High school sports are an important part of cities and towns all across the United States. Choose
a current policy area from the following within the context of scholastic sport: eligibility;
amateurism; gender equity; participation by athletes with disabilities; alcohol, drug, and tobacco
use; or funding.
SMGT 623
Current Policy Area: Scholastic Sport Assignment Instructions
Overview High school sports are an important part of cities and towns all across the United States. Choose a current policy area from the following within the context of scholastic sport: eligibility; amateurism; gender equity; participation by athletes with disabilities; alcohol, drug, and tobacco use; or funding. An introduction to each of these topics is available at the end of Chapter 5 in the textbook.
Instructions Your Current Policy Area: Scholastic Sport Assignment must be completed based on the following criteria:
· At least 2 pages;
· 1-inch margins;
· Double-spaced;
· 12-point, Times New Roman font;
· At least 3 references using current APA format included where appropriate; and
· Clear biblical integration (more than including a Bible verse).
Include a title on the top line of the first page, and include your name. No other identifying information is needed. You must also include the reference information for each source in current APA format on a separate page.
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CURRENT POLICY AREAS
Eligibility
The policy area that is always in the spotlight is eligibility. Some of you may have attended a high school where an athlete was denied the opportunity to play for a particular reason – maybe their grades were not high enough or maybe they moved in from a different school district. Perhaps you knew a student who took an eligibility case to the legal system. First, you must remember that playing high school sport is not a right guaranteed by law. Attending school until you are a certain age is your right. Participating in interscholastic sport is a privilege, not a right (Czekanski et al., 2019; Menke v. Ohio High School Athletic Association, 1981). However, although athletic participation is a privilege, it cannot be taken away arbitrarily. Sport governing bodies must still ensure due process is followed in any decisions they make about eligibility otherwise they may end up in litigation (Czekanski et al., 2019). Remember, state associations are state actors, and while their actions are not supposed to violate anyone’s constitutional rights, sometimes they do, resulting in litigation. Eligibility discussions most often relate to questions of ethics, academic eligibility, public versus private schools, transfer rules, and age limits for participation.
Eligibility Rules
Eligibility rules in general generate some interesting ethical questions. For example, a high school athletic association may have certain rules about “No pass, no play.” While this seems acceptable on the surface, what is the effect on academically struggling students for whom sport is the primary motivation to stay in school? If that chance is taken away, are they more likely to drop out? Although transfer rules are based on the educational premise that a student learns best by staying in the same school for an academic career, should students be “punished” for family problems that may result in relocation to another school district? It is important to make sure the outcome of such rules is, in fact, as fair as possible to the student.
Academic Eligibility
All high school associations have policies governing academic eligibility. The reason for this is clear. High school sports are meant to be an extension of a student’s educational experience.
According to the Kentucky High School Athletic Association (KHSAA, 2019, p. 6), a number of reasons exist for academic eligibility standards:
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Kentucky High School Athletic Association
Interscholastic athletic activity programs are an extension of the classroom, and academic standards help ensure the balance between participation in the activity and appropriate academic performance;
Interscholastic athletic and activity programs assist in the educational development of all participants;
Academic standards promote the objective of graduation from the institution and that student participants are truly representing the academic mission of the institution;
Overall, academic standards promote educational standards, underscore the educational values of participating in activities, encourage appropriate academic performance, and allow the use of interscholastic participation as a motivator for improved classroom performance;
Participants in the interscholastic athletic program are expected to be student-athletes;
High school sports are not intended to be a “farm team” for college and professional sports, but a complementary activity to the total learning experience;
Standards shall be in place to ensure that in addition to sports participation, a student shall be on schedule to graduate with his/her class; and
As class systems change (block and other alternative schedules), these requirements shall be continually reviewed to make certain that all students are meeting the necessary requirements to graduate from high school and be positive contributors to society.
A focus of discussion in this area is the so-called “No pass, no play” rule (Hayward, 2014). While the specifics differ from state to state, basically this type of rule makes players ineligible to participate for a set number of weeks if they do not meet certain academic standards. For example, students who fail a class in a given term may be ineligible to play sports the following term. Proponents indicate that such rules keep students focused on academics rather than athletics. For athletes seeking college scholarships, these rules also help them stay on a course to meet the NCAA Eligibility Center standards. Opponents of such rules mention that for some students, being able to play sports is what motivates them to stay in school, and without the opportunity to participate, those students may drop out. Opponents also point out that this rule may lead students to choose a less challenging curriculum so they do not put themselves in academic jeopardy. Some states and districts are now revisiting and modifying these rules.
This matter is determined in a simple way in most European countries.
Being enrolled in and regularly attending classes in a school of secondary education is a primary criterion for eligibility. The second category is age, which cannot of course be waived. When these two conditions are met, the student is eligible to participate in school sport competitions.
(Hums et al., 2011, p. 105)
Transfer Rules
High school associations have transfer rules for various reasons. Transferring schools is generally not easy on high school-age students, either educationally or socially. If you have ever transferred schools, you may remember the difficulties of making new friends, having new teachers, and learning new rules. Transferring raises questions such as will my GPA transfer with me or how will transferring high schools impact my records when I apply for college? Transfer rules work to maintain the ideal of students starting and ending their academic careers in the same school.
Transfer rules have the goal to keep students from moving from school to school for nonfamily reasons. In other words, these rules are in place to keep students from simply enrolling in whichever school