An Analysis of Coach Carter and High School Sports

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As a student enters the gym doors of Smith-Cotton, one can see various trophies from our athletic teams, along with our JROTC National Championship banners that hang up from the walls. One can see by the quality of our gym that our sports are a main part of our school, but as one wanders on into the hallways of our school, he can see how dull they are. By the plainness of the walls, there seems to be no life; however, in the JROTC hallway you see the trophy cabinet full of multiple national trophies, and as you venture on you get to see images of what these teams do, along with the bulletin board that shows newspaper articles of the success of the program. But as you continue to walk toward the other side of the classroom, one can only see some bulletin boards that do not have many things on them except for some advertising. Just by observing this, a new student can see that our school has a great deal to do with sports, but what he cannot see is how well this school performs academically. As we walk down the halls, you rarely see a student’s work displayed. So one can assume what James Coleman thinks to be correct, that “altogether, the trophy case would suggest to the innocent visitor that he was entering an athletic club, not an educational institution." This is a dilemma among many schools that is sometime not dealt with adequately. (qtd. in Bowen) There are some films that only display the glory of being on a team and winning championship titles; there are hardly ever any films that display the problem of placing sports over academics. A film that actually attempts to display the issue is Coach Carter, where Carter encounters a problem when he realizes the poor academic performance of his team members. Carter then makes it h... ... middle of paper ... ...k Times. The New York Times, 7 April 2014. Web. 16 April 2014. Lewin, Tamar. “At Many Top Public Universities, Intercollegiate Sports Come at an Academic Price” The New York Times. The New York Times, 16 Jan. 2013. Web. 11 April 2014. Luzer, Daniel. “ Athletics over Academics: An Improper Education for State Universities” Washington Monthly. Washington Monthly, 9 Feb. 2013. Web. 11 April 2014. Patkotak, Elise. “Academics, Not Athletics, Should Be High School Priority” Anchorage Daily News. Anchorage Daily News, 18 Nov. 2008. Web. 16 April 2014. Ripley, Amanda. “The Case Against High-School Sports” The Atlantic. The Atlantic, 18 Sept. 2013. Web 14 April 2014. Wolverton, Brad. “Report Describes Big Gaps in Athletic vs. Academic Spending” The Chronicle of Higher Education. The Chronicle, 16 Jan. 2013. Web. 14 April 2014 Woods, Randall. Personal Interview. 7 April 2014.

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