Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How about the asian obsession with having their kids play an instrument?

So true. Asians are good at parroting white people music but cannot come up with anything on their own.

That’s just racist bro

Anonymous wrote:I'm a cultural anthropologust and 2nd gen south asian. also from a former british colony and cultuvating a healthy bidy/mind playing sports was important as a hobby and social lubricant (playing tennis is good fofr beuiness type of mindset). It is easily observable when you go to any sort of corporate retreat etc how the people who are rain maker status partners etc also were on team sports. You can see the same sk9ills uised on teh field to cooperate, communicate worldelssly and be in symch with your team being played out while working. people who havent had a chance to develop those social skills that are focused pn a team effort to win are at a loss when confrnted with a team who has those skills either in a courtroom or in a conference room. In many ways team sports are wargames and America is a very martial nation, that is how we made our bones and how we operate, so not understanding that will limit your capacity to make your own goals.

Anonymous wrote:I am a white mom of 3 kids. One has had an apparent high level aptitude for sports from a very young age. He now plays a travel sport in addition to rec sports scattered throughout the year. He really likes it and a lot of his friends do it so why not? He does well in school and helps around the house so it’s not taking away from anything.

My other 2 kids are run of the mill as far as sports. They rotate through various rec level stuff (karate, soccer, etc.). It’s for the exercise and learning to be part of a team.

Also, DH and I were athletes when we were younger so we get the importance of setting good habits for exercise at a young age.

Anonymous wrote:I’m a first gen Asian immigrant and have a middle schooler and elementary schooler. I grew up in Asia and moved here as an adult. In the course of raising my kids, I’ ve gotten to know people from various ethnicity and races. My immigrant friends from India, china, Korea, Nigeria, Pakistan, Ghana all have one thing in common in that doing well academically is valued. Some of these cultures values sports but it’s only pursued seriously if the child has a tremendous level of motivation and talent. Otherwise, sports is something you do for fun and stay active. We’re unlikely to spend $$ and time pursuing travel sports or private coaching etc for an average kid.
As I interact with white colleagues, especially at work, their life revolves around sports. They coach multiple kids teams, 2 year olds are ice rinks over the weekend learning to skate. The level of rigor and commitment amazed me.
I ask this from a place of curiosity and not judgement - why is the cultural importance of sports higher than academics in the American society? I mean, an above average soccer player has zero prospects in soccer while an above average engineer can make 6 digits right out of school. Can you help me understand?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Google is your friend. Start with articles like these, go to the original research and then to the citations:

https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/being-a-team-player-why-college-athletes-succeed-in-business

This article is from this year but the research has been available for years. There are more out there. Also plenty of articles simply linking career and sports success.

The research for this particular article shows that team sports players admitted with lower gpas than average outperform peers. (In contrast, individual players of wealthy sports, indicating a wealthy background, only leads to a slight career advantage).

Your link is about college sports. The vast majority of kids playing sports in elementary school (this forum) won’t make it that far in their chosen sport.

It’s interesting, but I do wonder if the crop of kids who become collegiate athletes is fundamentally different. Your take away may be overly broad.

So find the other ones. Deloitte had one about women leaders and sports. There have been countless studies on sports.

Did you study an instrument? What did you learn? Precision? Perfectionism?

There is a lot of work that does not require precision or perfectionism. It does require knowing how to be a team captain, playing on a team to win, motivating a team, coaching a team. You won’t learn this in science class.

You will learn it on Science Bowl team.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Google is your friend. Start with articles like these, go to the original research and then to the citations:

https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/being-a-team-player-why-college-athletes-succeed-in-business

This article is from this year but the research has been available for years. There are more out there. Also plenty of articles simply linking career and sports success.

The research for this particular article shows that team sports players admitted with lower gpas than average outperform peers. (In contrast, individual players of wealthy sports, indicating a wealthy background, only leads to a slight career advantage).

Your link is about college sports. The vast majority of kids playing sports in elementary school (this forum) won’t make it that far in their chosen sport.

It’s interesting, but I do wonder if the crop of kids who become collegiate athletes is fundamentally different. Your take away may be overly broad.

So find the other ones. Deloitte had one about women leaders and sports. There have been countless studies on sports.

Did you study an instrument? What did you learn? Precision? Perfectionism?

There is a lot of work that does not require precision or perfectionism. It does require knowing how to be a team captain, playing on a team to win, motivating a team, coaching a team. You won’t learn this in science class.

Anonymous wrote:I send my kids to Jewish day school and there is no obsession over sports. Focus is very much on academics. Perhaps our cultures have that in common!

In public schools, sports are very competitive and taken very seriously. Not a bad thing, just different cultures. Might also be a factor that the public schools are bigger, there is a greater number of talented athletes and making a team is more competitive.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Google is your friend. Start with articles like these, go to the original research and then to the citations:

https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/being-a-team-player-why-college-athletes-succeed-in-business

This article is from this year but the research has been available for years. There are more out there. Also plenty of articles simply linking career and sports success.

The research for this particular article shows that team sports players admitted with lower gpas than average outperform peers. (In contrast, individual players of wealthy sports, indicating a wealthy background, only leads to a slight career advantage).

Your link is about college sports. The vast majority of kids playing sports in elementary school (this forum) won’t make it that far in their chosen sport.

It’s interesting, but I do wonder if the crop of kids who become collegiate athletes is fundamentally different. Your take away may be overly broad.

So find the other ones. Deloitte had one about women leaders and sports. There have been countless studies on sports.

Did you study an instrument? What did you learn? Precision? Perfectionism?

