Is it harder to get a 1500+ on the SAT or pass tryouts for a varsity sports team?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What I really don't understand is you walk into the high schools today and the good athletes are prominently displayed in a Hall of Fame on the wall outside the gym or whatever. Why aren't the good students displayed somewhere? Why isn't the picture of 1998's valedictorian up on the wall like the kid who made all-state in track or football?

Our high school has a Hall of Fame with photos of graduates who have made substantial social contributions.

[Anonymous]

Obviously different students have different innate talents. And every school is different. But take a public high school with 2000 students. It will typically take more hours and much more discipline to make the varsity basketball team compared to scoring a 1500 on the SAT.

For varsity basketball players that do have a baseline number of functioning brain cells, if they were to put in the same number of hours into studying for the SAT as they do for basketball, they'll get the 1500. I don't think the reverse is true. Some 1500 kid who is 5'4 is still not making the varsity basketball team no matter how hard they work at it.

It's a very apple to oranges comparison. Most students don't have the physical attributes to be a varsity athlete in the major sports. But most athletes will have the capability to score 1500, with time and studying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Obviously different students have different innate talents. And every school is different. But take a public high school with 2000 students. It will typically take more hours and much more discipline to make the varsity basketball team compared to scoring a 1500 on the SAT.

For varsity basketball players that do have a baseline number of functioning brain cells, if they were to put in the same number of hours into studying for the SAT as they do for basketball, they'll get the 1500. I don't think the reverse is true. Some 1500 kid who is 5'4 is still not making the varsity basketball team no matter how hard they work at it.

It's a very apple to oranges comparison. Most students don't have the physical attributes to be a varsity athlete in the major sports. But most athletes will have the capability to score 1500, with time and studying.

You are dreaming bubba if you think an average IQ person can get a 1500

[Anonymous]

Harder would be getting a full ride athletic scholarship D1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I really don't understand is you walk into the high schools today and the good athletes are prominently displayed in a Hall of Fame on the wall outside the gym or whatever. Why aren't the good students displayed somewhere? Why isn't the picture of 1998's valedictorian up on the wall like the kid who made all-state in track or football?

You’re being disingenuous. It’s not that you don’t understand it - it’s simply that you don’t like it.

But the answer is obvious. No one gives a $hit about former (or current) boring, nerdy valedictorians who will almost certainly live boring and uninspiring (possibly well-paid) lives as lawyers or doctors or engineers or accountants.

The athletes are impressive AND they bring joy to other people (they’re fun to watch).

No, I legitimately don't understand why an institution whose primary purpose is education doesn't celebrate it's most successful students the way it does its student athletes. I say this as someone whose name is on the wall at my (non-FCPS) high school for three different sports. Being valedictorian and earning a 1500+ SAT score was years of work and late nights studying. Being good at sports was years of practice too - but not as many hours as the school work. I got a trophy for never getting a 'B' at graduation, but my picture is still up at the school decades later for how many tackles I had, how much weight I could lift, and how fast I could run the hurdles. Seems wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I really don't understand is you walk into the high schools today and the good athletes are prominently displayed in a Hall of Fame on the wall outside the gym or whatever. Why aren't the good students displayed somewhere? Why isn't the picture of 1998's valedictorian up on the wall like the kid who made all-state in track or football?

You’re being disingenuous. It’s not that you don’t understand it - it’s simply that you don’t like it.

But the answer is obvious. No one gives a $hit about former (or current) boring, nerdy valedictorians who will almost certainly live boring and uninspiring (possibly well-paid) lives as lawyers or doctors or engineers or accountants.

The athletes are impressive AND they bring joy to other people (they’re fun to watch).

No, I legitimately don't understand why an institution whose primary purpose is education doesn't celebrate it's most successful students the way it does its student athletes. I say this as someone whose name is on the wall at my (non-FCPS) high school for three different sports. Being valedictorian and earning a 1500+ SAT score was years of work and late nights studying. Being good at sports was years of practice too - but not as many hours as the school work. I got a trophy for never getting a 'B' at graduation, but my picture is still up at the school decades later for how many tackles I had, how much weight I could lift, and how fast I could run the hurdles. Seems wrong.

