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        In the article, “The Case Against High-School Sports”, Amanda Ripley demonstrates her concern that high-school sports are cutting into the academics of students. In the text she uses many examples from a broad spectrum of sources that support her claim.  Being a high-school student at this time I would have to disagree with Ripley and her writings in this article. High-school sports are the most important part of a student athlete’s high-school career. During a sports season, many students are in a more positive mood throughout the course of the school day. In any learning environment it is important to have a positive attitude because students will listen more when they are in a decent mood, where as if a student is having a bad day they zone out and do not absorb any information taught to them in the class. I disagree with Ripley’s points on sports in “Pasco County, Florida” and “Texas” because the educational systems down south are very different from the schools in the New England region and weight their academic and educational systems differently. 

I also disagree with what the author Is saying because students athletes tend to succeed more when they are preparing for, or are in a sports season. In our school they allow you two failing grades. Once you fail two classes then you can no longer play that sport. In other schools the penalty can be as severe as if you have any failing classes then you cannot participate in sports related activity or clubs. In a nut shell students will work very hard to make sure they can play the sport they love because chances are sports are the only reason they came to school that morning. Some students strictly rely on sports to get themselves through the day. That leads me to my next point.

From my school experience I can easily say sports help me get through a long day consisting of essays and long tests. For some it is coffee that keeps them going, others it's an extremely caffeinated  energy drink, and for most athletes it is the knowing that in 7 hours they are going to be touching the field. Students will then tend to succeed more or at least be more willing to learn because they use their game later in the afternoon as motivation to perform well both in the classroom and on the field. My concluding argument for Ms. Ripley is sports bring communities together as one, not math classes. If you have to spend more money on a football player than a math student, so be it. That's a price the school should be willing to pay in order to get their community involved with the school . Last time I checked you don't make any money off concessions in a math class..