Athletics and the Effect on Academics Essay

The purpose of this interrogation aim is to desexualise if outside activities much(prenominal) as sports has a positive or negative affect on lowly senior high shallow-pitched learners donnish achievement. I volition plow past question that has been conducted and their cases as well articles written on the topic. I ordain in like manner discuss my investigate method and how it go away be implemented in order to discern how previous search comp ars to my naturalize. This research will be conducted with students in the 6th through the 8th grade.As a t severallyer and a coach I have wondered if thither is any correlativity mingled with students donnish success while they were plowsh atomic number 18 of a sports program. I know that as a former student-athlete in junior high and high school I was motivated to assign a certain grade direct in order to go into in any type of sport. I recently attended my word of honors p atomic number 18nt meeting for his fre shman basketball team and wise to(p) that according to IHSA rules a student underside fail two classes and exempt participate in their sport.That is a topic of discussion for another condemnation but it did spark my curiosity to experience if my students at the junior high level worked harder to stay eligible during their sport season and not so hard during their off season. It should be stated that at my school a student has to maintain a 70% to participate and this is checked on a weekly basis. It would seem that incessantly since sports has become part of our schools environs in that respect has been a debate about the subjects of athletic enfolding on academic achievement.I believe now more than ever it has become a more relevant issue because of the budget restraints in our countrys schools. The school boards often find it easy to push aside athletic programs because they do not see the value it has in the academic arena. It is important for our administrators to kno w these effects of play on academics before they would settle to cut or retain these athletic programs. This particular research proposal would focus on junior high students that are both manful and female at J. W. Eater in Rantoul Illinois.Our demographics are about every bit split surrounded by both Caucasian and African American students, the African American student being slight higher, with a smaller share of Hispanics. It should also be noted that there are a high number, close to 80%, of these students whose families fall below the poverty line therefrom there is a high number of nippers that are on the surplus or reduced lunch intention. In addition to the research that will be conducted at Eater Junior High there will also be some information from other articles and studies that have been through in research journals.I feel these articles and studies will provide a clearer picture as to the positive effect of athletic mesh and academic achievement. I set in mo tion an article that supports the theory that athletic conflict can help at-risk students and other students who have academic problems. Since we have several at-risk students because of our demographics in Rantoul this article seem to relate. In this article it states that educators believe that athletic troth reduces the chance of school dropout by approximately forty percent.It argues that adulterous participation decreases this chance because it gives those at-risk students a chance to create positive connections to the school system. contact in these activities was perceived by educators to support these at-risk students by maintaining, enhancing and strengthening the student to school connection (Holloway, J. H. 2000). Although we dont have the dropout problem as say our high school, athletics is a connection to the next level of education and can provide motivation to stay in school.A research article I found that involves utilise a questionnaire, as I intend to use with my research proposal, measures academic achievement between athletes and non-athletes on the 8th grade level (Stegman, M. & Stephens, L. 2000). Both the athletes and the non-athletes were invited to participate and individually was provided with a questionnaire. Both groups also gave the researchers permission to view their academic scores. They found that the results showed the students who participated in sports had the higher academic scores versus those who chose not to participate in sports.Although the sample size wasnt that large the results tend to lean in favor of athletics enforcing academics. Another gaffe I found was elicit in that it examined over 25,000 students along with their teachers and parents (Jordan, W. 1999). The researchs author, Will Jordan, shows how the results luff out that African American students have a higher order of academic achievement as a whole when they are in involved in extracurricular activities such as sports. The only progress to back to this research is that it only involves African Americans, however Mr.Jordon does note that previous research did show similar results for other races that were researched.The majority of its data is acquire from the National Educational Longitudinal Study, and this is used to measure the data against a system that is already in place to decide how effective extracurricular activities are to a students academic success. Another case that was conducted by Thomas Herbert centers on the study of 8 different student athletes that had been identified as gifted in junior high for cxx days (Herbert, T. 1995). As my own son was in the gifted program this was also an interesting study.By observing and using questionnaires, and