My old school has been replaced by a sports facility with some classrooms on the side

I know this has been discussed here before but recent events brought it home. My high school was built in the late 50s and I graduated in the late 60s - over 50 years ago. I understand that the nature of what is taught, and how it is taught, has changed in that time. And a building that old is going to have crumbling infrastructure, bad pipes, etc. It might even be unsafe.

So that town (I moved away a loong time ago) has recently decided it is time to replace the school building, as well as do upgrades on several other schools in the town. So they are building a brand new building, next door to the old one, to open for classes this fall. 2021 was the last class to graduate from the old building. Demolition started last month. What really got me fired up about this was the picture of a backhoe knocking a hole in the side of a wall and the caption read "Demolition begins on the freshman gymnasium". What, freshman have cooties so have their own gym?? We only had the one gym when I was there.

So what do they do with that land where the old building was? Put up more sports facilities of course. So now the entire plot of land contains A football stadium, with concession stands and a track around it, Ten tennis courts, A baseball diamond, A softball diamond, Two soccer fields, Parking lots.

Then inside the 400,000 square foot 'academic' building there are: a gymnasium holding three basketball courts, a separate 'varsity' basketball court with seating, and a natatorium with ten lanes (the old school had a 6 lane natatorium). Among the indoor non-athletic but "group activity" facilities are a 1500 seat auditorium (slightly small than the one in the old school) and a separate "black box theater" which I guess is popular now

The bill, including improvements to junior high and grade schools comes to about a quarter of a billion dollars. All this in a town with a population of just over 30,000 and a high school enrollment of just over 2,000. The athletic facilities are also used by the town on weekends.

I have read that having an athletic program in high school does two things: on the plus side, it increases retention: more students go on to graduate. On the negative side, it results in lower SAT scores. High schools in Europe and Asia have tiny athletic programs by comparison, and higher test scores. In Japan the schools still have marching bands but they just do not perform at football games.

I was in band too and completely understand the benefits of group activities, especially cultural ones, like a drama program. But I wonder about the priorities and the allocation of resources. Too much bread and circus and not enough becoming better citizens?

Submitted July 18, 2021 at 12:22PM by greenbluewhite https://ift.tt/3rmrBOm