<p>Even three hours is not enough to be good at something. When I was growing up, I would play tennis 5-6 hours every day, and I was still not very good. A close friend of mine is an ex-world top 15 squash player, but never broke into the top-10. He was telling me about 10 hour a day training regimens that are the bare minimum to be any good. But that was in the old country, and this is here, so I lowered it to 3 hours a day. Which, frankly, is not enough.</p>
<p>Legend says that Jahangir Khan, the best squash player the world has ever seen, who went undefeated for some 6-7 years running over 500+ games, used to train so hard that he would urinate blood. That’s the role model!</p>
<p>When I first started browsing on CC I couldn’t understand why a certain poster named ParentOfIvyHope couldn’t get more than a couple of posts in before he would get attacked by everyone. The more I read of his postings though…the more I understand why.</p>
<p>I see parallels here. I think it is the lack of humility/arrogance of this particular poster that is off putting. I don’t think he minds the criticism though. In fact I suspect he kind of enjoys it.</p>
<p>There are lots of things, besides an instrument or a sport, that do not take those excessive numbers of hours of practice. I have a friend whose dau was a very competitive ice skater, and have a friend whose dau is a rising diver. The diver’s family is relocating in order to be closer to the coaches who have scouted her. She will not likely be adding other activities that will require this arbitrary 3 hrs/day rule, but that also does not mean shoe wont participate in other activities, clubs, , etc.</p>
<p>Yes it is a competition, IP. Students compete to get into the orchestra, and orchestras from other states, I believe, compete against each other. HS bands/orchestras also compete against each other within the region.</p>
<p>If my kid shows an interest, I will most certainly find a way to enable that. However, as things stand now, one of more current ECs will have to give way then, as you only have so many hours in the day. I see nothing wrong with someone wanting to be the top community organizer that they can. Obama was one. But it takes a lot of time and effort. It is almost a full time career.</p>
<p>The point about all-state orchestra is that unless a violin player is at least good enough to be in all-state, the most elite schools are not going to be interested in how much time he puts into violin playing. That doesn’t mean that he shouldn’t play the violin if that’s what he loves and wants to do; it just means that violin-playing is not going to help him get into top colleges. It does mean, though, that if he doesn’t love playing the violin, it’s a waste of time to make him continue doing it unless he’s at least that good. It’s my observation that some parents do push their kids to continue in activities in which they do not excel, in the mistaken belief that this will nevertheless help them be competitive for top colleges–I think the reverse is true.</p>
<p>But I do think that there is naturally a certain amount of parental pushing, or nudging, or encouraging, that’s entirely appropriate–you can’t let your kid’s passion be sitting around watching Spongebob. The point is to be sensitive and flexible, and supportive of the direction your kid wants to go in. I also think it makes sense to push, or nudge, or encourage your kid to go the second mile in whatever EC he chooses–and not just because it looks good on his resume.</p>
<p>Forget college admissions Hunt, why pursue any EC if you are not at least all state? What I tell my kid is simple - it’s not like I am asking my kid to be world top 10 in squash. I understand that it is hard. But in order to pursue it, a national top-8 is a very bare minimum! Similarly, the USMO camp is a bare minimum if one is to pursue math. So on and so forth. And if you play the piano and actually want to be a pianist, set your minimum goal as to exceed Glenn Gould’s interpretations of Bach.</p>
<p>“Because if Asian cultural preferences are what you want, why did you come to America?”</p>
<p>because there is only one version of America and Asian America is not part of that. Because all of that about giving me you poor your tired you huddled masses, all of that about being a melting pot, all of that about acceptance, doesn’t exist. </p>
<p>Question: what is there to assimilate into in America, if not a culture of Immigrants?</p>
<p>I don’t understand your question, Indian Parent. What, you don’t like it that the top schools don’t care about any EC unless the kid excels in it?
If your kid likes to play squash, I think that’s great, and the more he practices, the better he’ll get. But unless he excels at it, it’s not going to get him recruited to any college, much less a highly selective one. What’s so hard to understand about that?</p>
<p>If someone wants to go to Juilliard or some other conservatory, then fine, practice, practice, practice. But if said student also wants to take up roller hockey, do they have to commit 3+ hrs/day to that as well?</p>
<p>And there are lots of ways to do fundraising and community service that is not a fultime job. I know of students who organized just such an event as I described above. They learned to delegate, get subcomittees, you name it. They raised a lot of money, got architects to design the playground, got supplies donated and organized the students to assist in building the playground. It was so impressive that the school gave the entire grade the day off to build the playground. Oh, and one of the students was also on one of the varsity sports teams. Oh, and they were strong students too. Also in other clubs and such (but it was a few years ago, I forget exactly which). These arent my kids, btw.</p>