Public's should not play private schools

[gbo]

I have seen over and over again,,,it starts at the middle school level, BA see's a kid at a public school, convinces him to come play at BA, and then that public school coach loses a player, and usually a stud. Please don't say it doesn't happen, because 98% of the super privates recruit,, CPA is on the verge of being the next super recruiter, along with Ensowrth,,,,,I don't care if you have 2000 kids,,,,if you can hand pick your team, you have a huge unfair advantage. Publics should not showcase their kids to privates!!!!!! Play with the cards you are dealt,,,,that's real coaching,,,,this isn't college.

 

 

 

I've heard this stuff for years. Just take your ball and go home Metroballin...after you legislate the high school football world to favor your team, would you please legislate the weather??? Texas got way more rain than we did this year and its just not fair! High school football is just not THAT important.

 

But since you brought it up, I think the privates are at a huge disadvantage to the publics...not only are the suburban publics guaranteed to have their classrooms full, the private school parents are paying thousands of dollars annually (some over $20,000) for their kids to attend school and play football, while the public school kids don't have to pay anything...so while you're at it, why don't you really make it fair and require all the kids who play for the public schools to pay at least...$12,000, yea I think that's fair, $12,000 per year, or $1,000 a month to play football??? The private school parents, over the years, have paid for everything at their schools...the stadiums, the concession stands, the press boxes, the locker rooms, the weight rooms, the blocking sleds, the uniforms, the coaches salaries and benefits etc. The public school parents have all this paid for with tax dollars. You'd think that after all this, the private schools would let their parents watch the games gratis! But they have to pay for admission just like you. Yet we are mature enough to realize that we made the choice to do this and that we are blessed by being able to afford to make such a choice, so we don't complain about the fact that the private schools always have their hand out asking for more money. We see it as an investment in our children and in the future of our community.

 

Additionally, Metroballin, it seems that you and your kind want to have your cake and eat it, too. Didn't your mother tell you that you don't always get everything you want in life? Your kids are already getting a tuition free education...quit crying about not being able to win a state championship.

 

We don't hear the parents at the privates complaining about a portion of their property tax dollars paying for the public school kids' education while they borrow from their retirement to pay their children's tuition. Yet they quietly put up with your whining and complaining about how unfair the football landscape is for your little Johnny. No, you don't; because it's a choice they make...one that no one has forced upon them because some where along the way they grew up!

 

And they know that not every one can afford private school tuition....so they contribute to a scholarship fund, a portion of which will go to defray the tuition expense incurred by those whose financial situation does not allow them to pay 100% of the tuition. How long is it going to take for you and your kind to grow up and to quit your whining and complaining and to be thankful for what you have and contribute?

 

Above all, THE most important part of the high school experience is a high quality education, not a high quality football team. However, some schools, both public and private, have been able to do both, but the education portion will always take priority over the athletic portion at those schools. Some people are just better at some things than others.

 

Your kids are already getting a free ride at the public school!!! Just be thankful your kids are getting an education that you are happy with and for which you are not paying thousands of dollars per year in tuition. So what if the privates have won a disproportionate of the championships...some people are just better at some things than others. That's just the way life is.

[Coniglio]

The best middle school softball player around here last year was just a sixth-grader, dominated against seventh and eighth-graders, she's at GPS now by the way.

 

A good program recruits itself. Players want to play for the best team they can to get better so they can have an opportunity to move to the next level. It's a fact of sports. They will make every effort to migrate to the team that will give them the best chance to succeed.

 

GPS has proven to be one of the best teams in the Chattanooga area if not across the state. If I were a middle school girl that thought that I might have a chance to move to the next level in my sport you bet I would try to go there. Not a "this school wants me" thing. I think its more of a "I want this school" thing.

 

I think people underestimate middle school and high school students. We're not, in fact, presented with these opportunities. We want them. And we go after them. Can we penalize schools that show that have a good program by forbidding players to go to that program? No. That's ludicrous.

 

Then again, trying to make a state agree on one issue is also ludicrous. Guess why they call it a debate.

[wheels]

the private school parents are paying thousands of dollars annually (some over $20,000) for their kids to attend school and play football, while the public school kids don't have to pay anything

 

The private school parents, over the years, have paid for everything at their schools...the stadiums, the concession stands, the press boxes, the locker rooms, the weight rooms, the blocking sleds, the uniforms, the coaches salaries and benefits etc. The public school parents have all this paid for with tax dollars.

 

so we don't complain about the fact that the private schools always have their hand out asking for more money.

