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quote:Originally posted by Midlo Dad:
We are only scratching the surface of this generation's capabilities. More of them suffer from being challenged too little, than from being challenged too much.
Schools go year round, not for academic reasons but for lack of space reasons. They set up multiple tracks where one track is always out of session. It eliminates the need to build new schools.quote:Originally posted by cbg:
The idea of kids having too many people demanding their time is true! This very topic has been the topic of conversation in my home many times over the past 5 years.
1. Schools now start in early August and end sometime in late May. It use to be that school started the Tuesday after Labor day and ended between June 5 & 10. Some schools now go year around with no evidence that it raises academic test scores. IMO, this is nothing more than child care for parents working!!!
2. For kids to participate in athletics at the high school level they must workout and practice or play sports year around. In the past kids would be 3 sport athletes in high school along with having a partime job on the weekends and in the Summer. Today they don't have the time for a job if they participate in athletics.
3. The schools are pushing for the kids to take AP or Honors courses which require more homework (some kids average 3-4 hours per evening including weekends) and leave little time for any type of social life.
Most of us feel like we had the best childhood one could have. I participated in 2 sports during high school (I also played at a Top 10 D1 in college & have a son playing college baseball) worked on the weekends at the local service station during the school year and worked fulltime (over 40 hours) during the Summers. The weightlifting sessions during the Summer were from 7:30-9:30pm so that kids could work thier job, get home and eat dinner and then get to the school for the workout. I know that we cannot go back or stop time but I sometimes feel that as adults we are stealing the fun away from our teens. I probably like to win more than anyone on this board and have the phylosophy that you must outwork your competition but life must also have a balance. JMO, but high school boys need time to go fishing/hunting with their friends or even a little time to try and get little Mary Jane in the back seat of their car or at the very least tell a lie that they got Mary Jane in the back seat.
quote:Originally posted by alwoods:
I have a question-- is there too much pressure on high school kids these days? These kids have to get it done in the classroom, score high on the SAT’s and hope they are good enough to make it to the next level, and they are playing their sport year-round.
quote:Originally posted by RJM:Schools go year round, not for academic reasons but for lack of space reasons. They set up multiple tracks where one track is always out of session. It eliminates the need to build new schools.quote:Originally posted by cbg:
The idea of kids having too many people demanding their time is true! This very topic has been the topic of conversation in my home many times over the past 5 years.
1. Schools now start in early August and end sometime in late May. It use to be that school started the Tuesday after Labor day and ended between June 5 & 10. Some schools now go year around with no evidence that it raises academic test scores. IMO, this is nothing more than child care for parents working!!!
2. For kids to participate in athletics at the high school level they must workout and practice or play sports year around. In the past kids would be 3 sport athletes in high school along with having a partime job on the weekends and in the Summer. Today they don't have the time for a job if they participate in athletics.
3. The schools are pushing for the kids to take AP or Honors courses which require more homework (some kids average 3-4 hours per evening including weekends) and leave little time for any type of social life.
Most of us feel like we had the best childhood one could have. I participated in 2 sports during high school (I also played at a Top 10 D1 in college & have a son playing college baseball) worked on the weekends at the local service station during the school year and worked fulltime (over 40 hours) during the Summers. The weightlifting sessions during the Summer were from 7:30-9:30pm so that kids could work thier job, get home and eat dinner and then get to the school for the workout. I know that we cannot go back or stop time but I sometimes feel that as adults we are stealing the fun away from our teens. I probably like to win more than anyone on this board and have the phylosophy that you must outwork your competition but life must also have a balance. JMO, but high school boys need time to go fishing/hunting with their friends or even a little time to try and get little Mary Jane in the back seat of their car or at the very least tell a lie that they got Mary Jane in the back seat.
As for playing sports year round, my son plays three sports in high school. His sister did it too. It's a large classification high school. It's not a case of the sports programs needing bodies. The key is communication. His s****r and basketball coaches know baseball is the priority in terms of summer ball and ten month preparation. He does have to work in travel fall ball during s****r season and winter baseball workouts during basketball season. He practices his basketball on his own time and plays in pickup games against older kids. On his own time he also surfs and skateboards.
Academically he's in the gifted program. Next year he'll be taking AP courses. At fifteen he worked part time last summer except for a couple of week long sports camps. There's no reason for him to lay around during the day all week in the summer. He works out three days a week. He has a social life on the weekends.
My son isn't Superman. His sister went through the same routine in high school. He never complains about his commitments. He understands the options. He can quit any of the sports and play rec ball. The only adjustment he made was freshman year he decided it was too much to get banged up playing football on Friday's and play fall baseball on the weekends. He had played travel s****r in the fall until middle school football. He started playing s****r for the school.
