Brazil and USA Cross-Cultural Study of Sport as Motivational Factor in Education

Antonio Jose Müller

doi:10.5539/ies.v7n12p76

Abstract

In every country, school is considered an essential factor in the development of children, citizens, and the country as a whole. In developing countries such as Brazil, however, the number of school dropouts is very high. In developed countries such as the United States, there is an urgent need for pedagogical improvements. Participants were thirty-four high school students from four different schools, divided into low-income and high-income groups in both countries. The intention of this study is to demonstrate how sport can develop its role to contribute to the promotion of academic motivation under Freirean perspectives.

Highlights

Sport is one of the most important sociocultural phenomena in the world
School is considered an essential factor in the development of children, citizens, and the country as a whole. In developing countries such as Brazil, the number of school dropouts is very high. In developed countries such as the United States, there is an urgent need for pedagogical improvements
The intention of this study is to demonstrate how sport can develop its role to contribute to the promotion of academic motivation under Freirean perspectives

Summary

Introduction

Sport is one of the most important sociocultural phenomena in the world. Its social significance when connected with education, participation, and performance can be interpreted as a distinctive democratic opportunity for humanity as a whole. Sport can exert a foundation for socialization of the minorities or underprivileged classes. During the Roman Empire, gladiators were used to enforce the law by killing prisoners of war, criminals, or Christians. This setting of human beings to kill one another in public for entertainment was a dreadful savagery to maintain the order and keep social class divisions (Grant, 1967). The adoption of a realistic attitude about this aspect of gladiatorial brutality is all the more necessary in our own twenty-first century where black athletes, mostly from low social classes, play sports to entertain those people who have money to buy expensive tickets or pay-per-view transmission

Objectives

Methods

Results