Lessons of Locker Room

"Sport builds character" is a truism rarely questioned by Americans. Most parents encourage their children to take part in competitive athletics, and organized team sports are available to young people from the early years of grammar school through high school and college. Occasionally some disturbing incidents cast doubt on the assumption that sport is necessarily beneficial to character development: a serious injury on the playing field due to gratuitous violence, for example, or drug use, gambling, or sexual misconduct. Whole communities have wondered how organized team sports, supposedly designed to build character, can lead to such drastic deviations from the imagined ideals. In Lessons of The Locker Room, anthropologist Andrew W. Miracle, Jr., and sociologist C. Roger Rees explore the fascinating underpinnings of school sports, as developed in England, then adopted in the United States. How did Americans become so obsessed with sports, and how did sports come to be so intimately connected with our schools? They then examine the evidence to support the prevailing assumption that sport is an ennobling experience, and find that, in fact, participation has little effect upon the development of positive characteristics. Far from building model citizens, their research shows that competitive team sports may foster selfish motives and antisocial behavior. Rather than learning self-sacrifice, dedication, and hard work, athletes often pick up the tacit message that "winning isn't everything, it's the only thing", and that the end justifies the means. The authors cite data to show that the lure of athletics in a school setting is sometimes at variance with educational goals: many athletesend up sacrificing opportunities for lasting self-improvement through education in the hope of achieving the short-lived glory of athletic success. Statistics prove that the majority of high school team players never become sMiracle, Andrew W., Jr. is the author of 'Lessons of Locker Room' with ISBN 9780879758790 and ISBN 0879758791.