looking at their academic scores, the conclusion Mr. Herbert came to was that they all had a strong academic book along with positive self-esteem. Mr. Herberts rationale is that they gained these positive attributes through their conflict in playing competitive sports. Just like in Mr. Jordons research, Mr. Herberts research also had limitations. In this case these students were from the inner city, therefore it would not be an accurate example of society as a whole or in comparison to J.W. Eater.These are three research cases that weigh in favor of athletics helping promote academics. except in order to be able to conduct a research proposal that is fair you have to look at both sides and there are some articles that shows some negative correlations between academics and sports. One such article was written by Mr. Glenn Cook that is based on his foregoing experiences working with student athletes. Mr. Cook suggests that todays society has laid more emphasis on athletics than they do academics (Cook, G. 2003).He feels because of this shift, students are not having the academic success they would otherwise had if athletics wasnt involved. He feel that the students are not being pushed to achieve the most from their academics because the y are being given a pass so to speak because of the cadence involved with their particular sport. A Mr. William Bainbridge writes a similar article fetching the stance that athletics is hindering the academic part of school (Bainbridge, W. 2004). His focalise of view is that the culture is so enamored with the likes of athletes such as Kobe Bryant or Dwight Howard who skip college and go straight to the NBA.He feels this is a deterrent for the kid who deficiencys to go to college and graduate. Although I see the points in both Mr. Cook and Mr. Bainbridge opinions, they are just that, an opinion. An actual research article that helps support their opinion was conducted by Ms. Leah Bucknavage and a Mr. Frank Worrell where their research shows a negative correlation between athletics and academics (Bucknavage, L. & Worrell, F. 2005). The research indicated that some students who participated in an intramural sport really showed a decline in academic achievement.It should be noted that a limitation to this research is that it is based on an intramural sport as opposed to a regular sports team that requires tryouts in order to set the team and participate which requires more time and commitment. Within the majority of research I found supporting the positive effects between athletics and academics, it could easily be argued that athletics helps promote academic achievement in students. Through my research proposal I would hope to find that my results held with the post quo.In my research proposal I will be using student questionnaires as this seems to a popular method used by other researcher into this topic. I would also be looking at the students grades in all subject areas pre and post their participation in their sport, along with their ISAT scores from when the started participating as early as the 6th grade through their 8th grade career. I would want to see, at the minimum, that their grades were passing and consistent over this period of time. I plan on looking at J. W. Eater junior high on a grade-by-grade level. The esearch will be done in the form of questionnaires for each grade that the students will have to fill out themselves. The survey legal document used in this research will be designed to determine whether or not the activities that junior high students choose have an effect on their academic achievement and will be based on a four point Likert-scale, with 1 mean I admit 2 meaning I somewhat agree 3 meaning I somewhat disagree and 4 meaning, I disagree. A personal data sheet that also request demographic data will be included along with the survey.These demographic answers will be reported in percentages and charts. The questions in the non-demographic part of the survey will by and large be about their attitudes towards school and learning in general. They will also be asked if they currently play, have played or plan on playing a sport in junior high. The questionnaire will see if there is a correlation between participating in athletics and their expectation of themselves. Because the questionnaire will have both convergent and divergent questions I will be able to get a better result as to the correlation of athletic participation and the self-expectations.Their current grades and ISAT scores will also be recorded. The goal is to compare the scores, both pre and post, and questionnaire results with those of the non-extracurricular participant and see if the data supports the hypothesis that athletics promotes academics. As a potential incoming administrator this is information that I would like to have access to in my potential school in order to determine the value of sports or extracurricular activities. Although I feel there is a positive correlation between sports and academics, I have to put the educational part of school first and foremost.If I were to see that the academic part of my students schooling is being affected by extracurricular activities then I would have to harbour adjustment to those activities. This could be done in cutting an activity all told or creating other opportunities to help the student-athlete be successful. I think this render has reinforced my belief that if set up properly within the school environment, then there is a positive correlation between extracurricular activities and academics. I think its up to each administrator to do what is in the best interest for his or her school and students.