My Kid Will Probably Go To College Even Though She's Never Scored a Touchdown

I really thought hard about posting this because it's another school rant and I really do value the EDUCATION my children are receiving in our public schools.

But after reading several articles in our local newspaper and the WSJ about the difficulty of shifting to a STEM focused education, poor standardized test scores,  frustrated teachers, kids who don't bother taking AP tests even after taking AP classes, and heroic principals who drove through ice and snow to kids homes for "signing day" I couldn't hold back.

But this is NOT a rant about teachers.  All of our kids have had many, many wonderful teachers.

And many, many school administrators with surprising priorities.   

[Please put your sarcasm glasses on now.... you'll need them.]   

Ace got the letter in the mail on Monday that she’s a National Merit Scholarship Finalist and according to the letter the principal of her high school was sent a certificate to present to her.

Congratulations Ace.  We're proud of you. 

Thursday was "SIGNING DAY" at the high school for five athletes in our high school who have been offered college scholarships.

Congratulations Athletes.

You've worked very hard.

You deserve the...

Big assembly.

Classes postponed.

Cheerleaders.

Band.

Newspaper reporter.

Superintendent of schools.

Parents invited.

And the athletic department banquet later this Spring.

Etc.

Later that same day:

Thursday afternoon Ace got a hall pass note asking her to come down to the guidance office in the middle of AP Physics.

The student guidance office aide gave her the National Merit Scholarship certificate. Along with the 11 other NMS finalists in the class of 2014 -- most of whom were also pulled out of AP classes.

This is a huge improvement from the day we found out that she was a NMS semi-finalist through the local newspaper because the school forgot to tell the students about their status before they sent in the press release.

[You can take off the sarcasm glasses now...the rest is just sincere.]

The irony was not lost on any of us at BA31 that five athletes were placed on a pedestal before the student body of 2,400+ students while more than twice as many scholars (who rank in the top 1% of students in the whole US) were an afterthought delegated to a student aid in the guidance office. 

Perhaps the problem with the US education system that I read about in the paper is not that students as a whole are not excelling academically by world standards.  We know first hand that individual students are able to excel in all sorts of endeavors with the help of excellent, smart, motivating, and caring teachers.  Perhaps the problem is that academic success is not put before students as something to be valued in the same way that athletic talent is by their own schools?  Both academics and athletics are gifts/talents/skills that need to be nurtured and exercised, and yet sweat outweighs smarts and a 3 point shot on the basketball court is worth more than 1600 points on the SAT to our school administrators.

Something is not right!