Is too much emphasis placed on high school sports rather than educating students?
We could say so but we should remember that sports have their own role in character building and in education so as long as we keep a balance between sports and actual education things should be fine. I was a high school student here and I loved it so much. Now I have my masters in public administration, I guess being a part of a sports team didn't ruined my career plans after all.
Sports is extremely important actually, and I don't think we can put too much emphasis on it. If we want healthy minded students sports is an important part of the formula. I played hockey pool back in highschool and I was good at it, this gave me a good sense about myself and helped me build the attitude of a winner, I also learned so much from working in team, it really made the difference for me.