Why cheer just for the athletes?

Naperville Central High School is in a quandary regarding space for athletic fields and vying for use of the park district garden plots. This entails the expenditure of thousands of dollars of our tax monies for development and/or replacement by both entities. Please allow me a moment of retrospect. When Russia put Sputnik into space, an amazing change in attitude about the necessity of advancements in the fields of science and mathematics took place. In Naperville, suddenly the willingness to buy microscopes rather than footballs took place. Over time that direction faded to some degree, although this school system remained on a par, at least, with those in the immediate area.

Now we read about nations throughout the world developing programs that result in students superior in the fields of science and math. In light of this fact, I wonder if the public angst would be present if the schools were further advancing the academic programs, not just in science and math but also languages and social studies. Why do we cheer for the players on the sports fields but sneer at the "nerd?" Team athletic participation does keep some students in school and does make possible scholarships toward advanced education but wouldn't it be more rewarding if a majority of those scholarships were in academia? Surely, this would lead to the world competition that is so lacking and necessary.

Betty J. Hill

Naperville