According to a recent article from Cleaver and Johnston (2016) school sport is becoming big business. School sport has rapidly increased in pride and prestige, thus more resources are being poured into traditional sports like Rugby. It is estimated that some independent schools can have a rugby budget upwards to $200,000 comparable to a professional rugby set up. The issue with this is it becomes about the have’s and have not’s. Independent wealthy traditional single sex schools, with established sporting success and a network of old boys, will be able to fund this rapid rise in professional school sport. While the low decile school with limited budget will fall behind in the peaking order. The truth is the schools crave sporting success, you just have to look at a school’s website and the first article will be a sporting success story. New Zealand is built on a sporting culture and sport sells for many parents, it looks good on the website and is a powerful marketing tool for to attract fee paying students. But for all the pride and prestige, what is the effect on the students. With recruitment and scholarships becoming increasing available for the top talent from intermediate schools, are we setting these students up for a really good education or just setting them up to move into a professional sports program once they leave in year 13 with minimal education. In some cases students are staying an extra year once they finish year 13 so they can help their team win the National championship, while an extra year could be beneficial for some students to gain additional credits, the likelihood is the motivation for winning a championship title is the main reason for their return rather than the educational opportunity. This is where I believe schools need to get better in assuring the education aspect of schools, doesn’t fall behind what is achieved on the sports field. If we look at the United States school system for example, students academia is a condition of their scholarship, they have to be a certain level to keep having the opportunity to play in their sport and keep their scholarship so students don’t take it for granted (Pitts & Rezek, 2012). In school sport here, it would be interesting to see what conditions are put around students, who do receive scholarships as I guess that playing for the premier team probably outweighs their academic achievements. This is the crux of the issue and sometime to consider for future education, I see some benefits of giving a student, who has had a tough upbringing a chance to come to well-funded school through a scholarship opportunity, where they get the support to help them improve their education and sporting endevours through good coaching and training, however education needs to be the focus and the sporting opportunity needs to be the reward for the work they are putting in as one injury can ultimately derail sporting success but working towards a successful education experience can last you for life.
Cleaver, D., & Johnston, K. (2017, September 13). Different class: Inside the wonderful and sometimes troubling world of school sport. Retrieved November 5, 2019, from https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11749021.
Pitts, J. D., & Rezek, J. P. (2012). Athletic scholarships in intercollegiate football. Journal of Sports Economics, 13(5), 515-535.
Silly Point 