 

And they know that not every one can afford private school tuition....so they contribute to a scholarship fund, a portion of which will go to defray the tuition expense incurred by those whose financial situation does not allow them to pay 100% of the tuition.

 

Above all, THE most important part of the high school experience is a high quality education, not a high quality football team. However, some schools, both public and private, have been able to do both, but the education portion will always take priority over the athletic portion at those schools.

 

 

Get real. The parents of those inner city kids that somehow wind up at the privates are paying thousands?

 

You think athletics are being paid for with tax dollars? How many thousands have booster clubs put into the public school athletic programs? What is being paid for with tax dollars, athletic wise, is getting less and less each year.

 

And don't believe that privates are the only ones asking for more money. Some public schools are holding fund raisers, not just for athletics, but for money to pay the school's postage and phone bills.

 

Yes, not every one can afford private school tuition, but who's more likely to get a scholarship - the outstanding athlete or just some ordinary kid who wants a private school education and can't afford it.

 

Yes, there are some private schools that give an excellent education. But, see Exhibit A, there's a football factory over on Granny White Pike in Brentwood and you will not convice me that academics, or anything else, is more important over there than football.

[Indian]

A good program recruits itself. Players want to play for the best team they can to get better so they can have an opportunity to move to the next level. It's a fact of sports. They will make every effort to migrate to the team that will give them the best chance to succeed.

 

GPS has proven to be one of the best teams in the Chattanooga area if not across the state. If I were a middle school girl that thought that I might have a chance to move to the next level in my sport you bet I would try to go there. Not a "this school wants me" thing. I think its more of a "I want this school" thing.

 

I think people underestimate middle school and high school students. We're not, in fact, presented with these opportunities. We want them. And we go after them. Can we penalize schools that show that have a good program by forbidding players to go to that program? No. That's ludicrous.

 

Then again, trying to make a state agree on one issue is also ludicrous. Guess why they call it a debate.

 

 

 

The point was it's usually clear who will be standouts even by the sixth grade. By the way II, the original plans were to attend Boyd-Buchanan, I guess someone was more convincing.

[itzme]

Yes, there are some private schools that give an excellent education. But, see Exhibit A, there's a football factory over on Granny White Pike in Brentwood and you will not convice me that academics, or anything else, is more important over there than football.

 

Then you really need to investigate and find out for yourself, because you are sadly mistaken. Go to the next admissions day. They're open to the public. Making assumptions based on very limited knowledge is not wise, and asserting them on open internet boards is a very questionable practice.

[jvaughan]

gbo, you act as if you are being forced to send a kid to private school while everybody else has a choice. If you are a parent (which by the way you talk, I am assuming) you made the choice that you thought was best, just like all the public school parents. So quit complaining about how you have to pay so much money and that privates have to pay taxes toward public schools. You made a choice and you have to deal with it. Thats just the way life is.

 

I don't want to hear about privates hurting for money or having to "put there hand out". If you look at the majority of private athletic facilities and compare them to public facilities they aren't even close. Prime example, University School of Jackson's baseball/football complex compared to Jackson Central Merry's baseball/football complex (or the lack there of). Tax dollars hard at work there.

[Baldcoach]

Get real. The parents of those inner city kids that somehow wind up at the privates are paying thousands?

 

 

[/color]Name 10

 

You think athletics are being paid for with tax dollars? How many thousands have booster clubs put into the public school athletic programs? What is being paid for with tax dollars, athletic wise, is getting less and less each year.

 

Yes. The field, the electric and water bills, the coaches, the taxes, the maintenance of said field and maintenance equipement, the lights, the bleachers, etc. are all paid for with public funds. That is why it is called 'public' education. Privates pay for all of this out of pocket...it is hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars extra.

 

 

And don't believe that privates are the only ones asking for more money. Some public schools are holding fund raisers, not just for athletics, but for money to pay the school's postage and phone bills.

 

Whoever these publics are (if they exist and this isn't rhetoric) they need to sue their county governments. I've never heard of a public school having to raise funds for basic operating costs.

 

 

 

Yes, not every one can afford private school tuition, but who's more likely to get a scholarship - the outstanding athlete or just some ordinary kid who wants a private school education and can't afford it.

 

No one gets scholarships...they are illegal. In Division II schools offer need based financial aid, but the publics aren't playing them so you must be talking about DI schools offering scholarships. Doesn't happen...can't afford it and it would be crazy illegal.

