It’s time for our culture to dial down our obsession with sports and expand opportunities for personal development for students who have strong interests in other pursuits. It’s well known that, like athletics, participation in music, art, drama, and dance produces better academic outcomes and more well-rounded school graduates. These activities promote commitment to the school as a community; they can also lay the groundwork for a career in the arts. Performance careers generally depend on acquiring a foundation early in life. Many young people might miss out on a fulfilling career if they don’t have the opportunity to begin at a young enough age.
Whatever the claim might be, ranking athletics above music in the “return” ranking clearly indicates that athletics is more highly valued.
Johanna Rubba
Grover Beach
This article appears in Dec 18-25, 2025.
The obsession with organized sports is absolutely insane. Our economy is collapsing and like in ancient Rome, we’re given circuses, (expensive) fast food, legal weed, alcohol, pop culture, gambling apps, prediction markets, and mumble rap as a distraction. At some point, Americans will be too hungry to attend sporting events, we’ll be too poor to fix our cars required to attend the games, and since there are no jobs that pay living wages anymore, no one will even bother going to college.