Anonymous wrote:Passion has a pretty weak correlation with success from my experience, and many others would agree. A ton of kids who are passionate about sports can’t even pass tryouts for high school. Passion itself isn’t enough for extracurricular success

Ok

When it comes to “passion” I had two parents who were “passionate” about their music and met in music school at UMichigan. My mom had gone to Stephens College prior same class as Dawn Wells, the actress.

My dad was a senior and my mom was a freshman but she’d been raised by her grandparents because her dad was WW2 and I think they tried to replace their daughter lost in the 1919 flu.

Those great grandparents died and left her nowhere to go so she married my dad just to have somewhere else to go.

Anonymous wrote:Many kids are passionate about video games. Doesn't make for a very unique or compell EC.

It can, depending on what they do with that passion.

Expose kids to lots of actviites, and let them find their way. They may:

Hate it and have no skill at it
Love it and have no skill at it
Feel meh and have no skill at it
Hate it and be really talented
Love it and be really talented
Feel meh and be really talented
Hate it and be meh at it
Love it and be meh at it
Feel meh and be meh at it

How they proceed and what you do to encourage continuing or encourage trying something new depends on the combination. And passion can come into any one of those combinations along the way.

Anonymous wrote:Passion has a pretty weak correlation with success from my experience, and many others would agree. A ton of kids who are passionate about sports can’t even pass tryouts for high school. Passion itself isn’t enough for extracurricular success

No. Why would I get annoyed by what other people's kids are doing? Too many Karens in this society. MYOB

This is obvious, but having a passion for sports but no ahtletic talent does not mean sports cannot be your EC or your passion project. You could be the team manager, a sports writer, head the booster club and raise a ton of money for the teams, run the clocks at events, be a sports photographer or the highlight film editor. Or you could continue to work at the sport you love and improve your own skills and maybe continue it as a life long passion hobby, even though you never made varsity.

And so on.

Anonymous wrote:Passion has a pretty weak correlation with success from my experience, and many others would agree. A ton of kids who are passionate about sports can’t even pass tryouts for high school. Passion itself isn’t enough for extracurricular success

Yep

I think we oversell passion and it's doing our kids a disservice - like if they haven't figured it out yet or their "passion" and skills don't align. Do an extracurricular that is meaningful or fun or supports an interest. not everything is passion.

Many high school students are emotionally pressured and raised to believe that life is all about winning. They end up carrying their parents’ dreams instead of their own, and grow into adults who don’t really know how to be happy.

There’s nothing wrong with having passion — but too often, it must be a passion their parents approve of or something to make their parents look good

Anonymous wrote:Many kids are passionate about video games. Doesn't make for a very unique or compell EC.

I mean, it can be. Often passion infers depth, not one-dimensional, shallow interest. For example, a kid passionate about video games could get involved into esports. That could lead to volunteering or working at camps related to esports. Or organize local video games tournaments

Maybe the kid is also interested in in coding so learns to create game apps. Or maybe there’s a specific game their o to & they write novels related to the game.

I know little about video games so I’m sure there’s more ways for curious kids passionate about video games to explore that.

Similarly, for kids “mid” at sports. You can volunteer to teach & inspire elementary schoolers your sport. Or volunteer at tournaments. You can ref as a job. You can try to announce or report on high school teams. IMO, losing & getting up & trying again is a useful life lesson.

I think the key is to just encourage kids to be curious.

I think these kids are actually passionate about curating activities that will get them into selective colleges. How many of them continue with their passion once they get in?

I have a DD at an Ivy who was over the top “passionate” about her sport. Once at the Ivy, the sport became an activity she enjoyed with her friends. Her “passion” now seems to be her GPA and getting a good job in finance, despite my efforts to convince her that a life in finance might not be what it seems.

I think people put too much meaning into "passion" in this context. I think an activity that your kid enjoys enough to pursue on her or his own is sufficient. Both of my kids play guitar, and one of them enjoys it enough that he has spent a substantial amount of time practicing and collaborating with other musicians his age. Is he the next Eddie Van Halen? No. Does he want to major in music? No. But he is good enough that he and his friend get paid here and there to play as a duo, and the time he spends playing is for enjoyment alone.

Passion and parents who do travel sports give misguided hope to kids who are just not big enough for instance to play a sport.

This is a true crazy story I am not a sports person at all. Never played any sports even for fun other than shooting hoops in park once in awhile.

In HS one year I did track, just cause guidance counselor said to put something on application for college, ran cross country and indoor track, 100 yard dash type stuff.

Freshman year college I had a roommate a big football star in HS. He was only 5 foot 10 inches and used to complain nearly every school he applied to for offensive line or defensive line was a six foot minimum so all his work did not pay off. He used to say he love to have my body. Creepy. But he ment I was six foot two inch.

He liked to lift weights and I used to do it with him as I though help me meet the ladies.

Well I transfer colleges and get offered a full athletic scholarship in Lacrosse and also the Football team invited me to meet with them.

Granted my school had shitty teams but both did scholorships. So what the heck. I go get paperwork off coach and I go why? You are a 19 year old transfer student who is six foot two inch, 210 pound who can run miles at a time via cross country and can run fast via your track and you are in shaped and obvisously work out. I can teach you lacrcoss or the football can teach you the sports. I cant teach people to be six foot two inch 210 pounds and fast runners and in shape,

Bottom line I turned down the scholorship as I already had full financial aid. They did get me to do intramural football which I was pretty good at and then intramural basketball. Both sports I picked up at 20. Once again being able to run in basketball for a full 60 minutes made me good on defense and football was size and quickness.

Yet my HS I recall short little kids dads pushing. Really, Like my five foot ten inch roomate it was not going to happen

I was shocked my school my coach was checking out the transfers.

Many kids are passionate about video games. Doesn't make for a very unique or compell EC.

My passion project was mowing our lawn.