28 | October | 2019 | Plaid Line

Image taken from: https://engineering.vanderbilt.edu/news/tag/student-athletes/

Student athletes are no regular students. They go from focusing on academics to sports in a heartbeat. You’ll always hear someone in your class complaining about running at practise or being sore from morning weights.

There’s nearly 8 million students participating in a school sport in the U.S. Out of that, 8 million, about 490,000, will go on to play at NCAA schools.

Student athletes have a lot going for them. They tend to graduate at higher rates than their peers and their experience in sports also gives them plenty of life lessons that will help them in their future.

For these students, their work ethic is what truly matters. It’s their psychological commitment. It’s the mind set they have when approaching or leaving a game and practice.

Student athletes have crowded minds. Overlapping thoughts of things they have to do that’s panned around their sport. They must responsibly balance their school work, sports, and social life.

Athletes have to keep their brain going, from waking up for school, to staying up after a practice, to get school work done. Once all that is done, they can finally relax.

As a student athlete myself, I catch myself thinking; do I go to my practise or do I finish my project? If I go to my practice, that means I have to stay up later to do my project, but if I miss my practice it could show how I’m not committed to my sport.

In class I’ll be thinking about the important game I have in a few hours. At practice I’ll be stressing out about the loads of homework I still have to do.

Even with that, I still have to focus on the task at hand, whether it’s school or my sport. To fix these problems, athletes do their best to manage their time.

Through these obstacles, being a student that plays a sport can be one of the best things. It comes with so many benefits. When playing a sport, you can meet tons of new people. They can end up being some of your closest friends or just people to know in school.

Playing a sport also keeps you healthy and in shape. Imagine everyday after school getting in a good workout with your team.

The biggest thing a student could gain from being in a sport is what they learn mentally. You get a chance to test your boundaries and see how far you can go.

Could I play harder or run faster?

Can I handle practice and homework? I think you can.

By Charlotte Lane

There is no denying the current data reflects that girls are out-performing boys at all levels in school. According to the New York Times, boys score equal to girls on standardized tests, however they are receiving lower grades and fewer boys are completing college than girls.

Researchers involved with the New York Times believe the reason behind this is that boys have a harder time sitting still and following rules than girls, and teachers lower boys grades due to bad behavior.

Image taken from: https://images.app.goo.gl/fCxLcWTQnnpcc1i57

Sit Still and Be Quiet

New York Times research shows that schools were not created for all different learning styles. Girls mature faster than boys, and this means they can consentrate longer and have better interpersonal skills. Schools are designed for one learner type, it’s not necessarily a boy verus girl issue, it’s a lack of learning style options for students.

The traditional learning style at schools is geared for someone who can sit and actively listen for long periods of time. Research proves that is exactly what girls can do.

What is the Differnce?

Boys don’t fit in the box of sit, read, and listen to a leture. Boys need to be more physical and learn by hands on learning.

Schools are created for a learner profile that is easier for girls to follow.

According to the New York Times Magazine schools ultimatly demasculinze boys. An exapmle of this is how mucn more young men are yelled at then girls. Unlike boys, girls are much more likely to mimic each other and work as a team. Boys value compentency and group acceptance, and boys prove this by being the most physical, the funniest, or the most disruptive in a class setting.

Image taken from: https://images.app.goo.gl/BasCmrk9ptZDjPzo7

Solutions

Instead of focusing on the differences of genders in school, we should focus on a solution to help boys succeed.

One solution is designing curriculums for more than one learner type as well as allowing for more hands on, kinesthetic learners. Schools need to account for different learning styles and learning speeds.