Here’s a thought experiment. Imagine if competitive colleges did not offer sports scholarships and did not offer advantages in the admissions process to recruited athletes. Imagine how that would change the landscape of how so many Americans raise their kids. I would imagine under this scenario that most kids would no longer play their sport year round and practice 15+ hours a week. These kids would have more time to explore intellectual, academic or artistic interests. But who would want that?
What a ridiculous stereotype.
I teach at a D1 school and have many athletes in my classes and on my research project. Very intelligent, very curious.
My cousin who was a D1 athlete is currently getting her PhD.
I played sports year round until an injury took me out in high school. I spent way more than 15 hours a week on sports and when I couldn’t do that anymore, I switched to theater tech. I was also a high achieving student, undergrad, and now PhD student.
Athletes can, and often are, very multi-dimensional human beings.
@arsenalozil-I fail to see why athletic pursuits are not the equal of intellectual or artistic interests. I am a musician. One of my sons is a musician. The other two sons are athletic but not good enough at their sports to get a scholarship. I think that athletics is just as valid an interest as any other.
I think colleges are free to value what they like. I think they tend to overvalue sports and undervalue the arts, but I would not want to attend a college where they only look at academics and nothing else.
@Proudpatriot, Some schools give scholarships for marching band…
There’s a bit of irony in that being an athlete and a recruited one…even Div I level doesn’t necessarily guarantee lifetime physical fitness or being a hard worker/team player.
Knew of several former college athletes who were downright lazy/unmotivated and/or being unwilling to work as a part of a team who were fired before their probationary periods ended and many more who are no longer physically fit in any sense of the word.
It’s especially weird with a few elementary school classmates from my old neighborhood who used to pick on me for being unathletic are far worse about it now than I ever was…sometimes to the point of not being able to walk up 1 flight of stairs without panting heavily because of all the weight they’ve put on…and they’ve only been out of college for 2 decades or less.
Just a few weeks ago, I ran up 5 flights of stairs to a friend’s new apt in a walkup building and didn’t feel it was a big deal. A couple of our former college athlete friends who are 5-10 years younger than us are already starting to complain about the “long flights”.
I have two children, very different talents and attributes. One is a natural intellect, deeply curious mind, marvelous memory, creative, and has been since he was very young. A good athlete, but not driven to pursue it. The other is a natural athlete, wonderful hand-eye coordination, can repeat an athletic movement by seeing it once, has always been driven to compete, has been ever since he was very young. A good student, curious mind, but not exceptional. I want them each to prosper in an environment which pushes them to excel, both in the ways that come naturally, and the ways they don’t. They each found a college which challenges them. Genetics is a marvelous mystery and the world is a very big, diverse place.
Just because my kids aren’t taking music courses doesn’t mean I think the school should eliminate music, or marching band, or not build music studios or bring in guest conductors. More options are better.
@mathmom
I actually think the Ivy model is the best. Glad my son’s FA is not tied to his sport and the Academic Index (AI) requires a level of academic rigor that provides for a good match academically. And, as many have already pointed out, student athletes who are recruited by top schools have already proven a dedication to both academics and their sport. I was pretty amazed at what my son and his teammates were able to juggle during their HS years.
@gardenstategal I don’t see a scholarship offer as the only valid reason to do an activity. I think it is ok to do something simply because a student likes it. Music, sports, theater, art, debate, whatever else I can’t think of right now. They are all valid activities that make students into something other than a drone. I would consider myself a failure of a parent if all my kids were interested in was schoolwork.
To me kids who are involved in time consuming ECs and still maintain high GPAs are very impressive. Much more impressive than kids who do nothing but study to get perfect GPAs. Of course there are other time consuming ECs besides sports.
@tonymom - D3 sports is also a good model. Kids are recruited to play but there is no scholarship money. FA and merit based scholarships are not tied to sports but sports are there for the kids who really thrive on athletics.
I think people are missing the point on my thought experiment. I’m saying that IF colleges no longer conferred admissions advantages to athletes, then parents and kids would probably stop participating in sports to a certain degree. For example, I just don’t see why a kid would spend 15-20 hours a week swimming (often before school even starts) if it doesn’t help him get into or pay for college. Parents would most likely raise their children differently. That’s all I’m saying. I’ve always thought that college admissions policy often dictates how (for a certain segment of the population) parents raise their children. It is the tail wagging the dog.
