<p>rocketman and christcorp,</p>
<p>When I referred to early “higher education” - note I didn’t say university education - I was referring to the highest education available to ancient societies - think Rome, Ancient Greece, Babylon, Ancient Egypt. Yes, they did add philosophy and to a degree whatever religious beliefs there were of the day, but those were in the interest of unifiying a society around a certain cultural thought, more than as a study for posterity.</p>
<p>And in those ancient times, the priorities were feeding, sheltering, and defending your people, so that is what they taught - the best accumulated knowledge of their times.</p>
<p>Later on, as wealth beyond that necessary for basic survival was achieved, the wealthy of a society could devote resources to more broad thinking, such as divinity schools and the like.</p>
<p>And even many of the great public universities of today were founded as land-grant institutions, serving the more immediate needs of the local populations such as agriculture, medicine, engineering, commerce, and military. Many evolved into today’s research institutions, as the populations served became wealthier and could afford the investment.</p>
<p>My point is that higher education institutions are created to serve the needs of the society it serves and develop excellence in those needed skills. Physical development is still one of those needs. Sports programs are just a part of that physical development need. And while playing football may seem an arbitrary way of developing educated, physically skilled people necessary for certain functions, much can be said about many arbitrary persuits of colleges. How many people use spelling, geography, or other academic competitions as a method to get admissions/FA to schools. Being a walking dictionary or mapbook is not exactly a degree you pursue in college.</p>
<p>You academics need to broaden your thinking here!</p>