Do Sports Keep High Schools From Actually Being Schools?

A lawmaker in North Carolina wants a bill that would force public schools to shut down their athletic programs if the rest of the school is filled with clumsy idiots.

Under his proposed rule, "interscholastic athletics" would be banned at any school where "more than half of the students score below the 50th percentile on end-of-grade or end-of-course tests for at least two straight years."

This will never pass, of course, because ... you know ... "Friday Night Lights" and everything. Still, it does raise an interesting question. I've been around more than one school district where academics seemed to always take a back seat to the athletic department. But since you generally have to be a good student to participate in extra curricular activities in the first place, this rule would really just be punishing the best students. (And taking away their biggest incentive to even try.)

So should schools actually have to teach ... stuff ... before they can open up the gym? Remember, we're not talking about universities, because no one goes to college to learn.

Bill would send sports at low-performing schools into sudden death [WRAL]