Editorial: Students Should Maintain a Certain GPA to Play Sports

Having enthusiasm in sport is certainly a good thing because it helps the school to be more supportive and unified. However, when students have an unsatisatory GPA, but are passionate about participating in high school sports, we should stop for a minute and think about a way to change this situation.

We all understand the importance of being passionate about school sports, to unite our community and have school spirit. But with people’s decreasing GPA scores, it is necessary to add a minimum GPA score for their participation in sports (membership on sports teams, role in extracurricular activities).

The Maryland State Department of Education insisted all students in Maryland have at least a minimum GPA of 2.0 to become a student athlete. They said students should “establish standards of participation, which assure that students involved in interscholastic athletics are making satisfactory progress toward graduation.” (For more information, click here)

It is important for students to maintain a satisfactory GPA during their school years in preparation for their harsh graduation requirements. If students have excelled in sports, but not in their GPA, graduating from their school may become a huge challenge which could also have the consequence of them not being able to graduate.

For most parents and teachers, their preferences towards their children’s participation in sporting events and GPA are more likely to slide towards keeping a good GPA. Having certain experiences and participation in school sports is beneficial for college applications and requirements. When parents discover children have an imbalance between GPA and sports, parents may panic about their children’s GPA.

We all understand it is hard to change or increase students’ grades immediately before their final exams. So to achieve a satisfactory GPA, days and months of time should be spent in the building of knowledge for their exams. We should make sure students have the ability to play well in sports and maintain a high GPA score during their years studying in school.

Being a student athlete does not necessarily mean becoming a professional athlete because only a small amount of people can actually become an athlete for their future career. As students, we should focus more on how we can increase our GPA scores instead of dividing our abilities and energy into  unrelated things.