Do Competitive Sports Contribute to Education - Term Paper Example

Do Competitive Sports Contribute to Education? Games are a part of every school going child and teenagers. There have been many studies concerning the psychological and social effects of games on school going boys and adolescents. Games have now moved online, and there are internet games that the kids love. The games have received much attention, and people discuss the positive and adverse effects of the games on the day to day lives of our kids and their health. The purpose of the article is to appraise the literature review concerning the psycho-social aspects of games and its effects critically. The results from the consideration of the literature show that games affect the education of school going kids both in a positive and negative manner. Key Words Psychological Social Teenagers Games Education Literature Review There is little to no doubt the impact and importance of games in the lives of school going kids. Playing and participating in different sports and activities is part of the lives of the children (Morgan and Cotten 2003). There is little that we know about any negative health impact that results from kids participating in school co-curricular activities especially games (Asociación, 2013). High school sports, as well as varsity sports, are a significant part of Americas system of civilization (Charles, Marsh, Milne, Morris, Scott and Shamsan, 2008). The athletes receive much attention and admiration from their fellow students for participating in the activities (Auxter, Zittel and Roth, 2010). Asociación RUVID says that the involvement of students in sports improves their performance in school. There have been questions concerning the implications of sports in a persons life (Ahn and Fedewa, 2011). There is little doubt that participating in sports is good for peoples health, including children and teenagers (Greene, 2013). Sports influence the behavior of adolescents as they become disciplined and responsible in every activity they participate in because of the involvement of sports in their lives (Darling, 2005). Sports are a leisure activity among teenagers that help keep them away from trouble (Caplan, 2007). Modern teenagers and children have resulted in online gaming as it has become familiar with the availability of the internet everywhere and the growth of technology (Block, 2008). Online gaming has become popular as it utilizes the availability of internet connection and multiple players. The kids have an addiction to the games and no longer participate in the actual games on the field (Kormas, Critselis and Tsitsika 2011). There has been no proof suggesting any negative impact of adolescents involved in online activities and interactions (Fleming, 2006). Digital gaming in the excess has been proposed, however, to provide suicidal and anxiety thoughts among the youths, according to experts (Chamberlain, George, Golden, Walker, and Benton, 2010). Online gaming has a lot of negative psychosocial and psychological impact on the teenagers (Przybylski, 2014). Addiction to online gaming has made teenagers have anti-social, and it is one of the antisocial behaviors among the teens (Lam and Peng 2010). Online gaming is increasingly becoming a source of leisure for adolescents and young adults (DCMS, 2013). The article will appraise the literature review from the sources and determine the impact of competitive sports to education. Methodology There has been an obsession with high school and college athletes for several years in America. The obsession was first noticed after World War II when America became a superpower nation. The country had to maintain a dominant sports system to match its status. There has been a popular belief resulting from this that suggests that the athletes influence the education system in a positive way (Auxter, Zittel and Roth, 2010). There has been a survey carried out to find out how parents feel about sports and its impact. The results are mixed but most parents leaning on the negative edge (Fleming, 2006). Due to the economic hurdles, people are cutting off leisure activities including sports. There are many parents who have made requests to the government to cut off the finance that go to sports activities that are expensive for the parents to maintain in the bad economic times (Ahn and Fedewa, 2011). The argument is that there is much money that goes into funding sports activities, whereas there is little to no results that come out from the sports activities. Some people argue that sports are not part of education or good results from students who participate in the activities (Morgan and Cotten 2003). There are social classes and perils that have an association with sports in high schools and universities. It is an adverse effect as division among the students goes up with this kind of activity. The entire goal of an education system is to provide knowledge to the students and also help them live well with other people. The negativity that comes from sports and its activities does not support education in any way. There are other parents and teachers, however, who seem to appreciate sports and its effect on education and the society as a whole (Asociación, 2013). Ana Capdevilla conducted her research on the impact of sports on education, and her main results