Reply to Article on Maret in Washington Post

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Thanks for posting this.  This prompts me to think it may be time that parents on DCUM begin really thinking and talking about sports in independent schools in a more meaningful way.

I will take a shot a starting the dialogue and hope others offer meaningful comments without sarcasm.   I preface this by saying I am not talking specifically about the students featured in this article or that school.  Rather, this is a commentary on the issue of sports in independent schools generally.

1.  I have come to the view that I do not want our independent school seeking out any students primarily for their athletic ability or even admitting such students unless they are expected to be at least average students in our school community.

2.  Interscholastic sports involve a huge time commitment. Unless students are fairly strong in the first place, I don't see how they can juggle such a large commitment and their studies.  If a school wants to recruit the next Bill Bradley (former Knicks player, US Senator, Rhodes Scholar), that's great -- a traditional scholar athlete.  Presumably, very few students from independent schools will have professional sports careers as players, so are we really helping a student who would not be admitted academically absent athletic ability if we require him/her to invest so much time in athletics at our school?

3. For the same reasons and others, I do not want my tuition dollars going toward supporting any sports teams that are focused heavily on getting their kids into college sports teams - especially at Division I schools.  There are plenty of public schools, Catholic schools, and other places students can do that if it is  dream.   As a parent at an independent school, this just isn't something I want to encourage. To the extent it is argued that sports are a way to get some student a college education, I would prefer to donate money to all sorts of worthy causes that help educate underprivileged children directly or help them pay for college.   If a student meets high academic standards but loves a sport too,  I understand the game of working through coaches to get a hook into college admissions all other things near equal, but even that should have some limits on reasonableness.

4.  Some families choose independent schools in part because their child wants more opportunities to play on sports teams than they may get a large public school.  If starting slots on teams are taken up by recruited athletes that do not otherwise meet the academic standards of the schools, in the long run independent schools actually take away one reason why some families think its worth spending 30,000 + annually in tuition.

5.  We already have a culture that too instills in some athletes a certain sense of entitlement that is harmful in the long run to both the student athlete and others around him.  There are many great things about playing sports -- I have no problem with sports.  But if independent schools bend the admissions standards, financial aid packages, offer more tutoring to favor students athletes than available to other students, etc., the schools become part of the wider problem rather than the solution.  I would rather have a less successful sports team playing in a league against teams from like-minded schools, then win by recruiting primarily to strengthen the teams.

Just my two cents -- others may have different views.   And yes, my DC plays varsity sports in an independent school.  But schools need to hear all perspectives.[/quote]

The likelihood that this person has an athletic child is very close to zero.  [/quote]

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