Sports v. The “Other”

 It is no surprise to most people here in Weedsport that the main focus in the school is the sports. From Friday night football under the lights to the fast paced basketball games in the gym, most people who visit the school do it for the athletics and to watch the students compete. The few exceptions to this general habit would be the musicals, and the concerts. However, these events are much fewer and far between compared to the mass of games played each week.

Here in Weedsport, the amount of recognition that sports receive compared to other extracurricular activities is definitely slanted in favor of the athletic programs. For example in the former morning announcements, the topic of extracurricular activities will be mentioned in maybe one or two sentences at most while sport has its own designation at the end of announcements with in-depth analysis of the scores and how the individual players performed.

With the recent implementation of the broadcast news announcements. It will be no surprise that Weedsport’s athletic events will be represented by an entire segment feature reporters and anchors that report specifically on that subject. This being opposed to the extracurricular activities which would have their event mixed in with the general announcements at the beginning of the broadcast.

The problem with this system is that, a very limited number of people outside of the athletes can get recognition for their talents and hard work. Aside from the individuals who star in the musicals, most students will not be as reknown for their accomplishments which by all rights are just as meaningful and worthy of praise as any athletic achievement.

My stance on this issue is in no way a detrimental viewpoint of Weedsport’s athletes and should not be viewed as such. Weedsport does a good job of breaking the typically jock and nerd stereotypes by having our students be star athletes and at the same time be at the top of their class. This however does not forgive the fact that those who do not participate in anything other than extracurricular activities will never receive the same amount of recognition as the sports teams.

One cannot deny that sports can be considered more exciting and have more involvement by the students in the school, which would justify having more recognition by the school. However the policy of the school is that all students deserve to be equally represented and respected by the staff and district. This policy is also applicable to extracurricular events that are sanctioned by the school, if only in the school’s codes and guidelines.

This issue also leads to a problem that plagues most public high schools in the U.S. The educational system here focuses much more on athletics and places them at a much higher priority than in schools overseas. The system bends to athletic schedules and favors athletes. This essentially leaves those who participate in other activities in second place.