Until a few days ago, I didn’t know there was a difference between extracurricular and co-curricular … except I’m pretty sure I’ve never heard a sportscaster describe a post-play scuffle as “co-curricular activity.”

But, as I tried to understand proposed state legislation about designating high school sports as co-curricular, one of the key buzzwords of recent years came up:

Essential.

According to the bills (HB 2427 and SB 3296), changing interscholastic sports from “extra” to “co” would give them “essential status” in the world of curriculum … right up there with readin’, writin’ and ’rithmetic.

If we have learned anything since society started shutting down due to the pandemic in early 2020, it’s that what one person considers essential another considers frivolous.

The bills call for the DOE to produce a report on how much it would cost, “if anything,” to make this alteration.

As these proposals have so far sailed through the legislative maze with just a few “with reservations” attached to all the yes votes, it seems the prevailing assumption is it wouldn’t be much — “if anything.”

One person in the middle of all this told me not to worry about it, because the DOE won’t come up with a report, anyway.

That, in itself, is concerning.

Usually I’m all for rewording that saves even just a few letters — that is, if there are no unintended consequences lurking around the corner.

We’re told that if sports are co-curricular, it would mean that anyone who wants to be on an interscholastic team gets to be, regardless of how many others desire the same thing. And skill level wouldn’t matter.

In a perfect world, nobody ever gets cut from a team. Also, everybody who wants to go to the prom does so with their first choice of date, and anyone who so desires “signs up” to be student body president.

Most of us agree that, overall, interscholastic sports make a positive impact on society, and are often invaluable in a young person’s development.

But, are they “essential” in the same way as basic academics?

Granted, lettering in a sport might help you get a job or into the college of your choice. But that’s moot if you’re not skilled enough with letters to fill out the application.

How will this work? Do you just sign up for the varsity basketball team the same way you register for social studies?

What’s required, and what is elective? Are there prerequisites?

The way the rules are now, you have to make at least a 2.0 grade-point average to compete on a Hawaii public school sports team. That falls in line with interscholastic sports participation being a privilege and not a right.

If it were deemed a “right,” public school competitive interscholastic sports would be turned into recreational activities. The best players (and coaches) who aren’t already doing so would gravitate to the private schools.

Sports as education and recreation are already covered by the curriculum. It’s called physical education.

Perhaps there should be a bill calling for a study on the status of PE and intramurals, and how those programs can be improved to better serve students.

Have the supporters of a switch to co-curricular considered how the potential chaos could affect Title IX compliance, and hence federal funding?

And if coaches are to be compensated at the same level unionized teachers are, where does the funding come from for that?

How many great coaches would be lost because they don’t meet the minimum qualifications to be considered a teacher worthy of instructing at a co-curricular rather than extracurricular level?

If these bills pass, I feel sorry for anyone at the DOE tasked with figuring out how much it could cost. It could very well be a lot more than “if anything,” since these are just a few of many questions that don’t lead to any easy answers, just more questions.