Tell me about Georgetown Day....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The premise was that mandatory participation on a sports team would decrease/prevent drug abuse. Kids who are only involved in athletics when required aren't kids who dream of the Olympics or going pro or even NCAA.

And, of course, the whole my body is a temple analysis glosses over both the issues of performance-enhancing drugs and of prescription painkillers.

You seem to have the pre-determined idea that the ONLY reason kids at schools which mandate sports participation, participate in sports IS BECAUSE it is mandated, not because they happen to love their sport or have dreams and ambitions in it. Many , many kids do have big athletic dreams. Most kids do not consider sports a drudgery and most kids feel pretty good about themselves after reaching an athletic goal.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The premise was that mandatory participation on a sports team would decrease/prevent drug abuse. Kids who are only involved in athletics when required aren't kids who dream of the Olympics or going pro or even NCAA.

And, of course, the whole my body is a temple analysis glosses over both the issues of performance-enhancing drugs and of prescription painkillers.

You seem to have the pre-determined idea that the ONLY reason kids at schools which mandate sports participation, participate in sports IS BECAUSE it is mandated, not because they happen to love their sport or have dreams and ambitions in it. Many , many kids do have big athletic dreams. Most kids do not consider sports a drudgery and most kids feel pretty good about themselves after reaching an athletic goal.

Oops, sorry -- you've misunderstood. I've been responding to (and referenced, but increasingly obliquely) a claim made earlier in this thread that GDS is (or is perceived to be) druggier than other local privates because it doesn't have mandatory sports participation. So, in comparing mandatory vs. voluntary sports participation (e.g. the variable) and asking what difference it makes, I'm focusing on the kids whose behavior would be different if the policy changed. At GDS, those are the kids who would be on teams only if coerced and, at schools where team participation is mandatory, the kids who are only on teams because they're forced to be. These kids (the unwilling athletes) aren't likely to experience any sports-induced substance abuse prevention effect if that effect is a function of serious and disciplined athletic aspirations. They don't have those aspirations.

I'm certainly not claiming other kids don't have such dreams (or making any guess about how many kids fall into which category or suggesting that schools with mandatory participation have fewer such kids). I'm just assuming that, for the kids who do have serious athletic aspirations, whether or not their school requires team participation is pretty much irrelevant in terms of the whole "My body is a temple"/"I'm in training" thing.

(FWIW, I've got a serious athlete at home. And since DC's sport is a club sport, not being required to be on a school team will be what enables DC to retain/pursue her athletic aspirations. I know because, in MS, participation on a school team IS pretty much mandatory at GDS and the time pressure can get brutal.)

MS sports teams especially at GDS are just not that much of a killer in terms of time. Please get back to me when you are a varsity athlete with 2 1/2 hour practices every day including sat and sometimes on sun. Games that re 2-3 hours away or off season road trips and trying to study for the sat and doing hw for AP's.

[Anonymous]

Yes, that was my point. I know from the fact that mandatory team participation in MS + academic workload + DC's club sport could get overwhelming, that compulsory team sports in HS (especially as academic workload increases) would have driven her out of the club sport.

So, basically, not being required to participate on a school team turns out to be a prerequisite to DC remaining a serious athlete.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell also have excellent academics but is weak in sports. NCS and St Albans probably have the best combination of excellent academics plus strong sports teams.

Please stop with the sports fallacy.

I'm not the PP, but what she/he said is accurate. GDS is mediocre athletics. How can you refute that? And in terms of a balance between academics and athletics, few can rivals NCS and STA.

GDS has some top sports teams. I can't remember what they are because my family, like a lot of GDS families, doesn't care about sports. If you want to go to a school where football players and other jocks are at the top of the social pyramid, don't pick GDS. If you just like sports, inquire when you visit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell also have excellent academics but is weak in sports. NCS and St Albans probably have the best combination of excellent academics plus strong sports teams.

Please stop with the sports fallacy.

I'm not the PP, but what she/he said is accurate. GDS is mediocre athletics. How can you refute that? And in terms of a balance between academics and athletics, few can rivals NCS and STA.

GDS has some top sports teams. I can't remember what they are because my family, like a lot of GDS families, doesn't care about sports. If you want to go to a school where football players and other jocks are at the top of the social pyramid, don't pick GDS. If you just like sports, inquire when you visit.

GDS has good boys soccer, boys' cross country, and ok girls' basketball. They don't field teams in other sports (football, field hockey), and are terrible in most everything else. That's ok, it's not a place that emphasizes sports (although they do let in senior transfers for girls' basketball, which is quite unusual); however, it is non-factual to claim it is a good sports program in general.

[Anonymous]

GDS as an institution is soft on drugs. Case in point: Several years ago a group of GDS students on a "service trip" were caught smoking pot; the school did nothing. They don't regard pot as serious and the students know it.

[Anonymous]

20:31, oh no! That sounds really scary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:20:31, oh no! That sounds really scary.

