Why do travel sports parents ignore academics?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of the kids I know who are high level athletes are also outstanding students.

Bullshit. Maybe at STA or Langley, but not at an average public.

Are you concerned that kids who are talented at both athletics and academics will have an advantage over kids who have great academics but not other talents?

Oh right. No public school grads ever get a D1 scholarship. I forgot.

Seriously? Who wants their kid to have a D1 scholarship? Not me. I'd rather have my kid be able to get into a great school and study, not have to play sports as what is essentially a job and then put academics second. I can afford college. My kid doesn't need a scholarship.

My kid doesnt need a scholarship either but the bump that an elite sport (lacrosse in our case) gives a kid applying to a top school really makes a difference when every other kid applying also has top scores and grades. All the top colleges (minus perhaps engineering schools) recruit for lacrosse but they dont give money to peoplewho dont really need it - instead they single you out as most desirable for admission. That is worth more than any scholarship in my book.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of the kids I know who are high level athletes are also outstanding students.

Bullshit. Maybe at STA or Langley, but not at an average public.

Are you concerned that kids who are talented at both athletics and academics will have an advantage over kids who have great academics but not other talents?

Oh right. No public school grads ever get a D1 scholarship. I forgot.

Seriously? Who wants their kid to have a D1 scholarship? Not me. I'd rather have my kid be able to get into a great school and study, not have to play sports as what is essentially a job and then put academics second. I can afford college. My kid doesn't need a scholarship.

My kid doesnt need a scholarship either but the bump that an elite sport (lacrosse in our case) gives a kid applying to a top school really makes a difference when every other kid applying also has top scores and grades. All the top colleges (minus perhaps engineering schools) recruit for lacrosse but they dont give money to peoplewho dont really need it - instead they single you out as most desirable for admission. That is worth more than any scholarship in my book.

How many kids, though? Maybe 1 per travel team? If your kid loves it, I think it's great. But if your kid hates it and sees it as a chore, I'd skip it. My DD has a friend who has an over use injury at 11 because her parents are pushing her so hard at a sport for college admissions and (I think) for a scholarship. The details are horrible but I don't want to give more detail and identify her here.

[Anonymous]

Some perspective here parents. Sorry if this bursts your bubble, but "good student" "outstanding student" is meaningless. Most of you don't know what top academics are. For example, my kids went freshman year to a private HS instead of the giant but excellent public HS. Before HS , they were in gifted programs. So they get to HS and honors classes were a JOKE. This is a good school - but really, they don't even offer AP physics. The public schools are excellent in our area and people send their kids to this school so their kid can make the team, be in the play, cheer.....be somebody. A lot of the IB classes - not that tough either.

You want tough, show me a kid that is taking AP calc AB and BC , multivariable calc, both AP physics classes, AP literature and also pouring hours and hours into sports. Show me a BIG SCHOOL varsity player - say 500 or more in graduating class that is taking classes that would be accepted at Perdue for Engineering.

In short - academically , most parents of kids that think their kid is a great student may not realize their kid is just good in the academic rec league!!! Private schools are great for giving the allusion of academic greatness. ACT of 32 or so and varsity football or baseball at a big public school. I'm sure they are out there. Max Scherzer got a 36 on his ACT math section. But these kids are rare, and yes, huge hours are needed to excel at the big school varsity level and these kids 99/100 times aren't nailing classes that would qualify in an accredited engineering program.

[Anonymous]

In my experience, it’s because the parents aren’t very intelligent ourselves. The Al Bundy reference is spot on. You can’t give what you don’t have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some perspective here parents. Sorry if this bursts your bubble, but "good student" "outstanding student" is meaningless. Most of you don't know what top academics are. For example, my kids went freshman year to a private HS instead of the giant but excellent public HS. Before HS , they were in gifted programs. So they get to HS and honors classes were a JOKE. This is a good school - but really, they don't even offer AP physics. The public schools are excellent in our area and people send their kids to this school so their kid can make the team, be in the play, cheer.....be somebody. A lot of the IB classes - not that tough either.

You want tough, show me a kid that is taking AP calc AB and BC , multivariable calc, both AP physics classes, AP literature and also pouring hours and hours into sports. Show me a BIG SCHOOL varsity player - say 500 or more in graduating class that is taking classes that would be accepted at Perdue for Engineering.

In short - academically , most parents of kids that think their kid is a great student may not realize their kid is just good in the academic rec league!!! Private schools are great for giving the allusion of academic greatness. ACT of 32 or so and varsity football or baseball at a big public school. I'm sure they are out there. Max Scherzer got a 36 on his ACT math section. But these kids are rare, and yes, huge hours are needed to excel at the big scho
ol varsity level and these kids 99/100 times aren't nailing classes that would qualify in an accredited engineering program.

