Boris A. Chernick: Sports don’t improve education

Regarding the July 26 sports article “The ties between wealth and winning”: I simply do not get it. I do not understand why anyone thinks this is remotely important.

As far as I know, the United States is unique in the amount of resources and attention it devotes to school sports, an activity that by any rational standard is a frill. The article trots out the old argument that sports help kids stay in school, but I find that unconvincing.

We could also motivate a kid to stay in school by offering free candy, but what would that have to do with the central mission of education?

For that matter, The News & Observer is not helping matters. Week after week you publish a flood of articles about high school athletic stars. I cannot recall the last time I saw a front-page article devoted to the winner of a high school intellectual event. Or should I say “nerd event,” because bright nonathletes constantly get ridiculed in popular “culture.” Where are our priorities?

This story was originally published August 1, 2015 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Boris A. Chernick: Sports don’t improve education."