were that students who are in schools that perform in sports activities perform better than the others. The study also has a suggestion that the influence of parents who are active in sports help their children perform in sports activities and perform better in school than they were performing before sports. The positive impact the students get from their parents when they participate in sports is helpful. Professors and tutors also play a significant role in ensuring their students are active and are part of a sporting event and sporting activities. Sporting among young people, especially young athletes helps them develop a habit and self-discipline in their activities and class work. They concentrate more on their studies as their interests grow with their love for the game (Chamberlain, George, Golden, Walker, and Benton, 2010). The attitude and time schedule of the studies of young athletes is remarkable as they try to perform better due to the discipline they already got from sporting activities. The students who initially did not participate in any sporting activity have to go through training as they try to be active physically. The changes also affect the students psychologically, and they need a systematic method for the introduction of different kind of games (Block, 2008). Online gaming is a different story, and it is not the same as the physical gaming and the effects are mostly negative. Teenagers prefer to participate in online gaming as part of their co-curricular activity. Results Results from the studies concerning games and their effects on education are different depending on the kind of games the students are doing. There are students whose primary focus is being an athlete, and they put most of their efforts in activities concerning sports. It is amazing that despite the athletes concentrating on the sports, their results in school are remarkable as they perform very well (Przybylski, 2014). The athletes have outstanding outcomes in their studies and this is attributed to the fact that they are disciplined and they are also time conscious. Parents feel they are using much money in sports, and the results from the sporting activities do not reflect positively. The kids’ participation in the sports is minimum, and they think the government and schools should reduce the cost when it comes to paying the money. Other parents say their kids get much destruction from sporting activities and do not show improvement in their school work. The suggestion from the parents is that sports should be put off from the school system, or it should be reduced as there is no benefit for their children. The parents that support the correlation between sporting activities and academic performance of studies have found out the long standing reason the results are positive. The parents believe that the academic performance of their kids is enhanced by having an opportunity to participate in sporting activities. The funding situation is not real for all the school districts in America. The funding is okay, and the parents are getting good feedback from their kids’ participation in sporting activities. The costs the parents are spending on the sporting activities have good results at the end of the day. Their children get the learning experience they need in the various sports discipline. The overall control of the teenagers also goes up when they are full athletes. There is importance when it comes to having sports in the school activities and education systems (Greene, 2013). Lack of sports in schools does not make sense at all as sports have many benefits. Online gaming behaviors do not have a positive effect on education at all. Professors attribute good grades in students as a result of participating in sporting activities. The level of concentration in class for an athlete is high, according to the professors. Professors and tutors agree that online gaming does not have any positive effect as students lag behind in their education. The students do not do their homework nor answer questions correctly when they spend a lot of their time on computers. The online gaming is arguably not a sport, but just a leisure activity to pass the time. The addition to the online games is the problem (Lam and Peng 2010). It is not a healthy way to spend one’s time. Parents also agree on the fact that online gaming is only bringing an adverse effect on their children and the concentration they should be having in school. There was also a study of the students who agree they have an addiction to online gaming and concentrate too much on the games, neglecting their studies (Kormas, Critselis and Tsitsika 2011). Online gaming does no good to the education systems in America. Discussion Children participating in sports activities provide a healthy way of living together with the increase of the child’s concentration in school and studies. Sports in schools are a pathway to childrens healthy development, and it has a recommendation by physicians all over the country. Participating in a variety of sports as a child and as a teenager is necessary for the psychological evolution of the child. Sports help reduce anxiety in people. The same effect the adults experience is the same also in children. Athletes have a high self-esteem as they see themselves as being accomplished. The boost in the self-esteem