Why do people allow kids to play sports at the expense of academics?

[Anonymous]

Question says it all. Unless your kid is truly scholarship material, I seriously don't understand why you'd let your kid play sports when they are bringing in low Bs. I know colleges like sports because the student seems more well-rounded, but that's stupid if it comes at the expense of grades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Question says it all. Unless your kid is truly scholarship material, I seriously don't understand why you'd let your kid play sports when they are bringing in low Bs. I know colleges like sports because the student seems more well-rounded, but that's stupid if it comes at the expense of grades.

You don't need to understand it because it's not your child nor is it any of your business. Nothing like a sanctimonious "I don't understand people who aren't as good a parent as I" post to get your day started, hunh?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Question says it all. Unless your kid is truly scholarship material, I seriously don't understand why you'd let your kid play sports when they are bringing in low Bs. I know colleges like sports because the student seems more well-rounded, but that's stupid if it comes at the expense of grades.

You don't need to understand it because it's not your child nor is it any of your business. Nothing like a sanctimonious "I don't understand people who aren't as good a parent as I" post to get your day started, hunh?

It's too early to be so over sensitive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Question says it all. Unless your kid is truly scholarship material, I seriously don't understand why you'd let your kid play sports when they are bringing in low Bs. I know colleges like sports because the student seems more well-rounded, but that's stupid if it comes at the expense of grades.

Perhaps some of us realize that grades aren't the be-all and end-all of the quality of a person. If it means my kids go to slightly lower ranked college than the otherwise might have but don't turn into those people (who seem to dominate DCUM) who think your salary is the be-all and end-all of your worth as a person, I will consider my parenting to have been a job well done.

[Anonymous]

For some kids, Bs might be what they are getting for their best efforts and sports is an area where they can easily excel. We all have our strengths and challenges and we need to learn to make the best of our strengths and work hard at our challenges. It's good to have a balance in our days of things we are good at and things we have to work at. In addition, athletic participation teaches kids a lot about cooperation, leadership, how to win and lose in a graceful manner, persistence, and discipline, not to mention the physical fitness and health benefits.

Why do some people allow their kids to spend all their time on academics and make no effort to improve their athletic skills?

[Anonymous]

My kids are Middle School A students. Both in advanced math (IM 6th and Geometry 8th) and Languages. So I am not exactly what you are asking about. But still, I personally would love if they spent the 12hours + a week doing academic things instead of the sports they do -- or at least 50% and less competitive Sports. I truly would, travel sports suck all our time. But my kids would not spend the 12 hours doing anything productive. They would play on phones, watch tv or socialize. So I really do not look at it as an either or. They put enough time in school to do well enough but nothing extraordinary. But they enjoy the sports and want to do it. So I let them choose. It had nothing to do with thinking they will get athletic scholarships. And it irks me how every non sport parents think that the parents of kids that play sports are looking for athletic scholarships.

[Anonymous]

Non-athletic people-pleasing A-student who went to the best private schools and private colleges in the country and works in academia here.

There are many different ways to find success and build character and it is important for children AND adults to be open-minded and to make good choices based on their own needs/interests/desires.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For some kids, Bs might be what they are getting for their best efforts and sports is an area where they can easily excel. We all have our strengths and challenges and we need to learn to make the best of our strengths and work hard at our challenges. It's good to have a balance in our days of things we are good at and things we have to work at. In addition, athletic participation teaches kids a lot about cooperation, leadership, how to win and lose in a graceful manner, persistence, and discipline, not to mention the physical fitness and health benefits.

Why do some people allow their kids to spend all their time on academics and make no effort to improve their athletic skills?

Because kids with good grades have more options and opportunities than kids with bad grades. If two kids are competing for the same opportunity, the kid with the good grades is going to have an edge over the low B kid.

[Anonymous]

Why do people allow kids to play sports at the expense of academics? Because their priorities are different from your priorities.

[Anonymous]

Turning a B student into an A student doesn't mean that they are any smarter, it just means that they have had more useless facts drummed into them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Question says it all. Unless your kid is truly scholarship material, I seriously don't understand why you'd let your kid play sports when they are bringing in low Bs. I know colleges like sports because the student seems more well-rounded, but that's stupid if it comes at the expense of grades.

You don't need to understand it because it's not your child nor is it any of your business. Nothing like a sanctimonious "I don't understand people who aren't as good a parent as I" post to get your day started, hunh?

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Question says it all. Unless your kid is truly scholarship material, I seriously don't understand why you'd let your kid play sports when they are bringing in low Bs. I know colleges like sports because the student seems more well-rounded, but that's stupid if it comes at the expense of grades.

You don't need to understand it because it's not your child nor is it any of your business. Nothing like a sanctimonious "I don't understand people who aren't as good a parent as I" post to get your day started, hunh?

It's too early to be so over sensitive.

It's a stupid question with obvious answers designed only to make the OP feel smugly superior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Question says it all. Unless your kid is truly scholarship material, I seriously don't understand why you'd let your kid play sports when they are bringing in low Bs. I know colleges like sports because the student seems more well-rounded, but that's stupid if it comes at the expense of grades.

Because I don't expect all A's at all. I expect my child to study hard but be active, social, healthy and happy. Sports helps with all of those things. And ironically my daughter does WORSE in school this exact marking period. When she isn't playing a sport (she is off winter) and the days are cold and dark. She lacks focus when there is too much time on her hands. So I think without sports, she would be an uptight, unhappy kid striving for only A's to show she belongs.

Now if she was getting C and D's, then we would have to figure some things out or drop a sport if time was an issue. But I have found most kids that get A's, get them while playing sports. And most kids that got C's, gets them during sports too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do people allow kids to play sports at the expense of academics? Because their priorities are different from your priorities.

Bravo. My kids are early ES but exactly this.

[Anonymous]

Some people wrongly believe that the kids will get scholarships, when in fact only 2% of high school kids get sports scholarships to college.