by bigredmed » Wed Nov 25, 2015 5:38 pm
mcarch wrote:
So what we are saying is every child needs to go to college and every child needs a trophy? College is becoming diluted, worth nothing. Why, because the majority of children go. I went to Millard South, graduated with 450 students. The school size at that time was 2400. There was NEVER a shortage of extra curricular activities. The best athletes get the positions... the ones that don't make it weren't the best. Everyone doesn't make it in life. We can't be teaching our children they're special and that the world owes them. The world owes them nothing, and will give them nothing. Every parent thinking that their Little Johnny will be the next big football player, is far from reality. Plus, schools aren't there for extra curricular activities, they are there to TEACH.
I went to Millard (Not otherwise specified). When I and you were in school, there were a lot of extracurriculars mainly because colleges didn't care what you did as long as you did something. The best athletes were on the first string, but going out for a sport counted and that was all. Now colleges want leadership and personal growth and don't count
any participation, just the leadership roles. Don't lead? Don't count. Now there is not plenty of opportunities.
Also, when I was in school, there were a handful of sports that were just open. If you wanted to go out, you could. There were a handful that were "technically available to any student", but realistically if you were not playing golf since fetal life, you were not going to be one of the 10 guys on the golf team (out of 500 guys). Same with tennis. Now its the same with track, and field sports in particular. We see Soccer, basketball, volleyball, and football all heading the same direction. Say your family is poor and you can't afford a club team when you are 12, to say nothing of a travel squad, you are effectively done in most sports now before high school even starts. Say you are a tall guy with a lot of clumsiness due to growth, you are out of the running for junior high sports, and often this blows you out of the water for high school as well even though you may now be able to use your raw talent.
This is why a lot of schools are trying to stay small by design because it forces the issue of developing kids. If you only have 60 girls at Mercy and they need 60 to do a play, all 60 are going to get involved somehow, either on stage or behind it. Everyone gets a chance to do something. The theater geeks and the jocks both learn that they need each other to be successful in their favorite areas. In the big schools where kids have to specialize, they only hang out with their other group members and never develop any interconnection. The big schools have gotten this broadway or bust view in their arts programs and the state champs or chumps attitude in their sports. By letting this |expletive| happen, schools that should be able to offer more chances to grow ironically offer less.
[quote="mcarch"]
So what we are saying is every child needs to go to college and every child needs a trophy? College is becoming diluted, worth nothing. Why, because the majority of children go. I went to Millard South, graduated with 450 students. The school size at that time was 2400. There was NEVER a shortage of extra curricular activities. The best athletes get the positions... the ones that don't make it weren't the best. Everyone doesn't make it in life. We can't be teaching our children they're special and that the world owes them. The world owes them nothing, and will give them nothing. Every parent thinking that their Little Johnny will be the next big football player, is far from reality. Plus, schools aren't there for extra curricular activities, they are there to TEACH.[/quote]
I went to Millard (Not otherwise specified). When I and you were in school, there were a lot of extracurriculars mainly because colleges didn't care what you did as long as you did something. The best athletes were on the first string, but going out for a sport counted and that was all. Now colleges want leadership and personal growth and don't count [i]any[/i] participation, just the leadership roles. Don't lead? Don't count. Now there is not plenty of opportunities.
Also, when I was in school, there were a handful of sports that were just open. If you wanted to go out, you could. There were a handful that were "technically available to any student", but realistically if you were not playing golf since fetal life, you were not going to be one of the 10 guys on the golf team (out of 500 guys). Same with tennis. Now its the same with track, and field sports in particular. We see Soccer, basketball, volleyball, and football all heading the same direction. Say your family is poor and you can't afford a club team when you are 12, to say nothing of a travel squad, you are effectively done in most sports now before high school even starts. Say you are a tall guy with a lot of clumsiness due to growth, you are out of the running for junior high sports, and often this blows you out of the water for high school as well even though you may now be able to use your raw talent.
This is why a lot of schools are trying to stay small by design because it forces the issue of developing kids. If you only have 60 girls at Mercy and they need 60 to do a play, all 60 are going to get involved somehow, either on stage or behind it. Everyone gets a chance to do something. The theater geeks and the jocks both learn that they need each other to be successful in their favorite areas. In the big schools where kids have to specialize, they only hang out with their other group members and never develop any interconnection. The big schools have gotten this broadway or bust view in their arts programs and the state champs or chumps attitude in their sports. By letting this |expletive| happen, schools that should be able to offer more chances to grow ironically offer less.