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In Amanda Ripley’s “The Case Against High-School Sports” explains how high school sports are a big deal in the United States.  Ripley provides an example by giving out  a test of critical thinking in math. is the reason why the United States ranks 31st because students are more focused on sports than they are on education.  Ripley questions the role of schools being involved with organized sports and then students focus less on academics. Ripley explains the reason why South Korea, Shanghai, and Hong Kong are ranked the highest on the test is because these countries have a strong focus on academics.  Schools that are failing in education have tried multiple ideas to get education back up on the top priorities, such as, getting rid of all sports.  Premont’s plan was a success, with 80% of students passing their classes instead of the previous year’s 50% of students passing.  Spelman College students lost weight because the fitness program benefited the full student body instead of just 80 athletes. Lots of schools need to focus students on education THEN sports. The main point of all of this is that Ripley would argue that sports take away from the learning environment. Although according to Ripley sports are bad for the learning environment, others could argue that sports help students with their academics by making them get good grades so that they can play sports. Others would argue that sports are good for spirit building, and students getting to know one another.

The author explains that she is worried about the imbalance of schools emphasis on sports and academics, where they put sports first and academics later.  Ripley cited two schools that were trying to make changes by getting rid of sports they were Premont High School in Texas and Spelman College in Georgia.  Premont shut down all sports so their students would focus more on education, and Spelman College cut sports completely and instead put $1 million into a fitness program for the students.  Schools have multiple sports, and these sports are affecting students ability to learn. Amanda Ripley’s “The Case Against High-School Sports”  elucidates that schools are edging students to play sports and not focus on education, which can create a bad future for students.  In conclusion, Sports at looked at in many different ways, some good some bad, but in the end sports are sports no matter what view you have on them.