USA Swimming proposes rule limiting suits

If it hadn't of been for after school sports, I would have done nothing in school. If I didn't have swimming after school, I certainly wouldn't have been studying. After school sports made me more disciplined to do well in school, because without doing well in school, I wouldn't have been able to compete in swimming. Kid's doing after school sports doesn't hurt their grades. Hey Thewookiee If you don’t appreciate the intrinsic value of going to school just for the purpose of getting an education and you need athletics as an enticement to stay there, your reasoning is terribly, terribly flawed. If the availability of an athletic program is your main priority for going to school, I seriously doubt that you are really interested in getting an education and picking up marketable job skills. Being competitive in today’s employment market (in the technical fields especially) requires a person to prioritize about 16 hours to instruction, on the job hands on training, or studying per day. With my salary of $120K per year at stake, I devote every bit of my spare time to upgrading my job skill set and managing my finances and I have absolutely no intention of wasting time on athletics. Considering the very poor state of the U.S. educational system, it wouldn’t be an absurd idea at all to just drop athletics at all publically financed institutions. Of course there would be howling and crying so the country will continue down the path to economic oblivion. :badday: Dolphin 2

Dolphin - your experiences are vastly different from mine in both education and personnel. However, these are my personal observations and I don't hold myself out as an expert, as you do. Given your lack of credibility and expertise in swimming yet your assertions on the topic, I tend to believe you have similar background and competence to speak on other matters. Your position in an elevator service company does not qualify you to speak definitively on parenting or education. I suspect if you'd ever spend time with the gifted students in your school you'd have a broader range of experience to draw from. The same could be said if you'd ever spend any time around swimmers or swimming programs. There are many on this forum you could learn from. Hey Aquageek Yes there are in fact many gifted students in today's school system. In fact, I spent two summers in high school working with other gifted students as interns at the University Of Southern California. The problem is that gifted students are minimized (often being labled as "Autistic" because the don't relate to mediocraty). As for your statement: "Given your lack of credibility and expertise in swimming yet your assertions on the topic, I tend to believe you have similar background and competence to speak on other matters". My reply: Swimming (or other forms of athletics) is a sports/recreational activity and not a professional job for most people. Nor does it require any serious technological expertise to perform. As the old saying goes "It aint rocket science". Dolphin 2

Galen - why are you here on the US Masters Swimming board? Maybe it would be more interesting to you to find a place that is discussing what is happening with the Washington DC school system. That is interesting and directly related to K-12 education. As for dropping all sports entirely - I doubt there is any evidence that dropping athletics produces higher achievement in math and science. Children do not generally want to study all day and night like it seems you suggest they should. But you would know that if you had children. You seem to not believe that fitness is at all part of a complete growing up process. So I guess in your ideal world kids would have soft weak bodies, sharp but tired minds, and strong fingers because they are always typing on a keyboard.

I subscribe to the idea that people can "Learn from the mistakes of others" and I don't have to actually try anything to be an "expert" (as you sacastically use the word) to see that parents are making way too many mistakes raising their children. :bitching: Especially those who have had children who fail out of school or worse wind up in jail, prison, or living on the streets. Fortunately the entire rest of the world disagrees with you. Pretty much universally known that to be an expert in something means you do it, and do it a significant proficiency level, some might even say an expert level. You don't swim AT ALL yet pass judgment on swimming matters. You don't have kids yet tell those of us who do we are failures. I would prefer if you'd provide expert opinions on matters you are qualified to speak on and, thus, might give you more credit, or some credit anyway.

Hey Thewookiee If you don’t appreciate the intrinsic value of going to school just for the purpose of getting an education and you need athletics as an enticement to stay there, your reasoning is terribly, terribly flawed. If the availability of an athletic program is your main priority for going to school, I seriously doubt that you are really interested in getting an education and picking up marketable job skills. Being competitive in today’s employment market (in the technical fields especially) requires a person to prioritize about 16 hours to instruction, on the job hands on training, or studying per day. With my salary of $120K per year at stake, I devote every bit of my spare time to upgrading my job skill set and managing my finances and I have absolutely no intention of wasting time on athletics. Considering the very poor state of the U.S. educational system, it wouldn’t be an absurd idea at all to just drop athletics at all publically financed institutions. Of course there would be howling and crying so the country will continue down the path to economic oblivion. :badday: Dolphin 2 Hey My reasoning isn't flawed. Sports are an outlet for many smart people. If I didn't have swimming, I would have done just enough homework to get by for each year. Swimming helped me channel my focus into everything I did that wasnt swimming because it taught me how to develop a competitive attitude toward life outside of the sport. And so you can shove this up your butt...I was a multiple SCHOLAR-ATHLETE in college...which meant I HAD TO SCHOOL and PRACTICE. I had to maintain at least a 3.2 or better GPA and earn a letter. In high school, I was on the dean's list, as well as a many time state finalist. I am just one of MILLIONS of people in all sports that benefitted from having sports to help us learn to become better at what we do. Parents can only do so much to help a child. At some point, the child has to make a decision to be responsible for their actions. All parents I know would bend over backwards and make any sacrifice needed to help their children be the very best they can be. Children being involved in sports isn't the problem in this county. It is having fools like you try to tell everyone what is right and wrong, when you have no clue on the issues. And lastly, if you don't like this country, if you are so ashamed of how it is doing, then GET OUT! Signed, John

Wow! I heard someone say the same thing once about elevator repairs, but I'm no expert. Geek- Don't you think Kerry and David would seriously disagree about what it takes swim correctly?

Probably, but they don't fix elevators, which is rocket science, so we can't take their opinions seriously. Well, you do have a point. A buddy of mine's son does fix elevators for a living...last time I check, he graduated from a community college but so far none of the elevators have failed.

You post someone else's work and then claim to be the expert on the topic, and not even the topic you post about. That's rich, or plaigarism, take your pick.

As an example, the U.S. is an under-achieving nation in the math and science fields and parents must share a large part of the blame. This is an emergency situation and parents need to have their children hitting the books and doing their homework -not spending time in after school sports. Dolphin 2 That'll help the obesity epidemic. There's more to childhood than exclusively being a parent-pushed tool.

This is an emergency situation and parents need to have their children hitting the books and doing their homework -not spending time in after school sports. You clearly have no idea whatsoever about what you are talking about. Graduation rates are on the rise for student athletes and at an all-time high. www.ncaa.org/.../ncaa I would like you to cite your sources which state eliminating sports would be of benefit. I'm perfectly fine if you make this assertion as your opinion, despite facts proving totally otherwise.