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Should homeschool kids be allowed to play school sports?

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by TigerVols, Jun 18, 2013.

  1. Armchair_QB

    Armchair_QB Well-Known Member

    Thanks. Was just about to add that.

    And, yes, the kid is parachuting in even if he lives in the district. He's not a student at that school.

    If mom and dad decide to home school junior then he's out of luck.
     
  2. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    No, I'm not playing dumb, and I really don't want to turn this into a patented oop pissfest. But there is a school. There are kids who attend the school. There are kids who don't attend the school. The kids who attend the school are the ones who should reap the benefits of attending the school. As I said, there's this "taxpayer" loophole that people want to use, reducing the entire idea of school into a paid public service like your garbage bill. But a school is a community and a place of education and growth and a whole lot of other things besides a financial arrangement, things that a home-school family has chosen to reject. So, this is the result of that decision.
     
  3. My big question to Mizzou is exactly what is it about the decision to homeschool one's kids that makes one an "asshole?"

    Other questions: What does it take to "justify" homeschooling? And who exactly elected you to be the arbiter of what is "justified?"
     
  4. Uh, no, Starman, none of those are intended to "undermine and dismantle" the public school system. They are meant to provide kids with the education and educational environment their parents deem best for them.

    I know when we decided to homeschool our kids, the fate of the public school system somehow never came up.
     
  5. outofplace

    outofplace Well-Known Member

    Actually, I meant it as a backhanded compliment. I assumed that you would be able to comprehend the difference between unfairness to home school kids by not giving them any opportunity to compete and kids who go to the school and lose a spot, but at least they lost it on the field.

    Sorry, but I have no sympathy for somebody who got beat out for a roster spot or a starting job. That is part of sports.

    I'm not quite sure where I stand on the overall point. I'm leaning toward agreeing with you. I'm not a big fan of home schooling, as I've written on other threads. I have far too much respect for teachers to think it is a good idea.

    But I don't think the idea of it being unfair for a kid who attends the school to lose his spot is an issue. Don't want to lose your spot? Beat the guy out on the field.
     
  6. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    "Beat out for a roster spot or a starting job" by a guy who wasn't a student. You are missing the point of a high school team. It represents the school.
     
  7. cranberry

    cranberry Well-Known Member

    Home school kids should play sports for the home school, not a school they don't attend. Choices have consequences.
     
  8. nmmetsfan

    nmmetsfan Active Member

    As long as public schools accept taxpayer dollars and taxpayers can't opt out of paying those taxes I don't think public schools should do anything but be as inclusive as possible. Even per pupil aid at the end of the day is still taxpayer dollars.
     
  9. outofplace

    outofplace Well-Known Member

    No, you're missing my point. There are very good arguments to keeping home school kids off sports teams at their local high schools. Unfairness to the kid who gets beat out is not one of them. That kid still had a shot and lost. It's called competition. That has consequences, too.
     
  10. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    Any public high school team in the course of history could have brought in ringers to fill all of its spots if the players didn't actually have to attend the school. Could have gotten a nice little fake apartment address (as hondo says Tebow's family did). Kids compete for the spots against the pool of players who attend the school. Sure, some lose out to their classmates -- I know I did -- but it's a privilege and benefit for the betterment of the school and the kids who are part of it. High school sports is not supposed to be about finding the 12 best players regardless of scholastic affiliation. It's supposed to be about giving the kids a social and physical outlet.

    Otherwise we might as well just have open recruiting and Calipari-style mercenaries.
     
  11. Bob Cook

    Bob Cook Active Member

    My taxes also go the military, but they don't let me drive a tank unless I sign up. For that matter, my 70-year-old mother pays taxes to her local school -- does she get to sign up for high school sports? My taxes go to pay for the Secret Service -- can I get one of them out to watch my back when I'm at the mall?

    As ridiculous as that sounds, just saying "I pay taxes" as a reason to get to do anything isn't enough.
     
  12. Bob Cook

    Bob Cook Active Member

    Things are pretty much heading in that direction, anyway. Florida, most notably, under legislative fiat has to back off on investigating recruiting violations, and also has to accept that pretty much any and all transfers are OK, including, say, playing football in the fall for one school and playing basketball in the winter for another.

    Homeschooling, charters, vouchers and school choice are playing havoc with the state athletic association model, which assumes you have the choice to go to either the school in your district, or a private school, and that once the choice is made it's rock-solid. Really, if you're going to tell parents and educators that it's OK to take a kid out of one school to another freely because you don't the environment, the academic or lack of an orchestra, then how can you say, "But sports is different"?
     
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