BD...you speak the truth, as long as the student demonstrates success in those high-level classes. They may or may not be the ones with the greatest ability, but they demonstrate that they are the ones who are willing to challenge themselves most.
Still, in our schools we don't tell students that they either have to take all AP classes or they can't take any AP classes at all. We encourage them to take as many as they can, and we push them to challenge themselves, but we do give them leeway. The prevailing philosophy is that the more high-level, challenging classes a student can take, the more prepared he/she will be for the next level--much like the philosophy supporting the DA. This is tempered by the accompanying philosophy that taking some AP classes is better for the student than taking none, and if we preclude AP students from taking any CP classes, there would be fewer who would be willing to commit to the AP curriculum, and therefore more students who would take no AP classes at all.
My question of the DA has never been whether it has great value to the elite player who wishes to gain admission to the Harvards of the soccer world. Quite obviously, it does. My question is, could the DA find a way to provide more than one option--a 10-month season for those who are fully committed, and a shorter season to provide that same top-level training to some of our potential high-flyers who show great promise, but haven't reached the point in their lives where they are driven to commmit to the exclusion of all else?
Enough devil's advocate for now, as much fun as it is...cards on the table. If having a player who misses his high school season to play full-time in the DA is sad, how much sadder for the sport is it if many more high-potential players are NOT encouraged to even try for that level, because it means they are automatically lost to their school coaches and teammates?
