Sport - singular.
Some people want their kids to have an opportunity to participate in more than one sport. Going to a smaller school gives kids a fighting chance to do that rather than having to specialize in one sport at the expense of all others.
Ames High #1 in Iowa
- Thread starter 80sClone
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Some people want their kids to have an opportunity to participate in more than one sport. Going to a smaller school gives kids a fighting chance to do that rather than having to specialize in one sport at the expense of all others.
Granted it was a long time ago but when I took the SAT I had a prior commitment the only day it was offered anywhere near me in Iowa. I ended up having to go to northern Chicago suburbs to take it.
I dont think the SAT is necessary at all unless you want to apply to elite schools on either coast, ACT is sufficient. Also, any National Merit Finalist hopefuls (PSAT) need to take the SAT if they score well enough on the PSAT, right?
Ames High sucks.*
As a Boone alumnus, being them at nerd competitions (e.g., mock trial, quiz bowl, etc.) back in the day was pretty sweet. Not that anybody really cared.
*Yes, I know it is an excellent school, and I would love my kids to go there someday if I can convince my wife to move back to Iowa. But don't tell anybody this.
As a Boone alumnus, being them at nerd competitions (e.g., mock trial, quiz bowl, etc.) back in the day was pretty sweet. Not that anybody really cared.
*Yes, I know it is an excellent school, and I would love my kids to go there someday if I can convince my wife to move back to Iowa. But don't tell anybody this.
This is a dumb argument that gets made way too often. When I went to Ames High, tons of kids did multiple sports. Some played 4 sports - football, basketball, track and baseball. Or wrestling instead of basketball. Not all played Varsity in each sport, but they played.
I'll add that even if you can't make it in sports, there are still plenty of other extracurricular activities your kid can get involved in.
There's this mentality among some in Iowa that big schools = bad. And our biggest schools aren't that big compared to what you'll find across the country.
guess I, confused by this.... are you saying bigger schools prepare someone for life more than a smaller school?
First, this ranking only considers AP progress, which skews it to big HS. Smaller schools don’t have the budgets to offer a lot of AP classes but their kids take college classes in HS. Lots of Gilbert (and Nevada and Ballard) kids take ISU classes in HS. Which is a better measure of college readiness? How you do on an AP test or how you do in an actual college class on campus, taught by a professor? US News does not consider PSEO credits, only AP.
Second, this is supposedly a measure of ego prepares kids for college. Even if they do measure that (see point above), what about preparing kids for careers?
Therefore Ames ain’t #1.
Second, this is supposedly a measure of ego prepares kids for college. Even if they do measure that (see point above), what about preparing kids for careers?
Therefore Ames ain’t #1.
"The graduation rate for the high school was 92 percent, a bit below the state average. U.S. News reported Iowa had a 95.2 percent mean graduation rate in the country."
95.2 percent? or 95.2 percentile? Hard to imagine that 95.2 percent of Iowa high school students graduate, especially if Ames is "only" 92 percent. Maybe "mean graduation rate" has some technical definition that eludes me.
Agree. Our kids are in a small school. They will get to participate in four sports, band, and choir. They will probably also be in theatre out of necessity. I have a nephew who goes to a large school in Texas. He's on the C team and will probably specialize in the "student" section.
Percentile is a ranking. It isn’t the same as percent. In the context of graduation rates in the preceding paragraph, percentile wouldn’t make sense.
So, do you think 95.2 percent of Iowa high school students graduate (even though Ames has only 92 percent)?
I’m not going to sit and say big schools don’t have their advantages but there is legitimate cause for the concern over big schools. The social and sport aspects are incredibly important parts of high school. At least in my opinion a well rounded person should play sports and be involved in other academic extracurriculars. I’m speaking from my experience at a small 4A school that even then there was a fair amount of limiting what people could do. I like the balance of size at 3A and some of the smaller 4A schools. A school should be big enough to have the resources but also small enough that people know their classmates. I would know 95%+ of the people in my class even ones I haven’t seen since high school. I think that is a good thing. When you have bigger schools you lose out on the sense of community and learning. I think it is somewhat a cause of the divisiveness in our society. People see others as groups when they should see them as people.
My daughter, son in law and granddaughters live in North Ames, they attend the Gilbert School district, my daughter is a kindergarten teacher in the district. For her. the drive to Gilbert is faster than if she taught kindergarten in Ames. No traffic lights, and only 7 miles to the North.
For anyone that has not been to North Ames in the past 5 years, you owe it too yourself to drive out that way and see all the new homes they have built. Gilbert is a 3A school, not that small. In fact when Davis County won the 2A state title 7 years ago in baseball, it was Gilbert who they beat. The growth in the district is unbelievable and the town of Gilbert is still a crap hole but improving. They are getting a lot of people that want cheaper housing, smaller classrooms moving into the district.
For anyone that has not been to North Ames in the past 5 years, you owe it too yourself to drive out that way and see all the new homes they have built. Gilbert is a 3A school, not that small. In fact when Davis County won the 2A state title 7 years ago in baseball, it was Gilbert who they beat. The growth in the district is unbelievable and the town of Gilbert is still a crap hole but improving. They are getting a lot of people that want cheaper housing, smaller classrooms moving into the district.
At a big school you’re fighting from the start for everything. You have to go take a spot in a sport or take a spot in the marching band. At a small school you are just handed those spots. It’s actually sad because at a big school of you can’t make the football team you can go try the lacrosse team or the swim team or the bowling team and you might actually find something that you didn’t know you were really good at.
As far as community, the only difference at a big school is there are a lot of communities within the whole. Those communities often overlap and are drawn together when needed.
I’m not against small schools I just think their advantages are far overstated and it’s a clutch back to the pst of Iowa. A lot of those schools suck in terms of ranking and the bottom line education you can get. But if you want to be guaranteed a starting spot on the football team because only 30 kids go out and 8 of them are because their parents made them then by all means feel good about that and good luck in the real world, unless you decide to stay.
You are greatly misrepresenting the situation. I have a soph at Washington, the #12 school on the list. Large and very diverse school in CR. My son is average athletically and shorter than average. So far he has played 2 seasons on the basketball team, 2 seasons on the golf team, a year on the track team and a partial year on tennis team before he quit to focus on golf.
He is not missing out on anything he has wanted to do, but quite the opposite. His mother and I have tried talking him into doing more which he could should he choose to.
Please stop this misconception that going to a "large" school automatically puts your child into this maniacal competition.
I went to a “big” school (small 4A like you) and didn’t lose out on the sense of community and learning.
I’ll echo what Gunner said, that while it is tougher to do multiple sports at a big school, the flip side is that you can find “your thing” and roll with it. And I’ll echo my original point that the bigger schools tend to have more options for non-athletic extracurriculars. If you’re not involved in something even at a big school, that’s on you.
I don’t have anything against small schools, but the big schools have been made out as this boogeyman that isn’t even close to reality.
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I agree with you for the most part, but I’ll push back a little on the “fighting for a spot” point. Activities like marching band will take any kid who wants to do it. Same with a few sports like track.
Now if you’re talking about making varsity in any of those sports or “first chair” in band then you’re spot on.
