Amanda Ripley has a front cover article in the Atlantic today with SEO-friendly title, “The Case Against High School Sports.” The article can be boiled down to two points. American schools devote more energy to sports than other nations’ schools. And maybe all the money that goes to sports would be better spent on academics.

We have discussed high school sports and the suburban sports culture a few times on this blog, and frankly, our discussion was more interesting than the article.

I’m a fan of high school sports (when done right). I was a high school athlete. I learned skills that extended beyond the track – leadership and stamina. Sports gave me confidence, when I was a terribly insecure teenager.

HOWEVER, (That’s a really big however.) I think that sports are an entirely different activity today than back in the olden times in the 1980s. Kids are trained too hard at too early of an age. There are unrealistic expectations from parents about the benefits for college. There is a very intense sports team culture with parents getting a really weird power rush from their kids’ successes on the field. It  is an expensive activity; it’s hard to justify expensive lighting systems for a football field that only benefits the handful of kids on the field. Everybody needs to take a chill pill.

But you all have experiences that you want to share, I’m sure. Chat away.