Is it moral to ban foreign exchange students from participating in state tennis championships?

Posted by $ rockymountainpirate 8 years, 6 months ago to Philosophy
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I had a discussion today with a co-worker whose son and daughter are both in the high school state championships in tennis today. She and others, including the coach who also works in my office, think that the foreign exchange students should be banned from playing in the championships because they start out at a young age getting lessons and it gives them an unfair advantage over the local students. I said that it was not moral to ban the foreign exchange students just because they are better players. I argued that the world is unfair, that the students will be competing for the rest of their lives with those that have an advantage, and that at times they will have the advantage over others. I also argued that there is noting preventing the kids in Montana getting tennis lessons at a young age just like the European children.

What say you?


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  • Posted by $ Thoritsu 8 years, 6 months ago
    Work hard and stop complaining about the advantages of others. The world isn't fair, and this isn't a reasonable example of unfair.

    The quite controllable unfairness would be to the foreign student and the school if a rule were enacted compelling the school to exclude the foreign student who probably worked very hard to get to the US.
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  • Posted by dbhalling 8 years, 6 months ago
    The problem I see here is that high schools are publicly funded. If that were not the case then, they should absolutely be able to participate. However, when the schools are public I think it opens up other questions. Why should my tax dollars pay for facilities for children whose parents do not or did not contribute to the facilities?

    If the exchange students are not being recruited for their athletic skills, I do not have a big problem with this. However, when it is clear that they are being recruited then I think this is a misuse of my tax dollars.
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    • Posted by $ 8 years, 6 months ago
      The tax dollars is an interesting spin I hadn't thought of. In this case no high school on the Rez in Montana is recruiting high school athletes, lol. Would that go on is a large metropolitan area? Good question.
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      • Posted by dbhalling 8 years, 6 months ago
        At the college/university level about 1/2 of all scholarships go to foreigners. The NCAA applies a different standard to foreigners being amateurs than people born in the US. As a result, a number of these foreigners have played on the pro-circuit and decided it was not working out at this time, so they go to school in the US essentially free and play tennis.
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  • Posted by ISank 8 years, 6 months ago
    One thing that is great about high school competition is if the birthdays are between x-date freshman to y-date senior then let's see who wins. So in this case should all coaches sons or daughters be banned since they received a basketball as their first crib toy?
    I don't know what's moral or immoral but I would not call it a championship unless everyone had a shot at the title. What soccer team doesn't pull for an exchange student or two each year.
    Time to ban the ban! Let's the kids play!

    Think I'll go play now...
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    • Posted by freedomforall 8 years, 6 months ago
      Doesn't matter since basketball is clearly a racist activity and should be banned by federal edict. (It's a heightist activity, too. Horrors! ;^) All that running around generates lots of evil carbon dioxide, too. Ban all human activity to save the planet, starting with statist politics.

      Seriously, Technocracy makes good points.(+1) If the organizers provide the private funding, they can set the rules. If you don't like the rules, then don't play. (Or use your looters "pull" to corrupt the entire process.)
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  • Posted by strugatsky 8 years, 6 months ago
    Since they are exchange students, that by definition means that they get all benefits, just as the American counterpart gets in Europe, or wherever the exchange happens.
    Another way to look at it is what would happen if the foreign competition is excluded? American quality will not improve; instead, with less competition, external or internal, it will only decline.
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  • Posted by Technocracy 8 years, 6 months ago
    The only moral issue involved is the immorality of forcing the gifter to grant to someone they do not want to.

    The provider of the scholarship has total control in the rules for consideration. They are voluntarily providing largess, there are no "rights" involved on an individual receiving it.

    If the trustee(s) of the scholarship wanted to only grant it to left handed redheads with one leg, that is their right.

    For example the NAACP is not only allowed, they are celebrated for granting scholarships to only people of color.

    Political Correctness and "Diversity" often contradict each other. They also fly in the face of reality.

    The other argument that comes up is that it involves "public money". Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't.
    Many scholarships disbursed are funded not with public money, but private donations and endowments.
    There are no "publicly funded" services that meet with 100% public approval. If that was required, nothing would be funded. (Taxes would go down, lets make that a requirement)
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  • Posted by $ sjatkins 8 years, 5 months ago
    They offered no real moral analysis but just an assertion of being "unfair". It is garbage. Would they ban a student in the US that had been taken to the courts every day from age of say 7 to play and practice? I don't think so. Would they ban from a piano competition those that had extensive lessons?
    This is banning the good because they show up the not as good. It is evil.
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  • Posted by Hot_Black_Desiato 8 years, 6 months ago
    I am not sure where the "moral" part comes into play.

