February 17, 2011

Dear Principle,

I have heard that you would like to change the grades needed to participate in sports. I have a few arguments and points that I would like to bring to your attention.

Point A: I know that you would like students to have good grades, AND be able to play sports. Well, as an athlete I know how hard being on a school team can be. You have practice everyday, games are far away, and you still have to complete your homework and maintain your grades to be at least a C. Some of the best athletes are sometimes not so great at school, and if they get a C, are you telling me that you are going to take away what they ARE good at? Let's say for one week they get a C+ which is an 83-84% average, one-two points below a B, are you still going to take them out of basketball, or tennis, or whatever sport it may be? I can understand you taking out a player if he/she has a D, that's different, but for a C? In my opinion, that's a little unfair.

Point B: By raising the grade to a B, you may actually take away motivation, not instill it. They could either decide to not play, they could quit because they think they can't do it, they could switch to a recreational league, or they could sit the bench by choice of not working. By having a C average for your requirement grade, they will feel better about getting and maintaining that grade.

Point C: If many students at the school have a C average, they know that they can maintain that grade. If all of a sudden you raise the average to a B, you are not only going to lose kids that are active in sports and other groups, you are going to have kids that might possibly lose interest in school altogether. With all respect, it would be a stupid decision to change the grade. Here's another thing. For some kids, its ALL about activities and sports, and if that's taken away from them, they are going to lose interest even more than they already have.

Point D: Have some school spirit. If you take away the athlete's chances of being on the team just based on having a B or not, then you are taking away pride. Think of it this way, you take away the good athletes on the team, equals your school losing games, equals lower school pride, and the athletes' self esteem goes down.

I would really love you to consider not doing this policy, because of the effects it could have on our school. Thank you.

Your's Truly,

STUDENT_NAME