Athletics Breeds Belligerence
Americans' blind acceptance of the value of school sports costs us dearly
Lessons of the Locker Room:
The Myth of School Sports
Andrew W. Miracle, Jr. '67
and C. Roger Rees
Prometheus Books, $26.95
In the hurly-burly of the 1992 presidential campaign, when Ross Perot pointed out a link between our national commitment to youth sports and our education crisis, he put his finger on a disturbing truth: Americans care more about sports than education. Most communities would fight till death to fund athletics, Perot observed, while neglecting science, math, the arts, and other essentials of an educated nation.
How we developed such priorities is one of the themes of the carefully reasoned book Lessons of the Locker Room: The Myth of School Sports, by Andrew W. Miracle, Jr. '67, an anthropology professor at Texas Christian University, and C. Roger Rees, a physical-education professor at Adelphi University. The authors trace the origins of our obsession with youth sports and our tenacious conviction that sports build character and keep kids in school and out of trouble. Miracle and Rees argue, however, that no scientific evidence supports these claims.
The notion that sports build moral fiber was first fostered by British upper-crust schools and then adopted by their elite New England counterparts in the mid-19th century. The physical activity of team sports became permanently allied with moral worth. In short, British and American headmasters used organized sports to socialize their boys into the dominant values of the ruling class.
In the late 1800s, organized sports were introduced into American public schools as a way of integrating an unprecedented influx of immigrants into society, write the authors. In the big eastern cities, social reformers promoted groups like the YMCA and the Public School Athletic League to "Americanize" children of foreign-born workers and the working class.
Here, however, the reverence for sports took on an American twist. Whereas the British system emphasized style and attitude as the final goal-"play up and play the game"-Americans focused on winning at all costs. "All other things being equal, if you win, you are morally better than your opponent," write Miracle and Rees. By 1900, school sports and winning had become an unquestioned part of the American scene, and public-school athletic events became small-town America's principal form of entertainment and community pride.
The current connection between sports and schools was forged, Miracle and Rees argue, at a time when American industry needed a compliant, unthinking work force. Now that the global economy has changed, the authors state, American effectiveness is being seriously challenged by nations that don't spend large amounts of time in organized sports.
More than that, Miracle and Rees uncover proof that sports are detrimental to character. One researcher looking at six studies of sportsmanship in young athletes concluded, "athletes tend to be less sportsmanlike than nonathletes," and " 'major' sport athletes were less sportsmanlike than 'minor' sport athletes." One of the most disturbing studies cited by the authors looks at Canadian children who play hockey. "The longer boys are involved in youth hockey, the greater they accept the importance of cheating, the more they feel that violent behavior is legitimate and expected by the coach, and the more they are likely to use illegal tactics."
As for staying in school and off drugs, there is no evidence that athletes do better than nonathletes, and the notorious connections of sports with alcohol, steroids, and drugs do more to encourage deviant behavior than to prevent it.
Miracle and Rees believe that our blind acceptance of the value of sports is costing us dearly. The modern work environment requires cooperation, sharing, and personal inventiveness, not the belligerent attitudes developed by some youths through sports. Their argument leads us to wonder what would happen if we had a similar obsession for math or science or the arts?
The authors don't disparage all athletic endeavors; clearly, certain athletic experiences can complement educational goals. Sports such as soccer and squash encourage fair play and nimbleness of mind. "If communities are really serious about using athletics as a means of developing character," the authors conclude, "they will have to put pressure on their local school board to provide qualified coaches who can develop programs that teach children about ethical dilemmas in sport and provide counseling on how to make moral decisions."
Lessons of the Locker Room substantiates the concerns of many educators about our national priorities and goes beyond superficial observation to make a bold indictment. Not only are we falling behind other countries in training a modern work force, but our current attitude toward youth sports reflects a deep misunderstanding of educational needs that is squandering our greatest national resource: the potential of our children.
-Selden Edwards '63
Selden Edwards, the secretary of the Class of 1963, is an independent-school teacher and headmaster of long standing. He wrote "Reflections of a Scrubby Gun," in the February 8 PAW.
