BA vs. Ensworth

[bostie]

redtwin:"Out of curiousity do you know how many of the boys you listed attended Ensworth in the 6th grade?"

No, but while you're comparing schools, why does it matter? MBA doesn't have a 6th grade.

You consistently have posted on Ensworth threads that MBA still gets consistent numbers from EMS, which really isn't true. Again, speak to someone in EMS admissions. As is traditional, some boys leave after 6th grade when MBA begins. Some boys leave after middle school ends. But not as many as before EHS. And some boys come back to EHS after attending MBA. The 7th grade at Ensworth is larger than the 6th grade, so there's automatically an influx of new kids in addition to those admitted due to attrition.

Again, my family is a part of both school communities. We're happy. But I can also tell you that EHS supporters, arrogant or not, aren't discussing whether or not MBA is crumbling because of EHS. Other than here on Coacht T, the issue doesn't come up -- among the parents or the students. EHS is coed, with a curriculum based on a unique educational model, and has approximately 190 alums. Those alums, as far as I know, don't spend a lot of time discussing MBA's matriculation rates, either. Just trying to set the record straight.

[Redtwin]

redtwin:"Out of curiousity do you know how many of the boys you listed attended Ensworth in the 6th grade?"

No, but while you're comparing schools, why does it matter? MBA doesn't have a 6th grade.

You consistently have posted on Ensworth threads that MBA still gets consistent numbers from EMS, which really isn't true. Again, speak to someone in EMS admissions. As is traditional, some boys leave after 6th grade when MBA begins. Some boys leave after middle school ends. But not as many as before EHS. And some boys come back to EHS after attending MBA. The 7th grade at Ensworth is larger than the 6th grade, so there's automatically an influx of new kids in addition to those admitted due to attrition.

Again, my family is a part of both school communities. We're happy. But I can also tell you that EHS supporters, arrogant or not, aren't discussing whether or not MBA is crumbling because of EHS. Other than here on Coacht T, the issue doesn't come up -- among the parents or the students. EHS is coed, with a curriculum based on a unique educational model, and has approximately 190 alums. Those alums, as far as I know, don't spend a lot of time discussing MBA's matriculation rates, either. Just trying to set the record straight.

 

I'm primarily curious because I've coached in elementary (5&6) and middle school (7&8) for several years and don't remember most of those boys. For instance, I clearly remember Moore at BGA who just ran all over MBA. A lot changes between that age and high school though, so they may have just not stood out at that level.

 

I'm also curious because prior to EHS, Ensworth was an elementary school with a middle school that was basically an extension of that elementary school. The overwhelming majority, almost all, of EMS' students came from the elementary school and then went on to high school, many of the boys to MBA, some of them to other schools. Most of the boys that go to MBA from Ensworth now do so in 7th grade, a reversal of the previous pattern, and that number trends close to what it has in the past. Some have even gone to other schools prior to 5th or 6th grade to avoid any pressure not to go to MBA. My source on this is very good, and I've seen it with my own eyes. As I have mentioned, I use EMS synonymously with Ensworth Elementary, so other than that technicality, I feel good about my information.

 

If people are going to compare wether or not EHS is having an impact on MBA's enrollment, then the 6th grade is the point of comparison because those are the traditional, life-long Ensworth students that have gone on to MBA in the past. If the students replacing those boys that leave to go to MBA in 7th grade are the ones that are contributing the most for the Tigers, then the impact on MBA's "talent level," which is the question that brought me into this thread, is negligible.

 

Those are the reasons I'm curious about how many of those boys went to Ensworth in 6th grade. Like you, I'm just trying to set the record straight. I've been posting on this site for nearly 10 years, and Itzme has been doing so nearly as long. Although neither of us post as frequently as we used to, he usually has more thoughtful posts than the majority of the users on the board, so when he said something I believed to be untrue, I wanted to have a conversation about it. It was not the primary point of my original post, but it's the one that always gets the most attention. To be honest, I'm quite tired of talking about it, but it seems like most of the discussion surrounding MBA's slow start drifts back to this one point, a point which I believe to be an auxiliary issue.