Hmmmmm...

We left a “great public school system” precisely because if the serious grade inflation. Straight As in top classes while doing almost nothing. It’s why there are 35 valedictorians.

Private is much more rigorous and goes beyond teach to the test...and they actually can write when they finish HS—something public is abysmal at teaching.

We are D1 athletes that could choose academic scholarship which provided more $ than the measly soccer one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some perspective here parents. Sorry if this bursts your bubble, but "good student" "outstanding student" is meaningless. Most of you don't know what top academics are. For example, my kids went freshman year to a private HS instead of the giant but excellent public HS. Before HS , they were in gifted programs. So they get to HS and honors classes were a JOKE. This is a good school - but really, they don't even offer AP physics. The public schools are excellent in our area and people send their kids to this school so their kid can make the team, be in the play, cheer.....be somebody. A lot of the IB classes - not that tough either.

You want tough, show me a kid that is taking AP calc AB and BC , multivariable calc, both AP physics classes, AP literature and also pouring hours and hours into sports. Show me a BIG SCHOOL varsity player - say 500 or more in graduating class that is taking classes that would be accepted at Perdue for Engineering.

In short - academically , most parents of kids that think their kid is a great student may not realize their kid is just good in the academic rec league!!! Private schools are great for giving the allusion of academic greatness. ACT of 32 or so and varsity football or baseball at a big public school. I'm sure they are out there. Max Scherzer got a 36 on his ACT math section. But these kids are rare, and yes, huge hours are needed to excel at the big scho
ol varsity level and these kids 99/100 times aren't nailing classes that would qualify in an accredited engineering program.

Hmmmmm...

We left a “great public school system” precisely because if the serious grade inflation. Straight As in top classes while doing almost nothing. It’s why there are 35 valedictorians.

Private is much more rigorous and goes beyond teach to the test...and they actually can write when they finish HS—something public is abysmal at teaching.

We are D1 athletes that could choose academic scholarship which provided more $ than the measly soccer one.

If you have 3000 kids in a rich area with really smart kids what do you expect with grades? 35 would be pretty low.

We looked at private, prefer private but they didn't have the advanced levels of math we were looking for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Obviously not all, but you know what I mean. The best case scenario is your teen is one of the top 5% (?) who will get an athletic scholarship to college. OK...well...they still have to major in something. Patrician sports parents get this, but the middle class sports -- football, basketball, baseball, soccer, volleyball, softball, swimming -- parents rarely seem to. They let the sport just consume their and their kid's life, then they get to college and can only handle communications or sociology.

The real issue is that they're unlikely to even be prepared for college. Even though there are plenty of degree mills and laughing stock majors, roughly 50% of boys fail or drop out of college before getting their BA.

These parents have no impulse control, they want immediate thrills and glorification the sport provides, plus they don't value or comprehend what education means. They SAY they care about education, but their actions put forth 100x more energy and passion into their kid's sport. So the kid also has little impulse control and doesn't REALLY give a s*** about education. To top it off inflated grades – 50% of all 12th graders have an A average GPA! – con travel sports parents into thinking their jock kid who "never studies" is WICKED SMART with his or her fake As and Bs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some perspective here parents. Sorry if this bursts your bubble, but "good student" "outstanding student" is meaningless. Most of you don't know what top academics are. For example, my kids went freshman year to a private HS instead of the giant but excellent public HS. Before HS , they were in gifted programs. So they get to HS and honors classes were a JOKE. This is a good school - but really, they don't even offer AP physics. The public schools are excellent in our area and people send their kids to this school so their kid can make the team, be in the play, cheer.....be somebody. A lot of the IB classes - not that tough either...

Astute post. People are incredibly insular and never realize their kid is a dime a dozen. They also fall victim to comparing their kid to kids in the same high school. There are 27,000 high schools in the U.S., plus if your kid goes to a decent university and a competitive career, they're competing against international students, too. At the overwhelming majority of those 27,000 high schools, even valedictorian and salutatorian makes your kid a dime a dozen – let alone merely top 10% or 20% of their specific high school class.

With regard to sports, my in-laws always facebook brag about their teen daughter winning swim competitions and regional awards at her mediocre public high school in a depressed region. The comments act like she's a future Olympian. However, when she swims in the big statewide tournaments over the summer, she isn't even in the top 100 for her age. So big fish in a little pond at her podunk high school but a nobody around half-decent competition.

[Anonymous]

Colleges recruit athletes first for football and basketball. There are minimum ncaa requirements for academics to be eligible to compete. All other sports must have stiluddnts meet those levels too, but the reality is that they exceed them.

Generally speaking the average gpa of a non-football or basketball team will exceed the average campus gpa. My daughter’s soccer team was pretty typical. The team gpa was always around 3.4 and other teams did better. The guys were always around that too - competition I’m sure. That’s typical I would add. Every school we went to during recruiting talked a ton about their academic prowess.

