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[quote=Anonymous]Here's my take on it.

Academic extracurriculars are fine.  If you want to send your kid to Mathnasium or Kumon or whatever, go for it.  I don't think of education as a competition and I don't think academic extracurriculars are super valuable - if you learn to do algebra in 6th grade vs. 7th or 8th or 9th, what does it really matter? - but I also find it unobjectionable.

I do disagree with prepping kids for tests that aren't meant to be prepped for.  If you're prepping your kids to take the WISC or Cogat or whatever, you're invalidating the test scores.  Those tests are designed to be taken unprepped.  Prep can't raise your score on the Cogat as much as it can on something like the MAP, but it can boost your score.  I know I just said it's not a competition, but those tests are typically given to allocate resources where they are most needed, and an artificially enhanced score is taking away a spot from someone else.

I don't think there's really an equivalent in sports (or music or anything else) because I don't think there are any sports competitions or tests that are meant to measure raw talent vs. current ability.  If there were such tests, and you prepped for them, that would also be wrong.  Kids' sports these days are over the top, and if you put your kid into a sport expecting a college scholarship out of it, you're probably nuts, but there are lots of good reasons for kids to participate in sports.

FWIW, my kids don't do either one (academic prep or athletic coaching).   I am sure they will turn out just fine.  [/quote]

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