improve and become more competitive, but if you don't put in effort, your performance will suffer. This dedication spills into other aspects of life and teaches me to be dedicated in what I do. This applies to other sports like football where adding the extra reps and extra weight and film all improves the athletes game. Sports also provide an exciting realm to promote this kind of learning, so it is beneficial to continue using sports for this reason.

Sports definitely have a space in society. They allow for kids to grow and challenge themselves both mentally and physically. For example, a child struggling on his free throw shooting form works through the mechanics of physically shooting the basketball and also the mental aspect of calming ones self down before shooting. Kids are able to learn about teamwork and sportsmanship through sports. Sports also helps kids to be able to learn how to socialize. Social skills can be developed just by being around teammates who are all going through similar things in their life. It also allows for kids to gain more self esteem as they make improvements on their respective sports.  While I do think sports are important and all kids should be allowed to try to play some sports in their life I think sports can play a role in increasing hyper masculinity. Physical sports such as wrestling and football (both male-dominated sports) can increase violence among young men. I do not believe however t...

The article talked a lot about the hyper masculinity of contact sports, and they argue that this contributes heavily to increased violence and identity. When an athletes' identity is entirely based in their sport, they begin to be shaped by the traits and imposed qualities that their sports hold to be true. For example, football players are seen as incredibly manly, strong, and dominating. These qualities are transferred from the field to the real world, and they can lead to behavior issues. If an athlete feels the need to display his masculinity at all times and get aggressive with anyone that appears to be diminishing or questioning their masculinity, it can lead to an increase in violence. These traits are taught on the field, but they need to be differentiated depending on the circumstance and location.

Sports are not for everyone, but for those who do like to participate them, I think they have a lot of benefits. Youth participation in sports help to teach many useful life skills. Kids will learn to value commitment and accountabilty because they will be a part of a team that rely on one another. Participation in sports helps to teach good sportsmanship early on. Kids will learn that you can't always win and that is okay, but if you want to win you will have to continue to practice and not give up. Being a part of a team at an early age helps with social skills. Sports are a great way to make friends and socialize with people who have similar interests. Being a student athlete is hard but it has a lot of benefits. Student athletes learn how to manage their time better because of busy schedules and there is a motivation to maintain your grades so one is eligible for participation. Students who play sports in high school can benefit from scholarships for college. I feel that the id...

Like Cameron said, sports do teach a lot of valuable life skills that are extremely important in life. This makes sports an important aspect in our schools. It provides yet another outlet to learn life skills in a way that many people can relate to. It is important to understand the tough love, but there is a difference between conflicts on the field and off the field. A player needs to understand the difference between these two spheres or it will lead to off the field violence. It is important to know which aspects of the hidden sports curriculum applies to all aspects of life and which are limited to the playing field. For example, being aggressive in a football game is extremely valuable, but in the outside world, it is important to understand when being aggressive is acceptable. In the article, it seems that there seems to be a disconnect between the players understanding this difference. There is also the team aspect that drives aggression and violence. Those players that had fri...

Sports are one of the best possible ways to learn outside of the classroom. Sports teach you accountability, teamwork and how to win and lose with class. A beautifuel thing about sports is that there is 1 winner and one loser, too often these days we don't want anyone to be upset, but in the world of sports you prepare your hardest and it doesn't always go your way. That then teaches you to come back hungrier and work harder to not have that feeling again. Teamwork plays both in the classroom and the real world, you have to get along with your teammates and do everything you can to help them because you all have a common goal. Sometimes you don't like your teammates, but you learn how to put that aside or the betterment of the team, that's exactly how it works in a company later in life. Finally, accountability, so much of sports comes outside of team practice, you have to work hard yourself, be on time, and pick up your weight. When you learn that your team relies on y...

I thought this article was particularly interesting because I had never thought of sports leading to increased violence. It was fascinating to read about the different sports, wrestling, football, basketball, baseball, and tennis, and how each sport led to different levels of social inclusion and violence. As I was reading, I thought about many of the exceptions and difficulties for creating an accurate study that looked at all of the variables that could lead to different conclusions. The article discussed that it is difficult to determine if playing football leads to increased violence or if increased violence predisposes students to playing football. I thought a lot about the hidden curriculum in schools and how sports play into that, and I think sports have a large influence on social learning. As this article said, athletes that play basketball, football, or baseball are often very popular, and other students are essentially taught to glorify them by watching Friday night footbal...