The biggest academic issues really are (1) scheduling and (2) time. There are majors that you really cannot do as an athlete, art, music, and science lab course work all are very problematic. Sports take too much time and travel leads to missed classes that often can not be made up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:there's also geology (rocks for jocks)
plus, if they're really good they can buy themselves a f***ing college.

Hey...GEOL101 may be an easy science, but it does get hard. You have to work for a Geol. Degree (Minerology; geochem; Geophysics....)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of the kids I know who are high level athletes are also outstanding students.

Same here. It seems the ones most into sports are the ones who must manage their time best. No time to waste on tv or video games, etc

+2

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Obviously not all, but you know what I mean. The best case scenario is your teen is one of the top 5% (?) who will get an athletic scholarship to college. OK...well...they still have to major in something. Patrician sports parents get this, but the middle class sports -- football, basketball, baseball, soccer, volleyball, softball, swimming -- parents rarely seem to. They let the sport just consume their and their kid's life, then they get to college and can only handle communications or sociology.

1-Communications is way more marketable than sociology
2-“Bad colleges” have some good students who are there on significant merit scholarships

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The academics vs sports debate is not something you can compare. Bring the smartest kid has nothing to do with talent. Anyone can be a tip scholar, not everyone can be a tip athlete and a top scholar.

Colleges, employers know toots and seek them our.

Many of the academic types who go to debate clubs. Chess clubs, writing camps etc spend just ad much time and money at those activities as do athletes. The difference. Being one dementional vs two dimensional.

My daughter's club teams, every single player is a top tier student whip will get money for school for academics before sport's.

A recent graduate at Harvard played soccer at good council, a recent graduate of bcc played soccer at stanford, she took the academic scholarship instead of the sports one so the team could give the sports scholarship to another player. A local volleyball player is enrolling st Harvard this fall. Read the local commitments, it is pretty impressive

Sure many kids enroll at those schools but it is a lot easier if that is your dole focus.

I would take an athlete who is committed to their academics and sport over the top ranked non athlete 100% of the time.

Stanford doesn’t give academic scholarships

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some perspective here parents. Sorry if this bursts your bubble, but "good student" "outstanding student" is meaningless. Most of you don't know what top academics are. For example, my kids went freshman year to a private HS instead of the giant but excellent public HS. Before HS , they were in gifted programs. So they get to HS and honors classes were a JOKE. This is a good school - but really, they don't even offer AP physics. The public schools are excellent in our area and people send their kids to this school so their kid can make the team, be in the play, cheer.....be somebody. A lot of the IB classes - not that tough either...

Astute post. People are incredibly insular and never realize their kid is a dime a dozen. They also fall victim to comparing their kid to kids in the same high school. There are 27,000 high schools in the U.S., plus if your kid goes to a decent university and a competitive career, they're competing against international students, too. At the overwhelming majority of those 27,000 high schools, even valedictorian and salutatorian makes your kid a dime a dozen – let alone merely top 10% or 20% of their specific high school class.

With regard to sports, my in-laws always facebook brag about their teen daughter winning swim competitions and regional awards at her mediocre public high school in a depressed region. The comments act like she's a future Olympian. However, when she swims in the big statewide tournaments over the summer, she isn't even in the top 100 for her age. So big fish in a little pond at her podunk high school but a nobody around half-decent competition.

Check yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some perspective here parents. Sorry if this bursts your bubble, but "good student" "outstanding student" is meaningless. Most of you don't know what top academics are. For example, my kids went freshman year to a private HS instead of the giant but excellent public HS. Before HS , they were in gifted programs. So they get to HS and honors classes were a JOKE. This is a good school - but really, they don't even offer AP physics. The public schools are excellent in our area and people send their kids to this school so their kid can make the team, be in the play, cheer.....be somebody. A lot of the IB classes - not that tough either.

You want tough, show me a kid that is taking AP calc AB and BC , multivariable calc, both AP physics classes, AP literature and also pouring hours and hours into sports. Show me a BIG SCHOOL varsity player - say 500 or more in graduating class that is taking classes that would be accepted at Perdue for Engineering.

In short - academically , most parents of kids that think their kid is a great student may not realize their kid is just good in the academic rec league!!! Private schools are great for giving the allusion of academic greatness. ACT of 32 or so and varsity football or baseball at a big public school. I'm sure they are out there. Max Scherzer got a 36 on his ACT math section. But these kids are rare, and yes, huge hours are needed to excel at the big school varsity level and these kids 99/100 times aren't nailing classes that would qualify in an accredited engineering program.

You can’t spell Purdue. Also, if this isn’t satire stop putting so much pressure on your kid. They might just kill themself.