Does it exist?
Not yet, but it ought to. As a "sports agnostic" in a sporto-world, I have often felt "left out" of conversations that baffle me: talk of points, scores, goals, percentages, strange names and rankings, and a whole lot of energy and excitement about something that merely makes me sleepy.
Live and let live - as they say. They (or y'all) are consenting adults and so I'm not in a position to make judgments about how you people spend your free time and a fascination with others doing something extremely well. Excellence should be praised even it when it comes to something utterly meaningless such as football, basketball or bowling. And there's a lot of money at stake in terms of these "games" and most anything that can be monetized is a good thing.
And yet. What about sports in schools, especially secondary schools? This is often justified in terms of social development. "A normal part of growing up."
Marilyn Cuberle (above) might express some doubts. In fact I don't just doubt the value of the time, energy and resources poured in school athletic programs, I'm convinced that the cost outweighs the benefits.
Take teachers, please.
It is often part of the interview process to ask a teacher if he or she has experience coaching or assisting in some sport. I have always chafed at this. Please do ask me about teaching methods or the books I read or about classroom management or about my philosophy of education. You are, dear administrator, presumably looking for a teacher, for that is what this interview is allegedly about.
I haven't even been hired (and may not get hired if I get snarky about these sporty questions) and already we're off-topic. Or are we?
Might it be the case that our secondary schools exist primarily as a venue for socialization and in the grand scheme of things, sports are actually more important than academic things?
Teachers, in the field: what is your experience of the nexus between school and sport?
For myself, it is clear that many teachers through compulsion (or choice) must sacrifice either their teaching or their extra-curricular/co-curricular pursuits. Can the typical teacher serve both "masters" with fidelity? If so, great - more power to them; if not, what hidden costs are being paid? And by whom? (Given the obvious disproportion between the "metrics" on poor coaching versus poor pedagogy, I would hazard a guess that the astute teacher-athlete will of necessity choose to sacrifice the classroom; surely for the greater good.)
On this day, 20 March 2026, I hereby declare and proclaim intellectual property rights to the organization "Society for the Separation of School from Sport." Should you, dear reader, find a way to monetize this concept, let's talk.