I was not making a value judgement as to whether athletics is more or less worthy than academic pursuits from a holistic perspective as others so quickly believed. I myself played soccer in college.
Sports teams are affinity groups that provide a home for a segment of the student body, just like the theater or debate team or Hillel–only stronger. They are important because they draw and keep students, and most definitely promote continuing alumni involvement in the school which in turn yields monetary contributions. Schools target alumni for donations that benefit the alum’s former particular campus involvement. I know I have been hit up for money to benefit the club I used to participate in years ago as a student. There was a study a few years back that showed that in general ATHLETES give more than other alumni! D just attended a wedding this past weekend with her bf. Almost all the groomsmen were the groom’s former teammates, and what a bond they and their parents still have! The ability to reminisce together keeps the school alive in their hearts and makes it more likely not only that they will give, but will also host current students as interns or hire them after graduation. D got her job in part because several of the principals had been athletes, just like D, at the same university.
I disagree 100%. Kids who like sports like sports. Kids do all sorts of activities that do not lead to advantages in college admissions.
Perhaps this stems from the outsized focus on bad behavior by athletes/teams or some parents who spend outsized amounts of time driving their kids (with loose dreams of the mythical “athletic scholarship”). But surely you can imagine unhealthy singular devotion towards other fields, right? I don’t think it’s a stretch to imagine the “stage-mom” or the “child pageant queen” – these and the archetypes of the dullard athlete are common in our society.
But frankly, live and let live. My oldest kiddo was a natural athlete – barring her height, she would have wanted to play football and volleyball in HS. Instead she transferred her gymnastics skill into eight-seasons of Varsity cheerleading in her local HS near the top of the state each year. All the while, attending the top academic HS in the state (top ten in the nation). Her hobbies were coding and creative writing. Played video games and played piano and drew for relaxation. She’s a CompSci major now at a school and on its national-level competitive cheer squad. This is who she is. All of it. Would she like more time for the other pursuits? Sure. But not at the expense of any other one.
@arsenalozil
I disagree with your post for 2 reasons. The first, I think the numbers don’t work. The vast majority of high school athletes, don’t get recruited, or aren’t trying to get recruited. Therefore the desire to participate in hs or even travel sports is not driven by it being a college hook.
Second, most kids participate in sports, because they like being part of a team, like the fitness aspect and/or have some talent in that area. College acceptance as an ulterior motive, doesn’t often play into that. In fact there would be better ways to spend that time if a top college acceptance was your goal.
And to other posters that lament too many athletes at colleges, you should know that at many colleges, a significant portion of those athletes are not recruited, especially in sports like track, rowing, etc
If there were no recruiting, wouldn’t have changed a thing for my kid, and most of the athletes competing in college that we know. Kids are driven, internally, to do what they love, whether it is sports, theater, music etc. Now maybe some parents who think their kid, at age 10, is the next phenom would get a grip, but its not likely to change the actions and choices of the kids who do go onto become recruited athletes – because they are generally the ones who push themselves, train when no one is watching etc.
How about “because they like it?”
The vast majority of kids who play sports in HS don’t expect to play in college but do it anyway.
I love sports. I played because I loved it. I played softball, basketball, volleyball, swimming, and I danced. I loved the feel of being physically exhausted afterwards and I loved competing.
I still swim. It is physically painful for me to exercise but I’m still in the water 6 hours a week because I love it.
I also coached basketball and softball. And I umpired. And I ran a youth basketball league. And I worked for a minor league hockey team. And I worked for a sports photography company.
Are you getting it now? I LOVE sports.
There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that I could get academic scholarships- and I did. I never once played with a sports scholarship in mind and my parents never once pushed me to play if I didn’t want to. My parents didn’t go to college. College funding for them was never on their mind because they were in the “oh, she’s smart. College will be paid for.” mindset camp.
I’m just going to go out on a limb and say you don’t know too many young athletes.
Only a few sports have a potential payoff - football, women’s volleyball and crew, basketball - and sports parents know that. Our neighbor’s D was national team good at lacrosse and only got $2000/year for playing at the D1 level.
We have insisted that our kids stay physically active in some way but academics always come first. That has been the most common parental attitude given our kids never played the big revenue sports. D plays for a nationally ranked rugby team and it costs us money. We gladly pay for it.
Domineering men will find a way to fight and drink and rape with or without a team behind them. If you want a kid to be more intellectual, ban electronics, not sports.