How much time does your High Schooler spend on homework?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, replied too early before reading the whole. My children attended NCS and STA; they were recruited athletes and had their choice of colleges (one went ivy, the other Stanford). One graduated with a science major and being a varsity athlete helped enormously with getting offers from top consulting firms, who incidentally have special recruiting events for athletes on campus; instead went to a top MD/PhD program, where varsity athlete all 4 years in college and national team member was a major topic during the interviews. The other is still in school but has found that during interviews for on-campus research assistantships/internships/summer scholarships, being an athlete at a high level is a major plus. (Also don't forget the athletic scholarships
And, they learned to do their HW in 2 hours/night and during free period at school (NCS)

For the sake of argument, let's assume the athletics route (as you are suggesting) to college is the only (or best) route available to high school kids. And, they continue their athletics activities in college, because it carries a significant weight for securing a good job. But, unless it can be shown that these kids will become better researchers and innovators, compared to their non-athletic counterparts, my question remains. Who is going to fuel the engine of technological creativity and innovation in this country?

[Anonymous]

A. 9th
B. barely an hour and sometimes none; uses her free period at school daily
C. NCS
D. 3.8 or so, unweighted

Spends a lot of time on athletics - balance is good, but I wish there were more time for clubs, school paper, etc. But the serious NCS athletes are busy until 6 p.m., so the clubs are catch-as-catch-can. Apparently they're trying to address this, not sure how.

And yes, we wonder if she'd get 4.0 if she spent 2 hours a day on homework, and we have suggested it. Weekly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, replied too early before reading the whole. My children attended NCS and STA; they were recruited athletes and had their choice of colleges (one went ivy, the other Stanford). One graduated with a science major and being a varsity athlete helped enormously with getting offers from top consulting firms, who incidentally have special recruiting events for athletes on campus; instead went to a top MD/PhD program, where varsity athlete all 4 years in college and national team member was a major topic during the interviews. The other is still in school but has found that during interviews for on-campus research assistantships/internships/summer scholarships, being an athlete at a high level is a major plus. (Also don't forget the athletic scholarships
And, they learned to do their HW in 2 hours/night and during free period at school (NCS)

For the sake of argument, let's assume the athletics route (as you are suggesting) to college is the only (or best) route available to high school kids. And, they continue their athletics activities in college, because it carries a significant weight for securing a good job. But, unless it can be shown that these kids will become better researchers and innovators, compared to their non-athletic counterparts, my question remains. Who is going to fuel the engine of technological creativity and innovation in this country?

If you think that the top students are the top colleges are the ones that will be making the next great innovations, you are simply nuts. The academic types find themselves working for the non-academic ones. Plenty of evidence to support this. The ones who spend all their time worrying about doing well within the system are simply not likely to focus on destroying that system. This, of course, does not mean that these top students will not do well in life.

[Anonymous]

Where did the assumption that kids are EITHER athletic OR academic come from? One of the big draws of private schools is that they allow kids to identify as both.

I was one of the first two respond - 11th grader at Sidwell. I would add GPA is 3.6, and DC plays a varsity sport two seasons and is on a travel team for one of those sports year round. Also is very active in two non-athletic extracurricular activities.

[Anonymous]

My athletes in high school but not recruited to ivy children would tell you they love what the athletes bring to the curve in college. Class full of athletes means an easy A.

To answer the question re homework;

my kids had little homework (maybe 2 hours per night) grades 9 and 10. Big three schools, 3.75+ gpa

Junior year, much much more. You see, it isn't the actual homework but how much time and effort one puts into studying for tests and working on projects.

This is why mileage varies.

[Anonymous]

You guys that are reporting 4+ hours of homework, + playing a travel sport; when does your kid find time to actually study. I asked because my 9th has about 4 hours per night after club activities, is able to complete all homework well, but by the time they're done it's 12 or 1 am, to be up by 5.30am. He uses the extra hour in scool to review work, but honestly don't know how much longer he'll be able to keep it up.