We need a greater focus on academics in this country. Last week I overheard a couple of parents talking. The basic gist of the conversation was that schools are not properly teaching students to balance their time. Those parents believed that it is the school's responsibility to teach students how to balance their schoolwork, sports, academics, and social lives. The discussion then fell to talking about how schools gave too much homework and that their kids were falling behind because they were too tired to do the work when they got home from sports practice or their after-school jobs. Their solution? Give kids less homework or lower the standards expected of them on homework.
In high school, I had a part-time job
and was on a sports team (and Captained the team my senior year), not to mention taking all AP/Honors/UConn co-op classes. Not only did I manage to get all of my homework done, I mantained a high GPA. I realize that many students don't have the ability to maintain all of these things, but it is
not up to schools to set these priorities.
My parents set down very clear rules: if I didn't maintain the equivilant of a 3.0 in school, I was off the team and I was giving up my job. Period. There was no discussion, no wiggle room.
Here in Montgomery County, MD, as with the district I grew up in, the minimum GPA to play a sport is a 2.0 or you are removed from the team (at least, in theory ...
some schools in the county haven't played so nice). You can also receive a work permit if you are a senior, enabling you to leave school early and earn both life experience and money.
But the focus must be on academics. It's bad enough that NCLB is eliminating helpful teaching methods in favor of forcing standardized testing, but it is the parents that need to stand firm and hold higher educational standards.
