Purpose of High School Athletics

What are things that are positives and negatives of high school athletics? Do good high school athletic programs foster academic success?

Some positives of high school athletics are that it is something for students to do after school. It is also good exercise for students and it can teach them leadership skills, which they can use later in their life. It can teach them how to work in a team and work to fix problems that the team might be having. Athletics helps students build character by going through the good and bad times of the sports. Some negatives of high school athletics is that sometimes students can get behind in a class or get bad grades. It can also cause stress for the students. It also takes a lot if time out of your day because school gets out at 3:20, then you don't get out of practice till like 6 pm. I think if a school has really good athletic programs, then the academic success would not be as good because the students would focus more on the sport than on school.

Should we pay college athletes? What do you think?

I don't think college athletes should be paid because the sport they play is not their job. Most athletes get scholarships and got to school for free. The college athletes are students first, not athletes first. They are amateurs, not professionals. They go to school to get an education and degree. If you pay the athletes the sport would be like a job and they won't try in school or worry if they are going to the pros. The athletes receive free meals from the university and get coaches to help teach them about their sport and about life. If college athletes were paid it wouldn't seem like they were students. I know that the athletes make a lot of money for the university, but the university spends a lot of that money on the athletes to make the school and athletic programs better for the athletes.