Over the last two decades, American technology companies and policymakers warned of a “digital divide” in which poor children could fall behind their richer peers without equal access to technology. Today, with widespread internet access and smartphone ownership, the gap has narrowed sharply in America. But gradually a different division has appeared: Across the country, poor children and teenagers are taking part far less in sports and fitness activities than richer youngsters are. Call it the physical divide.

Data from different sources show a significant gap in sports participation (参与) by income level. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study found that 70% of children from families with incomes above about $105,000 — four times the poverty line — took part in sports in 2020. But participation was around 51% for families in a middle-income range, and just 31% for families at or below the poverty line.

A 2021 study of Seattle-area students from fifth grade through high school found that youth were less likely to take part in sports than their richer peers. The study also found that middle schoolers from richer families were three times as likely to meet physical exercise guidelines as less wealthy students.

Schools are not always filling the gap. A recent report from the Physical Activity Alliance, a nonprofit organization, gave schools nationwide a grade of D-for physical fitness. That is a downgrade from a C-in 2014, with the new grade reflecting even less access to regular physical education classes, gym time and equipment in schools. Ann Paulls-Neal, a track coach at Highland High, has noticed that richer students have more access to club sports. She thought about the reasons. Some families couldn’t afford private sports or didn’t have cars or time to ferry their children to practice while richer ones can afford for club-team fees, uniforms, equipment, travel to tournaments (锦标赛) and private coaching.

High school dropouts earn an average of $ 9,000 less per year than graduates. Now a new study moves away a common belief why they quit. It’s much more than failing in exams at school.

Society tends to think of high school dropouts as kids who just can’t cut it. They are lazy, and perhaps not too bright. So researchers were surprised when they asked more than 450 kids who quit school about why they left.

“The vast majority actually had passing grades and they were confident that they could have graduated from high school, ” John Bridgeland, the executive researcher said. About 1 million teens leave school each year. Only about half of African-American and Hispanic(美籍西班牙) students will receive a diploma, and actually all dropouts come to regret their decision. So, if failing grades don’t explain why these kids quit, what does? Again, John Bridgeland said, “The most dependable finding was that they were bored. They found classes uninteresting; they weren’t inspired or motivated. They didn’t see any direct connection between what they were learning in the classroom to their own lives, or to their possible careers. ”

The study found that most teens who do dropout wait until they turn sixteen, which happens to be the age at which most states allow students to quit. In the US, only one state, New Mexico, has a law requiring teenagers to stay in high school until they graduate. Only four states: California, Tennessee, Texas and Utah, plus the District of Columbia, require school attendance until age 18, no exceptions. Another researcher says raising the compulsory attendance age may be one way to keep more kids in school.

“As these dropouts look back, they realize they’ve made a mistake. And anything that sort of gives these people an extra push to stick it out, is probably a helpful measure.”

New Hampshire may be the next state to raise school attendance age to 18. But critics assay that forcing the students unwilling to continue their studies to stay in school misses the point- the need for reform. It’s been called for to reinvent high school education to make it more challenging and to ensure that kids who do stick it out receive a diploma that acutally means something.

The headmaster of a primary school showed on television to support her idea that parents should “dress appropriately in daywear” when they drop off and pick up their kids from school.

Kate Chisholm, head teacher at Skerne Park Academy in Darlington, the U.K., sent a letter home asking parents to set a better example for their children.

“I have noticed there has been an increasing tendency for parents to drop off and pick up their kids from school while still wearing their pajamas (睡衣),” Chisholm wrote. “Could I please ask that when you are sending your children, you take the time to dress appropriately in daywear that is suitable for the weather conditions?”

Kate Chisholm wants parents at her school to dress nicer. She appeared on British television station ITV to further explain her decision, saying she had started noticing the pajama trend had been picked up by “30 or 40” parents at school.

Despite her determination to make school a nicer place to be, Chisholm admits that she can't demand that parents dress up-such as Karen Routh, 49, who wore pajamas to drop off her 8-year-old daughter Holly, because she was running late and didn't feel well.

“I imagine there might be some people who keep up wearing pajamas for the next six months to prove a point,” Chisholm said. “I can't force people to get dressed but I will keep sending letters home in the hope that they decide to put on a pair of jeans.”

Wearing pajamas in public has also become a hot issue for some schools and States in the U.S. In 2015, a Florida school board member insisted on a dress rule for parents who showed up in the school in sleepwear.