Disturbing trend starting to happen in softball

[larry111]

I have just found out from daughter who plays softball for the high school some disturbing news. I do not know if this is going on at other schools but I think it deserves to be put into the light. There has recently been this trend going on in schools of grades for sale. I have seen it with the fundraisers that the schools send home. Kids are promised extra credit if they will sale the product the school has sent home and return it quickly. Schools are announcing to the students that if they will attend drama club plays that they will receive extra credit. Then when the students attend the events they have to pay 5 dollars to attend the event they were promised extra credit for attending. These things I know are going on now and have been going on for the past 3 years. Here is where it becomes an issue for this discussion forum. This year my daughter has join the high school softball team and the school requires random drug testing to participate which is fine. Now the school expects the parents to pay for the initial drug test that they require. If the money is not payed the student is not allowed to participate in sports activities. Now here is where I decided to put it out this forum, the high school coach has told the softball team that "if they will buy their softball cleats from the school that they will not have to take their athletic exams". The cleats are about 55 dollars through the school. I was just wanting to see if I am the only one troubled by this or if many out there are seeing the same thing. And if so does it bother you that the schools are selling grades to the students with the blessing of the school boards. What does this teach the kids who participate in softball or any other sport? What does that mean for the quality of character for the players who decide to do this. Does this mean that these athletes will have the situational ethics? Does this corrupt their moral compass of whats right and wrong when they see those in authority practice this? I believe it teaches them that everything is for sale even their personal beliefs of what's right and wrong.

[pbj2000]

I can't comment on everything you posted....but...selling grades?? Colleges do this now, to where if you attend a school function you can get an extra credit grade...heck you can get your lowest grade dropped and to be honest I love it! So get used to that, that's been going on for a while atleast at the college level. If you go to the museum on this day or if you go to this school debate and bring someone with you. As far as if you buy our school cleats we'll skip your athletic exam? Eh' never heard of that one.

[DunninLA]

My DD saw a Chemistry tutor about 25 times last year. She got an A in the second semester by scoring 90.2. Had she not had the tutor, she would have scored about 82-84 (we know this because when she skipped a couple of lessons, that exam was under 78 or something like that. These private lessons are EXPENSIVE. You could say we bought her grade of A vs. B that she would have achieved without help.

Same thing this year with AP Bio... her tutor (same one) is worth about a grade in her exam performance. We have throught about whether we can afford this tutor, but so far feel the 1 grade boost in a core subject is worth it.

Same DD has been offered 100 community service hours in exchange for a $100 donation to a particular homeless program. She is short on community service hours given her 12 hours of weekly dance, 4 hours of weekly martial arts, participation in Varsity softball (this one is not in Travel Softball), tutoring, lack of sleep. What would you do in my place? I'm still thinking about it... and need to find out if there is a way she can honestly earn these hours at some point this summer.

Oh, another related issue is SAT prep courses. These cost about $1000, and the norm in our area is for students to take the course twice. That's $2,000 and the general consensus is that students who take these courses improve their scores from a minimum of 100 on the 3 part test to over 300 points. Let's say the average is 150 points. That is a significant difference to college adcoms, and there is not way for adcoms to "normalize" the scores for professional help b/c they don't know which students got the help and which didn't (usually b/c their parents could not afford it). There are students all over the country from prep schools or otherwise affluent families who use PRIVATE SAT tutors at $150 per hour to $250 per hour to raise their child's SAT score by 300-400 points. Judging by the high demand for these private tutors, one can assume their students do in fact achieve these results -- at a cost of $6,000 - $12,000 to the parents. As some of you will find out in applying to colleges, the difference between a 1600 3 part SAT score and a 2000 3 part score can be the difference between a Top 30 university and one not listed in the top 100.

[larry111]

How does paying for a tutor equate to going to a high school play for extra credit and then being charged for it or paying for cleats through the school with the promise that if you do you will not have to take an exam or fund raiser for extra credit. You are comparing apples and oranges. Tutors and high school plays are 2 different things.

[DLyle]

Is it any different than "if you don't share enough candle sets you don't get part of the fund raiser"? Coaches will play the most talented, if the win to the level that is "expected" they get fired.

[DunninLA]

Larry111 --

The end result is the same: money buys advantages not available to those on a limited budget. Buying grades, or buying expensive preparation to get the grade... are they really all that different in the short run?

[c'ya]

As far as getting extra credit for attending after school events, that has and always will be a part of high school and college.
As far as comparing paying for a tutor to paying for cleats, that's just crazy. The real truth about SAT scores and college athletics is that if your "student-athlete" is good enough then he/she will only need the minimum NCAA requirements. Your college recruiter will fill you in with all this info. They will even tell you about "free" help that is available in your area. Once they are part of a college program then "THEY" will make sure that "HE/SHE" will be "academically fit" to play. My friend played football at Colorado under Rick Neuheisel. All he had to do was show up to practice and everything else was taken care of. Just be sure to remind your child that they are "STUDENT-athletes". Only 1 out of 16,000 student-athletes in college actually go PRO in their sport. 95% of colleges will honor your scholarship once your eligibility is up. But all the "free" help will be gone.
As far as paying for cleats. You really only have two choices. Buy the school cleats and skip the exam or buy your daughter some real cleats and tell her to "study up". If you make a big deal about it (i.e. talk to the coach or athletic director) you might get your daughter black balled by the staff or her teammates. How hard can the exam be anyways? In my day all you had to do was make every practice and you would receive a 95 semester average.

[justawatcher]

Not sure if skipping the athletic exam for buying cleats should be classified as disturbing. Honestly, it's more disturbing that they even have such a ridiculous exam.

[DonnieS]

Not sure if skipping the athletic exam for buying cleats should be classified as disturbing. Honestly, it's more disturbing that they even have such a ridiculous exam.

Exactly, and I am sure that the coach/"teacher" is just trying to get out of grading more of these tough exams.

[NoNothin]

I guess this would be similar to my dd's softball program where they require anyone trying out for the team (about 85 girls for jv and Varsity) to sell fundraising items like cookie dough and outfield banners. They are all required to sell about $300 worth and only about 28 kids actually make the teams and most of the benefit goes to the 14 varsity kids. The rest of them just get the door to door sales experience. Hopefully my dd won't be just practicing her sales skills.

NoNo