No
When talking about high school athletics, there are a few different topics that strike a chord with me. One of those topics is whether or not home-schooled children should be allowed to be involved with high school athletics.
Now, I do not agree with this. Why should someone who doesn’t go to a school to be allowed to play on their athletic teams? If they want to play on the certain team at the high school, then they should sit down and have a talk with their parents about not being home-schooled anymore.
This way, they will gain more of a personal life outside of the realm of their own household, and the kid would be able to play the sport they love.
Also, this could be a way in which high schools could, in some way, recruit their own players. If a certain high school coach knows about home-schooled kids who happen to be good at a certain sport, then they could go and get that player to play on their team. I lump this in with the same category of private schools having sports teams because they can do the exact same thing.
Recruiting at the high school level is wrong and many coaches have gotten in trouble for it. So why should we let high school coaches get away with basically the same thing?
In short, if a home-schooled child wants to play on a high school level athletic team, then I believe they should attend the high school of the team they want to play for. Otherwise they are cheating the system.
-Hayden Shaver
Yes
Home-schooled kids should be provided all the same benefits as kids who attend a regular public high school. For this reason home-schooled kids should be allowed to play high school sports.
The No. 1 reason why they should be allowed to play is the fact their parents pay taxes that fund the high school teams. For example, Billy’s parents are paying for the high school baseball team’s bats, but Billy is not allowed to play on the team because his family has chosen an alternate form of education.
It is unfair if the parents are forced to pay for other children’s experiences and while their’s are not allowed to take part.
Secondly, the reason public schools were created was to have a general assimilation in a community. Because this is a general goal of schools, they should be thrilled that a student outside their system would want to be part of a program that promotes the student’s assimilation.
The home-schooled kids who play sports are also receiving an education. A sport provides a health education to children. They learn a lot more in sports than we give them credit for. High school sports enhance a student’s critical thinking, leadership and teamwork.
Finally, this is a way for students to meet more people, which improves their social skills. Social skills are another important aspect some home-schooled students could miss out on.
Because of the fact home-school parents still pay the taxes that provide funding for the teams and all the benefits of sending a home-schooled child to play high school sports, there is no reason home-schooled kids should not be allowed to play high school sports.
-Jeri Kohn
