Kill The Sacred Cow

A School is an institution designed to allow and encourage students (or "pupils") to learn, under the supervision of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is commonly compulsory. In these systems, students progress through a series of schools. The names for these schools vary by country, but generally include primary school for young children and secondary school for teenagers who have completed primary education.

In addition to these core schools, students in a given country may also have access to and attend schools after primary and secondary education. University, vocational school, college or seminary may be available after (or in lieu of) secondary school.

Education: ed·u·ca·tion
Pronunciation: \ˌe-jə-ˈkā-shən\
Function: noun
Date: 1531
1 a: the action or process of educating or of being educated; also :
a stage of such a process
b: the knowledge and development resulting from an educational process
2: the field of study that deals mainly with methods of teaching and learning in schools.

Median Salary by Job - All K-12 Teachers (United States)

College; The American Association of University Professors, salaries for full-time faculty averaged $73,207. By rank, the average was $98,974 for professors, $69,911 for associate professors, $58,662 for assistant professors, $42,609 for instructors, and $48,289 for lecturers. Faculty in 4-year institutions earn higher salaries, on average, than do those in 2-year schools. In 2006-07, faculty salaries averaged $84,249 in private independent institutions, $71,362 in public institutions, and $66,118 in religiously affiliated private colleges and universities.

No one will argue the importance of getting an education as evidenced by the amount of money all of us pay in taxes to support education.

I have always said "people with a better education help all of us especially those of us with less education."

All that being said I think it is time to review our entire education system as well as the unnecessary costs associated with attending school.

In many areas of the country it starts in secondary school with a boys basketball team, a girls basketball team, a boys volleyball team and a girls volleyball team and some schools offer additional sports as well.

Keep in mind, other than football and wrestling almost all high school sport programs have two separate programs, one for boys and one for girls.

High school has wrestling, football, tennis, golf, track, soccer, volleyball, boys baseball, girls softball, basketball and probably some I missed.

College has the same as high school plus additional like swimming, bowling, skiing, rifle & cross country.

All of these sports at all levels have to have faculties, equipment and a staff of coaches for these programs. Obviously secondary and high school coaches and staff make less money than college coaches but nevertheless it amounts to a huge amount of money when it is all added up.

State run colleges rely on a large part of their budget from our taxes. Tuitions are high, making it impossible for some kids to attend college.

Let's review the coaching expense for just three college sports:

The average major-college football coach's salary is $1.4 million a year not counting benefits, incentives, subsidized housing or any of the perks they routinely receive.

Basketball: The million-dollar coach, once a rarity, is now the norm. Head coaches at the NCAA's top-level schools are making an average of $950,000 a year, not counting benefits, incentives, subsidized housing or any of the perks they routinely receive.

College Baseball: The top coach gets paid around 600k. And most coaches get paid 200-300k and some even less.

Keep in mind they also have huge coaching staffs and the athletic programs all have to have directors. Also remember there is two of every program, one for boys/men and one for the girls/women. That relates to enormous expenses.

When you look at the big picture and compare how many kids are involved in sports in school vs the number of kids in school you will see sports programs favor a minuscule amount of kids to justify the expense of the programs. Add to that the graduation rate of college athletes and the costs skyrocket.

It's time.

The sports programs need to be privatized and eliminated from all the public tax-funded schools.
The schools need to go back to the basics and allow and encourage students (or "pupils") to learn, under the supervision of teachers thus gaining an education.

It's time to get our priorities straight and kill the sacred sports cow.