What Role Does American Football Play In Defining High School Culture?
Posted by anastasia on 08-21-2009
I was listening to NPR yesterday afternoon and heard the intro to All Things Considered’s new series on high school football, its prominence in American culture and role it plays in our communities. One of the reporters added that the series will also address the dynamics popular football programs create in schools — of coaches being paid more than other faculty, and the teens who define themselves in opposition to football culture (the geeks, goths, etc.). Personally, I found this part more interesting than the “Friday Night Lights” aspect of practices and games.
I attended three high schools in Nashville that couldn’t have been more different. The first was a very traditional private all-girls school, second was a big public high school outside of Nashville and third was a private school, which was formerly a demonstration school for Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College for teachers. No football at the all-girls school — though girls would attend football games at the “brother” all-boys school’s campus. Homecoming, pep rallies and very crowded games at the public school, and then no football at University School (the third school I mentioned), just soccer and basketball. In a way, I got to experience really different variations of high school culture with and without football.
It was at the public school I attended where football most defined the student social structure — it looked very John Hughes — jocks/cheerleaders/preps, brains/nerds and burnouts/metalheads/goths/punks. I have to admit, I enjoyed the pep rallies and excitement around the big games, but for me as a floater that year between the burnouts/punks and a few preps, they were more about going to hang out with people behind the bleachers than actually watching the game. I didn’t grow up hating football due to the social hierarchy it imposed, but definitely identified as “not a jock or a cheerleader” and while I would openly mock them, especially in my punk phase, I can’t help but think those of us on the outside felt somehow “less” deep down.
At the girls school, football games were more about just having access to boys. I never felt as though the girl athletes were socially superior to any other girls at this school. If anything, I think money/pedigree played a much bigger role in defining status. And at University School, I think brains (and creativity) were definitely valued over brawn. We supported our teams, but not having a football team, inherently defined our school identity as not being sports-centric, and as a result, had a less pronounced social hierarchy.
This was a lengthy personal preamble to the question I thought I’d put out there to Ypulse readers: What role do YOU think football specifically plays in defining high school culture? I can’t wait to hear this part of NPR’s reporting…
Categorized under: Education
August 22nd, 2009 at 8:28 am
Football even today siphons off school funds from the arts, dance, music, or anything in media. Those of us who would not or do not ascribe to the football culture of brutality, arrogance, sexual harrassment, homophobia, and the cultivation of the body over the mind, must wait to leave high school to begin to self-school ourselves in what the schools themselves did not, would not, or could not provide. Thankfully, today this is much more accessible for talented students who are willing to accept that traditional high schools will never fulfill this part of their obligation to society.