Not dodge ball!
Posted on 02/19/2007 5:45:02 AM PST by Zakeet
Conventional wisdom holds that sports builds character, but a new survey suggests U.S. high school athletes cheat more than classmates who don't play sports.
The two-year study of high school athletes -- conducted by the Josephson Institute of Ethics in Los Angeles -- also found growing acceptance of cheating as a way to gain competitive advantage, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Michael Josephson, president and founder of the institute, told the newspaper the report -- based on interviews with 5,275 high school athletes across the United States -- found that many coaches are "teaching our kids to cheat and cut corners."
"There is reason to worry that the sports fields of America are becoming the training grounds for the next generation of corporate and political villains and thieves," said Josephson.
(Excerpt) Read more at upi.com ...
Therefore, I fearlessly predict that this new cause will soon take its rightful place among such worthy liberal missions as promoting gay marriages, adopting the Kyoto Accord, and banning red meat.
"Michael Josephson"
Always picked last....
LOL. And probably wasn't the best dodge ball player either.
The only reason I see sports not building character is the coaches. They set the tone for the team. I've seen too many coaches let bad, obnoxious and unsportsman like behavior go without dealing with it.
A "Milhouse," no doubt.
Liberals cannot understand sports.
Ooops, and refs, too. They have to make the calls equitably for BOTH teams. When refs give away the game because of calling either calling everything on one team or nothing on the other, it cuts into the character building. I watched a game where the other team so deliberately injured one player that he HAD to leave the field because he could hardly stand. They were not called on any of it.
As for "corporate villains", it is not likely- to get to these corporate echelons requires an IQ above and beyond that found in an athlete. Exceptions are possible, but rare.
Not dodge ball!
If he only interviewed the kids, how does he know what the coaches told them? So-and-so told me such-and-such is not a very scientific methodology.
And if he only interviewed athletes, on what basis does he claim they cheat more than those who don't play sports?
True, but "Role models" like Koby Bryant, Magic Johnson, Michael Irvin,... have done more to destroy the task of building the character of young athletes than any liberal could ever do.
Football is tough....
They can't because at it's basis is competition which means there are winners and losers. The left considers those circumstances to be unfair.
The foul nursery of eeevil capitalists! Yes!
Thanks! BTW, they still play dodgeball in our town's schools.
British football- soccer. And it was the goalie they were beating up. It didn't happen in one incident but over the whole first half. There were at least four separate incidences that were clearly seen from the stands.
The only reason I see sports not building character is the coaches. They set the tone for the team. I've seen too many coaches let bad, obnoxious and unsportsman like behavior go without dealing with it.
&&
Exactly. Playing as part of a team, learning to build physical and mental skills, and self-discipline are among the top character-building benefits of athletic competition, but such virtues can be twisted by the wrong kind of leadership, as you say.
I have seen coaches help kids game the system academically just to keep them eligible. This is what makes cheating seem acceptable to the kids.
I don't know about mine. I graduated high school 12 years ago and we were still playing it. Heck it was the main event of our winter carnival.
Gee, no kidding.
OK, who funds these clowns and what's their agenda?
Gratutitous, stupid comment retracted. I was responding in general, not specificallyto the article content.
Same for my son. We homeschooled him and he swam for the fall and winter with the *Y*. A week after swim season was over, I could see a difference in his personality. I'm convinced that MANY of the behavior problems we see in kids today could be remedied with enough physical activity. They need to burn it off.
Our military academies are filled with Scholar Athletes as well as many of our High Schools and Colleges....
If you take note, there are very few students on the "Dean's List" but many are athletes.....
Now behave or I'll give you a wedgie in our next gym class.......
Competitive sports not only build character but also reveal it.
Pay attention to how an athlete behaves during the competition and after it. Do they gloat, trash talk or sulk? Or do they compete fiercely and respect their opponent during and after the competition?
I'm quite sure that those athletes who associate with the "C Word" reveal a lot more class, integrity and honesty as they compete.
Michael Josephson.
Try visiting charactercounts.org, if you would like to learn more. He was part of the Bush-Cheney transition team.
The headline is misleading. Sports does help build character. Big-time scholastic sports programs and their coaches and boosters do not.
The only athletes I've ever heard of had the intelligence of baboons. What would make me think there are many exceptions?
My son swam also...He always said he did his best in school during swim season because it forced him to make good use of his time...with swimming before and after school and meets 2-3 times a week I was always amazed at all the kids on the team. They all did well in school.
I agree kids need an outlet for the energy .
