School

When an elite private school like California's Montclair Prep drops athletics, you know the economy is bad.  Is the athletic program at your child's school next to fall to the budget ax?

Fundamentally altering the outmoded model that most schools follow for interscholastic sports and increasing physical education opportunities will be a monumental undertaking.  It will require the effort of a large and vocal group of committed parents.  But it can be done.

Does your child's middle school have a no-cut policy or does it limit the number of children who get a chance to participate in interscholastic sports? What are the reasons for cutting kids who want to play sports from teams up to high school sub-varsity? Are there reasons why cutting is a bad idea? The founder of MomsTeam, Brooke de Lench, explains why she fought for a no-cut policy at her sons' middle school.

Some children are early bloomers who enjoy success in sports because they develop faster, not because they have more raw talent. Late bloomers develop more slowly, but may be more gifted athletes. There are advantages and disadvantages for both.

Perhaps no other topic sparks as much heated debate among parents as the practice of cutting potential players from middle or high school teams. The current public high school model - one first-year team, one junior varsity, one varsity per high school- might have made sense at the time it was adopted around 1924, when the number of roster spots was roughly equal to the number of those who wanted to play. But it makes no sense today, when the number of those who want to continue playing sports in middle school and high school far exceeds the finite number of spots available under such a system. While there are two sides to the argument, I believe the practice is outmoded and needs to be reexamined in light of twenty-first century realities.