Really? Because way more students in FCPS have straight As now than there are varsity athletes. It’s impossible to make the JV team

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Harder would be getting a full ride athletic scholarship D1

This. I am not very athletic but was a varsity athlete at my large HS. It was not a popular sport and I rarely played but there weren’t cuts. Back then, soccer was our most popular sport and the hardest to make.

As for my kids, one had no problem making the team but it was a similar situation. The other is more athletic and is hoping to make JV this year because it is a more popular sport.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What I really don't understand is you walk into the high schools today and the good athletes are prominently displayed in a Hall of Fame on the wall outside the gym or whatever. Why aren't the good students displayed somewhere? Why isn't the picture of 1998's valedictorian up on the wall like the kid who made all-state in track or football?

No one really sees the accolades the schools give out as legitimate. It's like the recent issue where the Universities quit using SAT scores, because it wasn't admitting the people they wanted.

I mean it's sad there really are people out there that are that good, but school tends to be a "social marker" not an "intelligence marker", so they don't get recognition.

[Anonymous]

The academic and testing standards change over time, but the physical standard of making the varsity team only seems to get difficult when you add more kids.

[Anonymous]

Gemini tells me that about 1-2 percent of students get a 1500+ and about 35-40 percent of students play a varsity sport in their senior year.

These numbers aren't perfect and both vary a lot by school, but clearly far more high school students play a sport than get a 1500+.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What I really don't understand is you walk into the high schools today and the good athletes are prominently displayed in a Hall of Fame on the wall outside the gym or whatever. Why aren't the good students displayed somewhere? Why isn't the picture of 1998's valedictorian up on the wall like the kid who made all-state in track or football?

My high school has a plaque with the names of all the National Merit Finalists from the school each year. My name is still there on that plaque on the wall a few decades later. It’s in the same lobby area where all the sports trophies are. This is a public high school in the north east.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I really don't understand is you walk into the high schools today and the good athletes are prominently displayed in a Hall of Fame on the wall outside the gym or whatever. Why aren't the good students displayed somewhere? Why isn't the picture of 1998's valedictorian up on the wall like the kid who made all-state in track or football?

My high school has a plaque with the names of all the National Merit Finalists from the school each year. My name is still there on that plaque on the wall a few decades later. It’s in the same lobby area where all the sports trophies are. This is a public high school in the north east.

Kewl

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:SAT is a national standard

Varsity sport is a local standard.

It depends on your school.

The preparation for each is completely different, and there are many different possible sports

This. But also, you can prep for the SAT in a matter of weeks. If you are trying to make a really competitive varsity sports team, you probably can't improve your skill level too much in a matter of weeks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What I really don't understand is you walk into the high schools today and the good athletes are prominently displayed in a Hall of Fame on the wall outside the gym or whatever. Why aren't the good students displayed somewhere? Why isn't the picture of 1998's valedictorian up on the wall like the kid who made all-state in track or football?

Making a varsity team is way different than being a prominent Hall of Fame figure. Making a varsity team even in basketball isn't that hard. Now being a starter, that is considerably harder. Then doing well and winning championships. I mean that is like being the best in the state. A 1500 on the ACT is not like being the best at anything. It's an individual event that consists mostly of self-absorbed individuals. Even if you were the valedictorian, oh you're better than the half of dozen other kids in the school that care and you have a parent that teaches so you were able to get that extra A that you weren't supposed to get so you edged them out by .01 of a grade point. Whoop-di-doo. Not the same as being a state champion at a sport. At least in terms of scale.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I really don't understand is you walk into the high schools today and the good athletes are prominently displayed in a Hall of Fame on the wall outside the gym or whatever. Why aren't the good students displayed somewhere? Why isn't the picture of 1998's valedictorian up on the wall like the kid who made all-state in track or football?

Making a varsity team is way different than being a prominent Hall of Fame figure. Making a varsity team even in basketball isn't that hard. Now being a starter, that is considerably harder. Then doing well and winning championships. I mean that is like being the best in the state. A 1500 on the ACT is not like being the best at anything. It's an individual event that consists mostly of self-absorbed individuals. Even if you were the valedictorian, oh you're better than the half of dozen other kids in the school that care and you have a parent that teaches so you were able to get that extra A that you weren't supposed to get so you edged them out by .01 of a grade point. Whoop-di-doo. Not the same as being a state champion at a sport. At least in terms of scale.

gong