Having coached rec council sports when my kids were younger (10-12 years ago) ago, my perspective a bit different from yours. I saw way too much evidence of parents living their lives through their kids, or putting undue pressure on the kids to succeed, or (the worst, imo) the ridiculous yelling at players/coaches/refs when things don't go their way. It is pervasive, and to think that the kids don't walk away with negative lessons learned is crazy.
I don't know where you live, but I'm in the so-called People's Republic of Maryland, and high school sports are bigger than ever here. More county schools using more taxpayer money to build stadiums with lights, so they can charge admission. I'm not seeing anyone trying to kill off the moneymakers.
Still, sometimes you get coaches and or parents who are most crude, and they teach that.
One year my twins were playing soccer -- maybe 13-14 year olds. There was a player -- the son of the coach -- on the other team who throughout the game was taking cheap shots -- late hits on the goalie, trips, kicking the player and not the ball. The kid was mean, and whenever the kid-refs would call anything the bad player's father would bark there ears off, and no excuses for language.
I talked to my bigger twin who was playing fullback. Geesh, I said, we've got to do something about that kid before he hurts someone. There was a play were the goalie was drawn out and my son had to cover the goal. The meanie drove right into him and plowed him down. He got up, stepped right to the meanie, and walloped him in the gut. The other coach went ballistic, but the crowd had already started clapping, and my son got a yellow card.
When my son came off, I shook his hand. Good job, I said. The bullies got the message.
2 out of 3 ain't bad. Irvin and Bryant are absolutely character killers. Magic, otoh, has at least tried to do something positive since he left bball.
True, but his past dalliances are a hard thing to ignore.
Maybe not. But it's worked very well for "Global Warming."
Amazing!
An entire institute of Little League right-fielders.
Which weapon?
Haven't seen anyone else who fenced on here. I fenced epee a couple years in college, gave it up for 14 years, but started again a couple years ago.
People may nitpick the article but clearly the magical benefits of organized sports are probably oversold and certainly there's an overemphasis on CERTAIN sports in schools, definitely in certain parts of the country.
This just in:
Survey: Church-going Does Not Build Character
"Conventional wisdom holds that church-going builds character, but a new survey suggests church-goers steal more money out of the collection trays than people who don't go to church."
Of course there will be cheating in sports - there's more opportunity to cheat, because there's more competition. That doesn't therefore mean that sports, and church-going, don't build character.
You need to get out more....
All High School and Colleges sponsor a Scholar Athlete program.....
For example, here's a link to the State of Michigan's program:
http://www.mhsaa.com/recognition/sahome.htm
Sports can play to the lowest academic denominator but can also be the home of some of our brightest.......
BTW, you never addressed in my previous post the US Service Academies like Annapolis.....For acceptance, both academic and sports prowness is required...
One atomic wedgie coming your direction....
The goalie is supposed to be proteced. The other players are not supposed to hurt him. The ref was remiss for not dealing with it. So that results in what your son did.
I would have cheered, too.
The problem sports is someone HAS to win.
I was a scholarship student and football player for a tony, very liberal private school (K-12). When I went to my 30th anniversary reunion about 5 years ago, I found out they had stopped football the year after I left. (I wasn't THAT good).
I told the Alumni rep that this was the last time I would contribute to the scholarship fund. As much as I appreciate my education, I will not support the training of Euro-weeny socialist soccer players.
I don't know if Academy athletics is the best thing to bring up in this thread to support your argument...
Have been several scandals involving them, and there was the massive scandal regarding the Army team in the 1950s and academic cheating - it's clear that for those great teams they were admitting students to play football that couldn't hack it academically and the cheating was pretty institutionalized.
Liberals do not PLAY sports because they are unable to compete in any aspect of life.
The Duke rape is one of the most socially revealing pictures of America that I can think of. On one hand, the injustice is incredible. Because these boys were rich and white and because the prosecutor was a Democrat hungry for office, they were indicted for crimes that NEVER occurred. But it also reveals the character of the Duke lacrosse team. That does not make them criminals, but it only reveals that if you are looking for young people with character you are just as likely to find it among the scuffling part time work forces at McDonald's and Walmart than you are at an athletic program at a "prestigious" university. To think that they would pay so much money for a fat piece of trash like the accuser, questions their judgment as well as their character. They way I read it is that our courts are broken, our political system attempts to make the criminal the innocent victim, and our universities are absolutely toxic waste, even ones like Duke that a looks a lot better on paper than reality.
Now, you can have excellent coaches that instill those laudable qualities in their players, but nothing intrinsic to the game will do it.
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