There is a lot of work that does not require precision or perfectionism. It does require knowing how to be a team captain, playing on a team to win, motivating a team, coaching a team. You won’t learn this in science class.

Hey, just for the record I want to state that for many kids, playing an instrument is a great way to learn a lot of skills besides precision and perfectionism. Playing in an ensemble or orchestra is absolutely a team activity. You literally have to be aware of every other member of your group at all times, and follow your leader to do your part. These kids work hard to take a piece of music and each contribute their own effort to make a whole.

What I’m saying is that there are a lot of ways to learn the value of teamwork and effort, and it’s OK if some groups prefer one over another!

That’s an interesting premise and even mentioned in the working paper as an area to be studied: how do other extracurriculars align with career progression? No one said sports or nothing. I would say there’s a big difference between learning to play a piece perfectly as an ensemble and learning to win and lose as a team, but I have never done a comparison.

Just look at corporate lingo and how much of it is borrowed from sports. The kids who have played have a deep understanding of these concepts.

I get what you're saying, but a lot of these guys (and yes, it's mostly guys) are giving Al Bundy, not Tom Brady. It's embarrassing that they still talk like 20-year-old bros. We can pick up team analogies just fine without sports experience, thanks.

No one’s saying you have to do it. No one’s saying someone who doesn’t play sports can’t get the analogies. In fact my own kids are dropping their team sports. They’ll understand the analogies fine.

The analogies come from sports because of the similarities between playing a game and playing in business. Harvard shows college athletes have a leg up because of the transferable skills help them play better. There’s a big difference between college athletics and rec soccer. Somewhere in the middle is a group of kids who are also learning to play better. This playing ability transfers to certain careers much better than higher science grades.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Google is your friend. Start with articles like these, go to the original research and then to the citations:

https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/being-a-team-player-why-college-athletes-succeed-in-business

This article is from this year but the research has been available for years. There are more out there. Also plenty of articles simply linking career and sports success.

The research for this particular article shows that team sports players admitted with lower gpas than average outperform peers. (In contrast, individual players of wealthy sports, indicating a wealthy background, only leads to a slight career advantage).

Your link is about college sports. The vast majority of kids playing sports in elementary school (this forum) won’t make it that far in their chosen sport.

It’s interesting, but I do wonder if the crop of kids who become collegiate athletes is fundamentally different. Your take away may be overly broad.

So find the other ones. Deloitte had one about women leaders and sports. There have been countless studies on sports.

Did you study an instrument? What did you learn? Precision? Perfectionism?

There is a lot of work that does not require precision or perfectionism. It does require knowing how to be a team captain, playing on a team to win, motivating a team, coaching a team. You won’t learn this in science class.

Hey, just for the record I want to state that for many kids, playing an instrument is a great way to learn a lot of skills besides precision and perfectionism. Playing in an ensemble or orchestra is absolutely a team activity. You literally have to be aware of every other member of your group at all times, and follow your leader to do your part. These kids work hard to take a piece of music and each contribute their own effort to make a whole.

What I’m saying is that there are a lot of ways to learn the value of teamwork and effort, and it’s OK if some groups prefer one over another!

That’s an interesting premise and even mentioned in the working paper as an area to be studied: how do other extracurriculars align with career progression? No one said sports or nothing. I would say there’s a big difference between learning to play a piece perfectly as an ensemble and learning to win and lose as a team, but I have never done a comparison.

Just look at corporate lingo and how much of it is borrowed from sports. The kids who have played have a deep understanding of these concepts.

I get what you're saying, but a lot of these guys (and yes, it's mostly guys) are giving Al Bundy, not Tom Brady. It's embarrassing that they still talk like 20-year-old bros. We can pick up team analogies just fine without sports experience, thanks.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Google is your friend. Start with articles like these, go to the original research and then to the citations:

https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/being-a-team-player-why-college-athletes-succeed-in-business

This article is from this year but the research has been available for years. There are more out there. Also plenty of articles simply linking career and sports success.

The research for this particular article shows that team sports players admitted with lower gpas than average outperform peers. (In contrast, individual players of wealthy sports, indicating a wealthy background, only leads to a slight career advantage).

Your link is about college sports. The vast majority of kids playing sports in elementary school (this forum) won’t make it that far in their chosen sport.

It’s interesting, but I do wonder if the crop of kids who become collegiate athletes is fundamentally different. Your take away may be overly broad.

So find the other ones. Deloitte had one about women leaders and sports. There have been countless studies on sports.

Did you study an instrument? What did you learn? Precision? Perfectionism?

There is a lot of work that does not require precision or perfectionism. It does require knowing how to be a team captain, playing on a team to win, motivating a team, coaching a team. You won’t learn this in science class.

Hey, just for the record I want to state that for many kids, playing an instrument is a great way to learn a lot of skills besides precision and perfectionism. Playing in an ensemble or orchestra is absolutely a team activity. You literally have to be aware of every other member of your group at all times, and follow your leader to do your part. These kids work hard to take a piece of music and each contribute their own effort to make a whole.

What I’m saying is that there are a lot of ways to learn the value of teamwork and effort, and it’s OK if some groups prefer one over another!

That’s an interesting premise and even mentioned in the working paper as an area to be studied: how do other extracurriculars align with career progression? No one said sports or nothing. I would say there’s a big difference between learning to play a piece perfectly as an ensemble and learning to win and lose as a team, but I have never done a comparison.

Just look at corporate lingo and how much of it is borrowed from sports. The kids who have played have a deep understanding of these concepts.