ERIC Number: ED090176
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1974-Jan
Pages: 21
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
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EISSN: N/A
Sport, Socialization and the School: Toward Maturity or Enculturation?
Schafer, Walter E.
OSSC Bulletin, v17 n5 Jan 1974
This paper is intended to contribute to the reexamination of the proper role of sport and its actual relationship to the educational enterprise of which it is a part. Two polar views of the proper purpose of schooling are discussed first: education for maturity and education for enculturation. The opinion is then set forth that American public schools approach more closely the enculturation rather than the maturity ideal. Interscholastic sports are held to be an important mechanism for fostering enculturation; they contribute only in a limited way to the maturity of the participant or spectator. Several implications of this analysis for educational policy toward sport are drawn. It is felt that sociologists of sport can and should actively contribute to a more humane system of school athletics by addressing themselves to policy-related questions and by helping to plan, implement, and evaluate new models of sport and physical education. (Author/DDO)
Descriptors: Athletics, Cultural Enrichment, Educational Sociology, Extramural Athletics, Maturation, Physical Education, Socialization
Oregon School Study Council, 124 College of Education, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon 97403 ($2.00)
Publication Type: N/A
Education Level: N/A
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Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: Oregon School Study Council, Eugene.
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A