[bostie]

This is an Ensworth-BA thread. Great game, Tigers. Two talented defenses did a great job of holding two outstanding offenses. But I'm still setting the record straight.

rt's comment: "that number trends close to what it has in the past," just isn't true. In no year since EHS opened have 30 kids or more gone to MBA (the pre-EHS average). Not even close. One year 16 or so sixth graders went, some returned. But your statement is not correct.

I am an adult. I saw my first MBA game in the '70s, and I am a fan. Do you have kids at Ensworth? I do. I assure you I know what I am talking about. And if a child leaves a school 4th or 5th grade to avoid pressure to go to a high school I believe the problem lies with his parents.

[Redtwin]

This is an Ensworth-BA thread. Great game, Tigers. Two talented defenses did a great job of holding two outstanding offenses. But I'm still setting the record straight.

rt's comment: "that number trends close to what it has in the past," just isn't true. In no year since EHS opened have 30 kids or more gone to MBA (the pre-EHS average). Not even close. One year 16 or so sixth graders went, some returned. But your statement is not correct.

I am an adult. I saw my first MBA game in the '70s, and I am a fan. Do you have kids at Ensworth? I do. I assure you I know what I am talking about. And if a child leaves a school 4th or 5th grade to avoid pressure to go to a high school I believe the problem lies with his parents.

 

I thought I recognized you from somewhere

 

 

I agree that this thread has been hijacked, and I did not mean to do so when I posted my orignal post.

 

While we're setting the record straight, prior to EHS there would barely be 30 boys total in an Ensworth Elementary school class, and the entire class definitely did not go to MBA. Also, MBA definitely did not get one third of its student body from Ensworth. The average number that went to MBA was roughly 15 give or take 3. Oak Hill currently feeds and has fed the largest number into MBA, and Ensworth and Harding were behind that. During my time in the high school, one of the winningest periods in MBA football history and Ricky Bowers' most successful range, one class had 13 boys from Ensworth, one had 16, and one had 12. I can't remember the senior class when I was a freshman for certain, but that number was certainly under 20. In all those classes, roughly half of the Ensworth boys played football.

 

I don't have any kids, but I have plenty of close connections to both MBA and Ensworth, and it bears repeating that I've said several times that I think highly of both schools. I also don't know the motivation for parents pulling out kids prior to sixth grade, but I know the kids and they're good kids, and I think a lot of the parents, so I give them the benefit of the doubt that they know how to parent their children.

 

We are clearly not going to convince each other in this discussion, so maybe we should just agree to disagree. As you pointed out, this thread is about a great game between EHS and BA.

[itzme]

I admit to hijacking the thread, but it was simply easier that way.

 

I really don't have the inclination to research every MBA, BA and EHS player in terms of where they went to middle school. As I stated...time will tell on all this. I could be wrong. It has been known to happen. I sincerely hope all of these schools continue to excel at what they do.

 

RRR...funny line!

[itzme]

Itzme posted - "What I stated was that Ensworth is beginning to have an impact on both MBA and BA athletically. It's also having an impact on Harpeth Hall and BA in girl's athletics. Clearly all of these programs will "be OK", but the impact is there."

 

Exactly! Those programs will be impacted. Will they still be successful? Very likely they will. Why is it so difficult for particularly MBA supporters to admit that other programs even exist.

 

And you wonder why people find on overbearing and pompous.

 

Love the new avatar! Hope things are going well over at another of my favorite schools!

[KWoodroof]

 

Why is it so difficult for particularly MBA supporters to admit that other programs even exist.

 

And you wonder why people find on overbearing and pompous.

 

I'd like to think we're only fractionally as overbearing and pompous as we were five years ago, for, in acknowledging the existence of other programs, we'd probably have to concede that, in addition to a few athletes, we've probably lost out on a few snobs as well who would have attended MBA otherwise.

And I think we have our winnner today!

[Bighurt]

 

Why is it so difficult for particularly MBA supporters to admit that other programs even exist.

 

And you wonder why people find on overbearing and pompous.

 

I'd like to think we're only fractionally as overbearing and pompous as we were five years ago, for, in acknowledging the existence of other programs, we'd probably have to concede that, in addition to a few athletes, we've probably lost out on a few snobs as well who would have attended MBA otherwise.

And I think we have our winnner today!

I agree.