as an accomplished person is important when it comes to education (DCMS, 2013). The same esteem they get they bring to class, and it helps them get better grades. Their concentration is very high the same as their level in sporting activities. Children should start participating in sports at an early age as there is enough proof that sporting activities help boost the childrens level and their performance in school. The sociologist James Coleman was not a fan of sports while he was still in school. The man thought that sports were not enough for him, and he did not need to participate in any of the games. It turned out he was wrong about sports and their importance in a child’s growth. Unlike the popular belief, athletic prowess does not deem the light on academic prowess in any way. If anything, athletic prowess helps boost the academic prowess of any student. The students perform better in class if they experience a win when they go out to participate in games (Charles, Marsh, Milne, Morris, Scott and Shamsan, 2008). The excitement of being champions and winning reflect back to their academic work. James Coleman was wrong in his study as the only focus he had while carrying out the research was a focus on social capital and not on completion and the culture of athletes in striving to win (Darling, 2005). Winning mentality is carried forward from the field to the classroom as several studies in the different learning institutions show. The people that are making a point about sports not being a positive influence on the students do not base their statistics in the right path. The factors that they put across as the reason for sports failing do not make sense. Money is the major issue as most parents believe they spend much money in sporting activities. The money, however, has a lot of good results as the students do well in class. Video games and online gaming are the only negative kind of games teenagers and children should be doing (Caplan, 2007). Parents should ensure their children do not get addicted to the gaming activities as this will affect their learning outcome in school. Gaming is a leisure activity that should take up a persons least amount of time to do. There should be restrictions from parents to their children concerning gaming. Conclusion Competitive sports are an important part of any schools education process. Games and sports help nature the children physically, psychologically and socially. Boys and teenagers that participate in sports have a better outcome when it comes to understanding and concentrating in the classroom. There has been a continuous argument on the benefits of sports and its contribution in education. The analysis above about the importance of sports and sporting events prove that competitive sports contribute to education in more ways than one. References Ahn, S., and Fedewa, A.L (2011). “A Meta-analysis of the Relationship Between Children’s Physical Activity and Mental Health”. Journal of Pediatric Psychology Advance. Asociación RUVID. (2013). Sport at competitive level improves the academic performance of secondary education students. Science Daily. Retrieved May 12, 2015 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/06/130612093653.htm Auxter, D., Pyfer, J., Zittel, L., and Roth, K. (2010). Principles and Methods of Adapted Physical Education and Recreation (11th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill. Block, J. J. (2008). “Issues for DSM-V: internet addiction,” The American Journal of Psychiatry, vol. 165, no. 3, pp. 306–307 Caplan S. E. (2007). “Relations among loneliness, social anxiety, and problematic internet use,” Cyberpsychology and Behavior, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 234–242. Chamberlain, T., George, N., Golden, S. Walker, F. and Benton, T. (2010). “Tellus4 National Report”. DCSF RR218. Charles, M., Marsh, A., Milne, A., Morris, C. Scott, C., and Shamsan, Y. (2008). “Secondary School and Curriculum Staffing Survey 2007”. DCSF RR026. Darling N. (2005). Participation in extracurricular activities and adolescent adjustment: cross-sectional and longitudinal findings. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 34(5):493– 505. DCMS (2013). “Taking Part October 2011 to September 2012 Supplementary Child Report”. Statistical Release, April 2013. Fleming, A. (2006). Project Massive: The Social and Psychological Impact of Online Gaming. Pennsylvania: Carnegie Mellon University Press. Greene, J.P. (2013). “Does Athletic Success Come at the Expense of Academic Success?” Education Next Journal. Kormas, G, Critselis, E. and Tsitsika, A. (2011). “Risk factors and psychosocial characteristics of potential problematic and problematic internet use among adolescents: a cross-sectional study,” BMC Public Health, vol. 11, p. 595 Lam L. T. and Peng Z. W. (2010). “Effect of pathological use of the internet on adolescent mental health: a prospective study,” Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, vol. 164, no. 10, pp. 901–906. Morgan, C. and Cotten, S. R. (2003). “The relationship between Internet activities and depressive symptoms in a sample of college freshmen,” Cyberpsychology and Behavior, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 133–142. Przybylski, A.K. (2014). “Electronic Gaming and Psychosocial Adjustment”. Journal of American Pediatrics Read More