Should Athletes Get Drug Tested?

As said by many student-athlete's are seen as role models for many young children. These are the students who are putting in 30 plus hours of school a week, on top of 15 plus hours of athletic practice,  5-8 hours team lifts, and then study time. They are the people who represent your school in some of the best ways. So why are these the students who get drug tested? Shouldn't these students be looked at as good students who are doing the right thing instead of being scrutinized for drug use by random drug testing. We should see these people as people with hard work ethic, determination, and respect. How do they get respected when they are being drug tested by their own school? Many of these athletes are forced to sign waivers saying they will comply to these tests, either they sign it or they don't play.

Whats your opinion on drug testing? Is it an invasion of privacy?

    

How Much PA This Weekend?

Tough Coaching...

After viewing the video of the coach being "too rough" I feel as though the coach shouldn't have handled himself that way. The coach was out of line with the way he tried to toughen his team. Although no coach should ever handle themselves in this manner i feel as though many athletes go through this all the time. In high school there was many times that coaches would grab me by the jersey or the helmet in order to set a point across. I feel as though the athlete should have toughened up, like a man and either accepted it or talk to the coach about it face to face before running off and telling his mother. Many of these coaches are with you more than your with your own family; You go to school from 7-3 and all of your coaches are your teachers then you go off to practice for 3 hours with the same coaches. They become like a parent figure/family member. Sometimes they get carried away and lose their cool, as an athlete you need to realize things may be tough and overcome this. I feel the coach shouldn't have done what he did but the student shouldn't have made it into a big deal.

"Schools cut lunch options"

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41631002/ns/health-diet_and_nutrition

Great article on nutrition inside the schools.  One particular school in Florida is in a debate what to do when students dont have money to pay for lunch. What do you think they should do?

Title IX

Physical education is aimed to educate students about the necessary skills and values of living a healthy lifestyle from childhood to adulthood. This is true for everyone regardless of age, sex, or ethnicity, or so we think. In some instances woman can be victimized by having unequal opportunities inside the physical education setting. Female athletes of the 1970’s went through a completely different experience then the female athletes of today’s generation.   Today, we do not see these inequalities as much as we did approximately twenty to thirty years ago. Laws similar to Title IX have been issued in order to make major steps into making the physical education and sport settings much more equal. The Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Education enforces Title IX, prohibiting specific discriminatory activities; however, some men and women believe Title IX its self was discriminatory.

This act known as Title IX was an Equal Opportunity in Education Act which was enacted on June 23, 1972. The law states, "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance”(Wikipedia).   According to a poll, from 1971-1972, the amount of female athletes in high school was 294,015; in 2007-2008 where there was 3,057,266(AAUW). These figures show an increase of approximately 940%. This increase has a direct correlation to the issuing of Title IX; the lack of increase in male high school athletes provides further proof in this theory.  In 1971-1972, the amount of male athletes in high school was 3,666,917 compared to 2007-2008 where there were 4,372,115(AAUW); this is an increase of only about 19%. In the NCAA setting there was also dramatic changes; from 1971-1972 there was 29,972 female athletes compared to 2004-2005 where there was 166,728, an increase of 456%. In conclusion you can see that the increase is in favor of females dramatically, with Title IX being the primary reason for this increase.

Although the issuing of Title IX, made drastic increases in the opportunities set forth for women in sports, it also could be said it drastically changed men’s sports.  Slashing programs was just one of the many ways men felt they were treated unfairly by the new Title IX law.

Nutrition in School: Do Students Have Choices?

Student Profile: Mohammad

Mohammad (From Bangladesh)
Mohammad is a very quiet but respectful student in class. His academic class work is done with great pride and he has very high knowledge of most subject areas. He prospers in Math and Science classes and really enjoys his studies. Mohammad is from Bangladesh, he moved here when he was 8 years old so he has been in the school district for quite a while. He is pretty fluent with the language because he was taught English in Bangladesh and has been here for so long. He struggles most with his listening because sometimes he needs the instructor to slow down. If he needs something repeated he just raises his hand and the teacher slowly reads it back.
During P.E class Mohammad remains very shy and struggles at some basic skills. His swimming ability is lower than all of the students and he has a lot of difficulty staying afloat. He needs an extra instructor to be with him at all times during his aquatics class. This may be due to his culture and traditions in Bangladesh where swimming is not as popular. Mohammad is a very motivated student who works hard at not only his swimming ability but in his academic studies. He has a great future ahead of him.