Well, the school is doing well so I guess it works for them. If they don't enforce stuff they'll never have a Maret pot brownies scandal, and most of the kids seem to be smart enough to smoke weed and still do well academically.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The premise was that mandatory participation on a sports team would decrease/prevent drug abuse. Kids who are only involved in athletics when required aren't kids who dream of the Olympics or going pro or even NCAA.

And, of course, the whole my body is a temple analysis glosses over both the issues of performance-enhancing drugs and of prescription painkillers.

You seem to have the pre-determined idea that the ONLY reason kids at schools which mandate sports participation, participate in sports IS BECAUSE it is mandated, not because they happen to love their sport or have dreams and ambitions in it. Many , many kids do have big athletic dreams. Most kids do not consider sports a drudgery and most kids feel pretty good about themselves after reaching an athletic goal.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The premise was that mandatory participation on a sports team would decrease/prevent drug abuse. Kids who are only involved in athletics when required aren't kids who dream of the Olympics or going pro or even NCAA.

And, of course, the whole my body is a temple analysis glosses over both the issues of performance-enhancing drugs and of prescription painkillers.

You seem to have the pre-determined idea that the ONLY reason kids at schools which mandate sports participation, participate in sports IS BECAUSE it is mandated, not because they happen to love their sport or have dreams and ambitions in it. Many , many kids do have big athletic dreams. Most kids do not consider sports a drudgery and most kids feel pretty good about themselves after reaching an athletic goal.

Oops, sorry -- you've misunderstood. I've been responding to (and referenced, but increasingly obliquely) a claim made earlier in this thread that GDS is (or is perceived to be) druggier than other local privates because it doesn't have mandatory sports participation. So, in comparing mandatory vs. voluntary sports participation (e.g. the variable) and asking what difference it makes, I'm focusing on the kids whose behavior would be different if the policy changed. At GDS, those are the kids who would be on teams only if coerced and, at schools where team participation is mandatory, the kids who are only on teams because they're forced to be. These kids (the unwilling athletes) aren't likely to experience any sports-induced substance abuse prevention effect if that effect is a function of serious and disciplined athletic aspirations. They don't have those aspirations.

I'm certainly not claiming other kids don't have such dreams (or making any guess about how many kids fall into which category or suggesting that schools with mandatory participation have fewer such kids). I'm just assuming that, for the kids who do have serious athletic aspirations, whether or not their school requires team participation is pretty much irrelevant in terms of the whole "My body is a temple"/"I'm in training" thing.

(FWIW, I've got a serious athlete at home. And since DC's sport is a club sport, not being required to be on a school team will be what enables DC to retain/pursue her athletic aspirations. I know because, in MS, participation on a school team IS pretty much mandatory at GDS and the time pressure can get brutal.)

MS sports teams especially at GDS are just not that much of a killer in terms of time. Please get back to me when you are a varsity athlete with 2 1/2 hour practices every day including sat and sometimes on sun. Games that re 2-3 hours away or off season road trips and trying to study for the sat and doing hw for AP's.

Actually, I was a varsity athlete who practiced ( in HS) Fall, Winter and Spring until 6pm every night while carrying 3 AP classes. I did not make the US Olympic team, but I did earn a full athletic scholarship to a Division I University. In college we had 6AM practice followed by 3-6:30 pm practice 5 days a week with travelling for competition every thurs through Sunday on the road in some motel( Fall , Spring and Summer for 4 years). It was a great time and much, much easier than the waitressing jobs I had jobs I had to work put myself through Grad school. Practice for from 3pm-7pm in return for free tuition, board and books is much , much easier than working 60 hours a week in a 4 star french restaurant where the Chef owner is insane and screams at you in French while the Senators in the dining room ask you cheesy questions and you have to be polite.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell also have excellent academics but is weak in sports. NCS and St Albans probably have the best combination of excellent academics plus strong sports teams.

Please stop with the sports fallacy.

I'm not the PP, but what she/he said is accurate. GDS is mediocre athletics. How can you refute that? And in terms of a balance between academics and athletics, few can rivals NCS and STA.

GDS has some top sports teams. I can't remember what they are because my family, like a lot of GDS families, doesn't care about sports. If you want to go to a school where football players and other jocks are at the top of the social pyramid, don't pick GDS. If you just like sports, inquire when you visit.

Not interested in football; who is ? But, National level in crew, cross country, tennis and lacrosse is respectable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidwell also have excellent academics but is weak in sports. NCS and St Albans probably have the best combination of excellent academics plus strong sports teams.

Please stop with the sports fallacy.

I'm not the PP, but what she/he said is accurate. GDS is mediocre athletics. How can you refute that? And in terms of a balance between academics and athletics, few can rivals NCS and STA.

GDS has some top sports teams. I can't remember what they are because my family, like a lot of GDS families, doesn't care about sports. If you want to go to a school where football players and other jocks are at the top of the social pyramid, don't pick GDS. If you just like sports, inquire when you visit.