    A foreign exchange student is granted access to the school, classes, and extracurricular activities to partake of the American culture, then hopefully take their positive experience back to their home country.

    If parents think that foreign students are given an advantage, maybe these same parents need to take some time and EDUCATE THEIR KIDS A BIT THEMSELVES!!!

    There is nothing unfair, except parents in this country pawning off their personal responsibility of educating, raising and instilling ethics into their own kids to Government.

    I fail to see where the question has any relevence at all. Parents want fairness, then kidck their kids in the ass and make them learn something and be active instead of sitting on the couch playing video games and watching TV.
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  • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 8 years, 6 months ago
    Not sure I would have put it in a "moral" context. I would of started out with the competition aspect which you also pointed out.

    An interesting point about competition and competitors...Competitors need each other to be the best they can be...each feeds the other.
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  • Posted by $ FredTheViking 8 years, 6 months ago
    I would say "immoral" is a strong word for this situation. In General any sport club or organization can set what rules they want to qualify a player. Banning foreign exchange students seems pretty arbitrary and such actions are harmful for the exchange program. Yet, one could argue the sport program is for local students and therefore it should not be open to foreign exchange students. The underlining moviation may be dubious but I would not say it is immoral.
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  • Posted by Herb7734 8 years, 6 months ago
    Yes, it is moral. Immoral would be steroid injections etc. The tennis organization can set up rules banning non citizens from competing and therefore ending any discussion. Ethically, however, it would be a cop-out in the same class as everyone in a competition getting a trophy.
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  • Posted by DrZarkov99 8 years, 6 months ago
    Many schools have restrictions on resident students who transfer from one school district to another, preventing them from playing until the season after they transfer. This is to prevent "athlete shopping" by putting a damper on an athlete's enthusiasm for a move. I could see the same rule applied to a foreign exchange student, simply to put the same restrictions on all students.
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  • Posted by $ allosaur 8 years, 6 months ago
    I just had a thought that caused me to LOL.
    Let the exchange students represent USA high schools (whose parents did not pay taxes to support) by only playing each other.
    Not enough exchange students?
    I've played two against two or three against three games with only one hoop as a kid.
    Oh, an afterthought~
    They can still ride on the same bus with USA students. I'm not that cold-blooded a lizard.
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  • Posted by $ 8 years, 6 months ago
    A point of clarification. There are no scholarships involved. It is the state championships. My co-workers believe the foreign exchange students should only be allowed to play doubles and only with a Montana student so that they take that Montana student along with them to the top.
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  • Posted by richrobinson 8 years, 6 months ago
    I can understand the reasoning for not allowing them to play. The competition is supposed to be between kids from a particular school district. They aren't from there they are visiting. Weather they are better or not shouldn't factor in to it. They are pretty much saying if they sucked they would fight to let them play. I would keep it resident students only.
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    • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 8 years, 6 months ago
      However if they accept a student from another area they make that student one of their own. The provider of the scholarship is the individual who paid for the student's presence it is not the school. The school is the recipient of the largess in exchange for providing an education and all that goes with it.

      Presenting a closed wall culture is a rather sordid way of ensuring someone else's win. Kinda like our current rigged elections.

      It's sets a really bad example but then these days we are a really bad example ...as a nation.NAACP filled a need at one time as did unions at one time.Now I wondered why they are allowed to keep such a openly racist name?
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      • Posted by richrobinson 8 years, 6 months ago
        Good points Mike. The exchange students aren't being told they can't play tennis. They just can't compete in the Schools State Championship. I think that is an important distinction to make.
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        • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 8 years, 6 months ago
          That would be a rule of the State Championship level then so the school is not culpable. Question why does the State deny someone from another country who is invited and shows up prior to start of the year for the full year when they don't block in state students unless they show up after the start of the year?

          I don't like the idea but it does show the American Way of rigging the game at the State level. Exchange students are supposed to be learning how great we art not how great we aren't.
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          • Posted by $ 8 years, 6 months ago
            The state doesn't deny them, neither does the school. Some of the parents, and in this case at least 1 coach think they shouldn't be allowed to compete in singles because they are better than the local students. It's the parents and the coach who want to stop them.
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  • Posted by tdechaine 8 years, 6 months ago
    Public school system, so tournament should be for taxpaying members of the HSs.
    If there is a reciprocal agreement with other countries to allow exchange students to participate in all school activities, then they should not be banned.
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