Would you guys think it would be reasonable to stay afterschool until 8PM every day for Academic Decathlon? Our ‘coach’ wants everyone to stay until 8PM next semester every day, even though most of us are taking 3+ APs or are enrolled in the IB program. Our team this year was not even close to making it to state, and the coach wants us to be top 5 next year. Personally, I don’t think its reasonable to stay until 8PM every day, especially with our current standing in our region; Our football team which is in the top 10% of the state doesn’t even practice this late. How reasonable is this to you guys?
For one week, I can probably justify it. It’s the same hours the kids in the play put in the week before a big performance, the same hours lots of teams put in before a big competition. (Football probably isn’t a good example, since it’s all physical. It absolutely wouldn’t be healthy for those kids to be running drills for that long. Though, come to think of it, they DO when practice begins in the summer, don’t they??)
But “next semester”??? Nope. Not reasonable, not for my kids.
That’s completely nuts. Like @bjkmom said, it might be reasonable for a week, but every day for a whole semester? That’s insane. Especially if you all have rigorous academic schedules full of AP/IB courses.
@bjkmom @CristoDeLata i agree completely. Not sure how to break it to my teacher, but it is insane. Especially for seniors who have college apps to do not to mention senior activities.
The apps can get done over the summer-- you have 2 long months to get to them.
But the school work, the part time jobs, the family stuff-- none of that can or should have to take a back seat to one activity for an entire semester.
That seems like too much of a commitment. As @bjkmom said, you should focus on other things such as family, homework, etc. and in general, have a life.
@miter94 thanks for your feedback! I don’t want to drop it, but I really hope I can work something out with the teacher 
I’m quite sure that there will be more than one parent who will present his/her viewpoint to the teacher/administration, and will not spend a lot of time trying to decide how to break it to him gently 
Hopefully you can negotiate something. When I was in my school’s FIRST robotics club, we pretty much only stayed that late during build season (which is only ~6 weeks) - many of us were there until 10 or 11, but it obviously wasn’t required if you wanted to stay on the team.
If your “coach” is unwilling to negotiate, I’d drop the club, unless you really really want to be on your school’s AD team for some reason.
will look good on your collage resume… builds character too…
@skieurope I’m sure there are! Hopefully someone does speak up. @MITer94 Ahh. I would feel like I would be doing myself a disservice by dropping it-- colleges love it (apparently) and it was a good experience this year. @feedmeap that is true!
I’m not sure that focusing all that much of your attention and time and energy on one specific activity necessarily “builds character.”
I think that having dinner with your family, spending time on your studies, doing volunteer work, and having multi-faceted interests probably " do a far better job of “building character.”
@bjkmom excellent points!