<p>I’d be inclined to agree with you, mathmom, except that I think that the decision about missing classes for competitions is made at the level of the principal or superintendent–it’s probably not even up to the athletic director; it’s a matter of policy whether it’s permitted or not. In a related situation, the debate team at QMP’s high school missed a lot of Fridays (and had Saturdays and possibly Sundays tied up as well). Changing something like this would be a multi-parent, multi-year endeavor at many schools.</p>
<p>Yes, missing the last class period of the day for away games that are at the farther reaches of the conference / region of competition is quite common. This is just one of a number of reasons it is difficult for a varsity athlete to also be a top student. Some kids have superb time management skills, can do school work quickly and efficiently, and perhaps have superior intellectual ability, allowing them to cope with their busy schedule. Some young people are more able and willing to live on little sleep than their peers, and they handle their workload by just staying up late. Other students simply can’t manage and have to make a choice. But as post #58 points out, part of growing up is learning what one’s limits are, and making mature decisions accordingly.</p>
<p>My D struggled with this. She wanted to have it all; she wanted to take advanced classes, be a top athlete, and have a normal social life. It simply wasn’t possible for her, (partly because of time management deficiencies), and this made her unhappy and sometimes bitter. But eventually she came to the realization that she cared more about the first two things than the third, so hanging out with friends is what got sacrificed. And sometimes she robbed Peter to pay Paul on the other two priorities. She could have been a better athlete without AP classes, and a better student without being a three-season athlete. Precious few kids can do it all. Kids have to find a balance that serves their goals and suits their temperament.</p>
<p>We know S2 paid a significant price in playing time because he would speak up when he needed to miss practice due to his academic workload. He was the only full IB student on the team and the coaches really had no idea how crushing the workload was, though they did always take note that his GPA was a full point higher than the team average (and S2 was not a 4.0 student in this program).</p>
<p>S2 was generally OK with it and we never spoke up. Most of the coaches were quite pleased to offer him up as a role model, but there was one coach in particular who made decisions on playing time and would overrule the position coaches who wanted S to play. The team had enough issues already; S2 missing practice to study for a test was not going to change the team’s fate.</p>
<p>He came to the conclusion in Jan.-Feb. that he did not want to make that kind of time commitment in college (he was looking at D-III) and not get to play because he placed academics ahead of his sport. He may revisit this next fall, but at least for freshman year, he wants to try out some of the things he missed in HS.</p>
<p>Just recalled this: Dudley Herschbach, Harvard Professor, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, varsity football player at Stanford as an undergraduate–actually, a really good football player. Quit the team because the coach would not allow him to sign up for chemistry lab that interfered with practice.</p>