 

 

Yes, there are some private schools that give an excellent education. But, see Exhibit A, there's a football factory over on Granny White Pike in Brentwood and you will not convice me that academics, or anything else, is more important over there than football.

 

 

BA is a DII school. Publics don't have to play them. Are you implying that because BA is a 'Football Factory' that all privates are? If not, how does this statement help your arguments?

[alltherage]

ALL PRIVATES SHOULD PLAY IN DIVII AT SOME LEVEL.

GBO made it quite clear in his post, Those private teams players parents put out the money so they should get an unfair advantage which transalates into wins for their little jr. How can you dare complain about a single cent, there is already an education paid for, for your child at your local public school....but you don't want them to go there because of the advantages of private school. YES IT DOES TRANSALATE TO THE FOOTBALL FIELD!!

 

Public schools play with with the hodge podge of characters that are in their school. Private school coaches have a more defined athelete to coach (not to mention the recruiting or students that may go to that school especially for atheletics).

 

Play with the other privates in DivII, it really is simple.

[mustangfan]

Why even debate this issue... no one will ever win! The reality of it all is that both sides have real arguments. The point everyone seems to miss is that there is just as much disparity among public schools themselves, as with publics and privates. No one can tell me that Alcoa and pearl cohn have equal facilities, budgets, players, etc. Or compare White house or Greenbrier where the whole community supports them, to mcgavock high school where there are few people who could care at all how they do. What about williamson county schools and their facilities? how do they compare to those of inner city memphis schools? Why is it that Fulton seems to get a good team year after year?

 

There plenty of other schools and counties with unfair advantages over each other. It is an oversimplification to say privates vs publics. I'm sure not all private schools are equal either. If fairness is the only issue, then this couldn't possibly be a solution.

[Bighurt]

ALL PRIVATES SHOULD PLAY IN DIVII AT SOME LEVEL . . .

 

Why?

 

From the TSSAA handook Atricle 1 Section 3 - ". . . Division II shall be those schools whose student-athletes competing at the varsity level may be the recipients of need-based financial aid.".

[big red big blue]

Why even debate this issue... no one will ever win! The reality of it all is that both sides have real arguments. The point everyone seems to miss is that there is just as much disparity among public schools themselves, as with publics and privates. No one can tell me that Alcoa and pearl cohn have equal facilities, budgets, players, etc. Or compare White house or Greenbrier where the whole community supports them, to mcgavock high school where there are few people who could care at all how they do. What about williamson county schools and their facilities? how do they compare to those of inner city memphis schools? Why is it that Fulton seems to get a good team year after year?

 

There plenty of other schools and counties with unfair advantages over each other. It is an oversimplification to say privates vs publics. I'm sure not all private schools are equal either. If fairness is the only issue, then this couldn't possibly be a solution.

 

 

You're exactly right. I've written on here a million times. Ravenwood HS has won a 5A title, and played in 2 clinic bowls despite having had only 2 graduating senior classes. McGavock High School has ONE play-off victory in its 30+ year history. Riverdale currently has an 80+ game region winning streak. Maryville is about to complete another 15-0 season...yet those disparities draw no attention at all.

 

In the meantime, financial aid granting private schools win two of the largest class state titles in 20+ years (BA's in '95 and '96), and we are forced into our own division. So, this has never been about "fairness." It's about accomodating the loudest complainers.

 

And the sad part is that the people who actually need the help--small public schools--haven't received it, while the people who need it least of anyone (large 5A publics) have been able to legislate their way to easy street.

[SwamiSays]

You're exactly right. I've written on here a million times. Ravenwood HS has won a 5A title, and played in 2 clinic bowls despite having had only 2 graduating senior classes. McGavock High School has ONE play-off victory in its 30+ year history. Riverdale currently has an 80+ game region winning streak. Maryville is about to complete another 15-0 season...yet those disparities draw no attention at all.

 

In the meantime, financial aid granting private schools win two of the largest class state titles in 20+ years (BA's in '95 and '96), and we are forced into our own division. So, this has never been about "fairness." It's about accomodating the loudest complainers.

 

And the sad part is that the people who actually need the help--small public schools--haven't received it, while the people who need it least of anyone (large 5A publics) have been able to legislate their way to easy street.

 

 

 

It sounds like McGavock should be crying FOUL the loudest of anyone. I have no idea what they can say, but in 35 years of existence, with enrollment numbers way up over 3,000 at times, and only 1 playoff win, there must be somebody else to blame.

I am being totally sarcastic...and hope someone picks up on where this arguement can lead. (hint, hint... enrollment numbers and multipliers...???)