Reply to Why Public School lax so poor, for both girls and boys, here?

Forum Index » Lacrosse

Reply to "Why Public School lax so poor, for both girls and boys, here?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Unlike in NY, CT, and NJ, and especially Long Island, there isnt a single public school team in the entire region that could beat one of the top 5 top private school teams, in boys or girls lacrosse.  Public school lacrosse in the DMV and Baltimore and surrounding areas is pretty dismal with a few lights (Langley GLAX comes to mind) but even they can't come close to the best private school teams.  Why is it that way down here? [/quote]

I've had DCs in top private and public HSs in this area and both played lacrosse.  I cannot speak to other areas of the country but here, to me, it's all about money and priorities.

Public schools have to educate everyone. Generally speaking, having winning sports teams, especially lacrosse which is viewed as a wealthy kid's sport, is not the priority.  Almost all public HSs, to varying degrees, are dealing with FARMS and ESOL students and students with various types of serious learning disabilities. More resources have to be expended to educate these students, leaving less money available to spend on extras like sports.  Private schools, on the other hand, can be picky about who they admit and will recruit athletes.

Public schools are funded by taxpayers.   Taxpayers do not want to pay more so that the public HSs have top lacrosse coaches and year round programs.  Private schools rely on funding from wealthy parents, wealthy donors and wealthy alums who are happy to invest in top coaches and year round programs. Winning sports teams means increased school pride and even school identity in the case of schools like SSSAS, and even more donations.

Wealthy private school lax parents I knew/know are more willing to spend money on fancy equipment, private coaching, clinics, expensive clubs and overnight lax camps during the summer and school breaks. And when many of the parents of your kid's teammates are doing this it seems normal and/or a keeping up the the Jonese kind of thing.   Wealthy private school parents fund raise significant amounts of money to pay for even more extras and can afford to pay for their lax teams to travel to distant states to play other top private lax HSs.  Most public HS parents cannot afford to annually spend the thousands of dollars that these luxuries cost.  Even some of the public school lax parents I know who could afford all of this think that's crazy and are willing to pay for club lax only.  OP you pointed to Langley GLAX as an example of a good public school program.  The vast majority of Langley students come from wealthy backgrounds. The FARMS and ESOL rates at Langley have to be some of the lowest in the state. I'd venture that parents do some pretty strong fundraising at Langley to afford extras and that most of the girls on the lax teams play club lacrosse and attend clinics and camps.  Contrast that with a TC Williams or Wakefield.  Do you really think that the girls at Langley are just naturally better athletes than the girls at TC Williams or Wakefield?

My DC who attended public also ran winter track.  The contrast between the economic backgrounds of the students who ran track and the students who played lax was stark.  All it takes to be good at track is a decent pair of running shoes, talent and motivation.  Guess who runs track at DC's public HS and the meets they attended - many of the FARMS and ESOL students.  I will bet you can guess who who plays lax at DCs's public HS and it's not the FARMS and ESOL students who are running track.  Hopefully someday it will be but considering that money buys advantages that can turn even mediocre HS lax players into decent HS lax players, I don't see that day coming any time soon.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics