Don't overload the kids. Let them choose, help them find what they're best at (easier said than done) and concentrate on a few but not all.
If we had a true and secure pathway to football, I beleive that many more players and their parents would put a lot more effort into football (soccer). As it stands at the moment, the chances of someone making it into a professional contract is very slim (not impossible), this tends to put pressure on parents to get their kids to do well in several areas; 1 or more sports, study which may include several serious subjects.
Some kids can handle this with no or very little problem, but how many do we lose in the overload? How many talented players disappear?
http://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/lifematters/kids-urged-to-study-less-sleep-more-20110310-1borm.html wrote: Maybe kids don't have to take several extra-curricular classes, do hours of homework every night, excel at a sport or two, join a bunch of clubs - and then, of course, get into a top university - to be successful.
Maybe parents and teachers can let students discover what they enjoy and do well, then have them pursue that, instead of joining a bunch of activities just because they think it will look good on their college applications.
Across the nation, parents, teachers and kids may be ready to embrace the idea that kids can take many paths to success - if the popularity of the US education documentary Race to Nowhere is any indication.
"There's a perception that there is a magical path, and there really isn't," said Laurie Lam, a mother of two in Thousand Oaks, California, where the film has been shown several times. "Competition is healthy, and hard work is healthy. But we need to think about how we do it."
In the documentary, several students talk about how miserable the pressure to succeed is making them. They talk about headaches, eating disorders, cheating, even suicide. Parents, too, talk about the stress that homework and over-scheduling puts on families.
Some parents and kids say the stress can be pervasive.
From the time he started high school, Cody Canerdy, 18, felt pressure to play sports, join clubs and excel in classes, he said.
"There's that push to do whatever you need to do to become the golden child," said Cody, a high school senior in Thousand Oaks.
Cody was on the swim team, which he loved, but he gave it up because he wanted to boost his grades to get into a good college and maybe study pre-med.
"I started hearing how competitive schools are, mostly from other students who were trying to do the same thing," he said. "I've never been so stressed before, trying to find the right school that fits me."
Pressure can come from parents, too, who may simply want their child to thrive, or may be looking for bragging rights through their children's successes.
Even parents with the best of intentions for their children can find the documentary painful. Betsy Connolly, a mother of two grown children who serves on California's Conejo Valley Unified School District board, saw it twice.
"It took me back to the early days with my children - the struggles I had as a working, yet over-achieving, mother pushing my children to what I thought was the path to their success," Connolly said. "It took me back to that regret. It's a painful thing."
Connolly and others, however, aren't buying the whole message.
Matt Rhodes, 17, a senior at Thousand Oaks High who is taking five Advanced Placement classes this year, argues that some stress is healthy. That's what keeps life exciting, he said.
"Kids should have to experience stress," Matt said. "If it's in moderation, it's a good thing."
And if kids do want to get into a top-tier college, then realistically they're going to have to work hard, said Michael Lynch, who teaches Advanced Placement classes at California's Westlake High School.
But Lynch, who has two kids of his own, said it's not the right path for everyone.
"Just because your path is Harvard, Yale or Stanford, that doesn't mean that someone's else's path ... is less successful," he said.
Lynch is not a proponent of lots of homework, especially in primary school. Instead, he focuses more on reading and group projects. "After a certain amount of time, you just don't focus," he said of homework.
The key may be to recognise that kids don't have to excel at everything to succeed, according to parents and students who saw the film.
At the end, the film calls for parents, students and teachers to take action. Teachers can try assigning less homework. Students can get enough sleep and limit Advanced Placement classes to subjects they enjoy. Parents can avoid over-scheduling.
"We need to make sure we take care of our young people in every way, and it's not just schools," said Richard Intlekofer, a counsellor at California's Newbury Park High School. "It's something our parents and our community need to work on."
http://www.racetonowhere.com/