Guest commentary by Philip Wingeier-Rayo
I would like to congratulate the Carolina Panthers and the Denver Broncos for making it to the 2016 Super Bowl! As much as I enjoy a good football game (and I played in high school and college), this week’s Super Bowl media hype is an opportune moment for reflection on the place of sports in American society and public education.
This week I went running near my home in Frisco and passed the new Dallas Cowboys training center. This new facility is another example of public-private investment that will include both an indoor and outdoor football field, a workout room, shops, an Omni hotel as well as a members-only club with a restaurant overlooking the practice field. Jerry Jones and family have invested more than $500 million, the City of Frisco $175 million, as well as investments from Ford, PepsiCo, Dr. Pepper, Nike and Lincoln. The problem that I have is the $30 million that the Frisco Independent School District contributed in exchange for the right to play high school football games at the stadium.
My family moved to Texas two years ago from North Carolina and we immediately noticed some significant differences on the philosophy toward high school athletics between the two states. The first difference that we noticed is the athletic facilities with large football stadiums, most notably the $60 million Allen High School football stadium. The second difference I noticed between high school sports in North Carolina and Texas was the school schedule. The schools where I live have a double block schedule of A and B days with four 1.5 hour periods each day. Students can receive four subjects on A days and four more on B days. However for athletes one of those periods is taken up by their sport, so they can only register for six classes (3 on A days and 3 on B days). So 1.5 hours every day is used for weight-lifting or training year around (in addition to practice), which is time students are not in the classroom. In other words, student-athletes have 1.5 less of instructional time everyday than the non-student athlete. This adds up to 7.5 hours per week or 270 per school year.
The third difference that I noticed came when I attended my son’s first soccer game. In Texas, soccer is a winter. I do not know for sure the rationale for playing soccer in the winter, but my hunch is to avoid competition for athletic fields with football in the fall.
Now I am all for athletics because I believe that we are embodied creatures who were built for movement. Paul teaches us that the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit and that we should take care of it (1 Corinthians 6:19). Scientific research also confirms that humans learn better and are more creative after exercise. Physical education is especially important in America at a time where we face childhood obesity and many preventable illnesses. So I agree that it is appropriate to include physical activity in the midst of a full school day of sitting and learning. However, I wonder if we have taken athletics too far.
If we move to the college level, a disproportionate amount of financial resources are put into athletic budgets which doesn’t line up with the stated mission of some universities. According to a recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, most large university athletic programs contribute less than $1 to academics for every $100 in sports revenue. This sounds like the tail is wagging the dog. While I don’t know how much the athletic department at Ohio State gives back to academics, it is documented to have the highest budget ($109 million) of any major university. According to its website, the university’s vision is to “be the world’s preeminent public comprehensive university, solving problems of world-wide significance.” While I agree that intercollegiate athletics can build team spirit and community pride can raise a school’s visibility, I’m not sure how the athletic department contributes to solving problems of worldwide significance.
We are seeing the results of such priorities in the worldwide rankings for academic achievement. According to an article from the BBC, the United States ranked 28th in educational achievement behind most developed and many developing nations.
The Bible teaches us that learning and wisdom is much more important than material positions. “How much better to get wisdom than gold” (Proverbs 16:16). The former is eternal while the latter is temporal and can be lost and we cannot take with us.
Basically, American high school and intercollegiate athletics have become the training grounds for professional sports franchises. In most countries the federal education budget is used for facilities, staff and equipment. While physical education would be a justifiable experience in the education of the total human being, intercollegiate athletics goes too far. In most democratic societies around the world, athletics are privately funded and outside of educational activities. So my question is: Why should the public school system have to subsidize professional sports teams by running their apprentice training program? Why should a high school or public university have to divert funds from its vision of solving problems of worldwide significance to train professional athletes? Shouldn’t professional sports franchises pay for the training of their future athletes?
So in this week of Super Bowl hype, as we get ready to eat chips and dip, enjoy a party and perhaps other spirited drinks, remember how much money our society has invested into the training of these athletes and in these sporting events. Remember how many young people gave hours and hours of athletic training that could have been used to train their minds. Remember how many dollars from school districts and universities have been invested in athletic facilities rather than educational supplies or teacher salaries. Is this the best use of our tax dollars? How else could these public education dollars to used to cultivate more young people with skills to solve the world’s biggest problems?
PHILIP WINGEIER-RAYO is associate professor of evangelism, mission & Methodist studies at Austin Seminary.
