The recent Penn State scandal reminds us that if sports are to instill moral character, we must approach athletics first as an education in the virtues, not as an avenue to fame and wealth.

If we looked at actual young men and women, and not abstractions, we might begin to think of other things besides the ratio of members of each sex participating in this or that activity. We might think about love.

Despite current efforts to level the playing field between men and women in every area, the differences between men’s and women’s professional and collegiate sports make clear that some inequalities are unavoidable. With strength and speed as the factors governing success, men’s athletics will always be more popular.

The Matrix and The Karate Kid offer two competing views of the relationship between how we learn and how we understand human nature.