Short Takes
Class Action: How to Create Accountability, Innovation, and Excellence
in American Schools
John Katzman '81 and Steven Hodas
Villard Books, $22.50
The first step to John Katzman '81's and Steven Hodas's proposal for recon-ceptualizing schools is believing that students are not customers but the "products" of high schools which are "sold" to colleges and businesses. As president and former key staff member, respectively, at The Princeton Review, they intelligently describe what is wrong with our school system and how to fix it in Class Action: How to Create Accountability, Innovation, and Excellence in American Schools. Schools are accused of failing to teach students how to read, write, and think, the authors observe, yet public schools were originally modeled on 19th-century factories and were designed to subdue and instill morals in the poor. The solution to the nation's education mess, the authors propose, is to adopt Multiple National Curricula, which closely ties testing with course coverage and gives teachers the freedom to develop techniques to meet national "performance specifications" for students. The authors offer a surprising way to launch this program without involving politicians, which almost gives you hope that it could happen.
Frontiers: The Diary of
Patrick Kelly, 1876-1944
Otis Carney '43
General Publishing Group, $22.95
From Patrick Kelly's first murder, when he kills his master in Ireland out of revenge for his sister's rape, we know that the hero of Otis Carney '43's 12th novel, Frontiers: The Diary of Patrick Kelly, 1876-1944, is a character who isn't going to shy away from danger. In Forrest Gump-like fashion, Kelly swashbuckles his way through every major conflict in U.S. history, from the battle at Wounded Knee to Chicago's Haymarket riot. He is the stereotypical good soldier-loyal, brave, honest, and loved by all women. Machismo drips off every page. In between all the loving, Kelly meets many historical figures, from Geronimo and General Per-shing to Teddy Roosevelt and Amelia Earhart. Ironically, Carney manages to glorify war and decry it at the same time. There is no reward in fighting, you only do it for the "comrades of your unit, your troop. It's for your men you fight." Every rumor about treachery in U.S. history, including Churchill's supposed foreknowledge of Pearl Harbor, is confirmed by Kelly, who was there, of course. Although the diary is unbelievable at times, the sheer ambitiousness of Frontiers and the pluckiness of Kelly keep you reading to the end.
Media Virus!: Hidden Agendas
in Popular Culture
Douglas Rushkoff '83
Ballantine Books, $21.95
Reading Douglas Rushkoff '83's book can make you feel out of touch or completely with it, depending on your age. Rushkoff describes our high-tech society as a "datasphere" in which events like the Willie Horton ad are media viruses that contain ideological codes or "memes" that attach to us. "Like real genetic material, these memes infiltrate the way we do business, educate ourselves, interact with one another-even the way we perceive reality," Rushkoff suggests. He believes a new generation has become sophisticated media manipulators. He argues that remote controls, faxes, computer networks, call-in radio, and 800 numbers have empowered people (like the individual who videotaped Rodney King's beating) to send out their own messages. Television is also empowering, he argues optimistically. If you can't see that Beavis and Butt-head teach viewers how to inflict their will on TV, or that kids' TV is a primer on living in "cut-and-paste reality," then turn to Media Virus! to get infected by Rushkoff's perspective on the modern mediascape.
-Jennifer Gennari Shepherd
Jennifer Gennari Shepherd is a freelance writer living in Princeton, New Jersey.
Books Received
Philo Fortune's Awesome Journey
to His Comfort Zone
Julian F. Thompson '49
Hyperion Books for Children, $16.95
Where the Wind Takes Me
H. Fairfax Conquest '50, M.D.
Orders to DRINK A POEM, Box 7223, Richmond, VA 23221. $9.95 paper
From the Perspective of the Self: Montaigne's Self-Portrait
Craig B. Brush '51
Fordham University Press, $32.50
Romania Versus the United States: Diplomacy of the Absurd, 1985-1989
Roger Kirk '52 and Mircea Raceanu
St. Martin's Press, $45
Managing Diversity in Organizations
Robert T. Golembiewski '54
University of Alabama Press,
$25.95 paper
The Hudnut Years
in Indianapolis, 1976-1991
William H. Hudnut III '54
Indiana University Press, $24.95