Not interested in football; who is ? But, National level in crew, cross country, tennis and lacrosse is respectable.

What school are you describing? GDS a doormat in lax, tennis, and crew. Ok locally for x-country (wins the weak boys' league, the MAC).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:20:31, oh no! That sounds really scary.

So much for the "social justice" bs.

[Anonymous]

I thought that the PP you quoted wasn't talking about GDS but laying out her own criteria for what would count as a "respectable" athletics program. You see, football's too plebeian -- what matters is the prep school sports!

[Anonymous]

Use of Drugs and Alcohol

Because GDS cares deeply about the health and well-being
of its students, because the School is committed to providing a healthy learning and working environment for all, because inappropriate decisions about drugs and alcohol endanger both the students who use them and those with whom they come in contact, because drugs and alcohol can severely impair their academic performance as well as encumber their lives with the devastating burden of addiction, and because this behavior is against the law,
it is the School’s policy that students are expressly prohibited from undertaking any of the following activities:

a. Attending school or school-sponsored activities under the
influence of illicit drugs or alcohol;

b. Using drugs or alcohol in school, at school-sponsored activities, or in the School’s environs;

c. Distributing, buying, selling, possessing, exchanging, or facilitating the exchange of drugs or alcohol in school, at school-sponsored activities, in the School’s environs or elsewhere.

If a student is caught committing any of the offenses set forth above, serious consequences will result. Absent extraordinary mitigating circumstances, the sale or distribution of drugs (prescription or non prescription) or alcohol in school, at school-sponsored activities, or in the School’s environs will result in expulsion or suspension. Other infractions of the policy regarding drugs and alcohol will result in probation, suspension or expulsion, the severity of which will be proportionate to the offense. However, repeated instances of any prohibited behavior will result in expulsion or long-term suspension.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Use of Drugs and Alcohol

Because GDS cares deeply about the health and well-being
of its students, because the School is committed to providing a healthy learning and working environment for all, because inappropriate decisions about drugs and alcohol endanger both the students who use them and those with whom they come in contact, because drugs and alcohol can severely impair their academic performance as well as encumber their lives with the devastating burden of addiction, and because this behavior is against the law,
it is the School’s policy that students are expressly prohibited from undertaking any of the following activities:

a. Attending school or school-sponsored activities under the
influence of illicit drugs or alcohol;

b. Using drugs or alcohol in school, at school-sponsored activities, or in the School’s environs;

c. Distributing, buying, selling, possessing, exchanging, or facilitating the exchange of drugs or alcohol in school, at school-sponsored activities, in the School’s environs or elsewhere.

If a student is caught committing any of the offenses set forth above, serious consequences will result. Absent extraordinary mitigating circumstances, the sale or distribution of drugs (prescription or non prescription) or alcohol in school, at school-sponsored activities, or in the School’s environs will result in expulsion or suspension. Other infractions of the policy regarding drugs and alcohol will result in probation, suspension or expulsion, the severity of which will be proportionate to the offense. However, repeated instances of any prohibited behavior will result in expulsion or long-term suspension.

Nice verbiage. As they say, "the proof of the pudding is in the eating." Again, several years ago students on a school sponsored and school chaperoned trip to New Orleans to do post-Katrina clean-up work were caught smoking marijuana. It was reported to the school and nothing happened. At all. No disciplinary consequences whatsoever. The rest of the student body was well aware of this and it has encouraged the view that the school not only deliberately looks the other way, but will not act on drug-related suspicions or even in confirmed cases. It is what it is; good academic school that does have more drug use than the other privates (although all have some).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Use of Drugs and Alcohol

Because GDS cares deeply about the health and well-being
of its students, because the School is committed to providing a healthy learning and working environment for all, because inappropriate decisions about drugs and alcohol endanger both the students who use them and those with whom they come in contact, because drugs and alcohol can severely impair their academic performance as well as encumber their lives with the devastating burden of addiction, and because this behavior is against the law,
it is the School’s policy that students are expressly prohibited from undertaking any of the following activities:

a. Attending school or school-sponsored activities under the
influence of illicit drugs or alcohol;

b. Using drugs or alcohol in school, at school-sponsored activities, or in the School’s environs;

c. Distributing, buying, selling, possessing, exchanging, or facilitating the exchange of drugs or alcohol in school, at school-sponsored activities, in the School’s environs or elsewhere.

If a student is caught committing any of the offenses set forth above, serious consequences will result. Absent extraordinary mitigating circumstances, the sale or distribution of drugs (prescription or non prescription) or alcohol in school, at school-sponsored activities, or in the School’s environs will result in expulsion or suspension. Other infractions of the policy regarding drugs and alcohol will result in probation, suspension or expulsion, the severity of which will be proportionate to the offense. However, repeated instances of any prohibited behavior will result in expulsion or long-term suspension.

Well, put that in your bong and smoke it, GDS has rules.