Our education ranks 20th in the world for math, science and reading. Countries that are better than us do not put as much emphasis on sports. I think our children are no different from students in other countries and are fully capable of being the best in the world if they put as much effort into school as they do into sports. We need to realise that school is an environment for education, not for training athletes. If students want to participate in sports activities, they are free to do so outside of school. Therefore, educational authorities ought to stop wasting public funds on something like sports and replace them with more essential courses in the curriculums. 

Being homeschooled, I missed one thing the most – sports. Although the guidelines set up by the local school authorities clearly stated that physical education was a vital part of the curriculum, I wasn’t allowed to take part in public school sports classes. Now my kids are homeschooled and they are also deprived of the opportunity to use swimming pools, tennis courts or sports halls. That’s totally unacceptable. I pay taxes into the school district where we live just like everybody else, and that money helps fund a variety of sports programmes. It’s about time homeschooled kids took advantage of them. 

I’ve been playing basketball since high school and I hope to turn professional next year. I realise it means earning quite a lot, but it gets on my nerves when I constantly hear that there is too much money in professional sports. But whose fault is it that people are willing to buy a ticket to a basketball game for 500 dollars just to have fun? It must be said loud and clear that it’s the fans who continue to pay huge sums of money for plain recreation. If they were unwilling to do so, professional players wouldn’t be swimming with money. To me, winning a trophy for my school is as rewarding as playing in a professional team. 

I’m sure many students would love to see extreme sports included in their school curriculums since they want to release stress and anxiety and feel an adrenaline rush. However, they fail to take the downsides into account. When schools make white-water rafting or canyoneering available to students, they’ll also take on the responsibility for any accidents that might occur. The insurance needed to have such activities at school would be significantly more expensive than what is paid for typical sports. And most schools can’t afford it. I believe there are more important things schools should spend money on.