[socalstanfan1]

[quote author=StanfordMatt link=topic=9617.msg134003#msg134003 date=1444581241]
Pardon my ignorance on the subject but how can it be frowned upon for private schools to recruit? By their very nature, private schools will go out of business if they don't recruit students, athletes and non-athletes alike.

I don't know, but every public school teacher, student, administrator and parent of public school student tells me it is unethical for private schools to recruit.
[/quote]

Having worked, briefly, for a prestigious private school in SoCal while in graduate school, here is my take on the ethics of recruiting athletes at private schools.

The school where I worked clearly brought in students who were below the academic standards of the school to serve, primarily, as athletes.  They justified this by saying that they were giving the students an opportunity, which I suppose they were, but they did not provide much in the way of additional tutoring or other assistance for the athlete.  On occasion, the athlete was coming to this school from a family that really could not afford such outside help themselves (while nearly every other student in the school had private outside tutors on multiple subjects).  This would be, at the HS level, he equivalent of Stanford admitting athletes who clearly could not meet the standard of the school, and just placing them on their team for four years.  (Interestingly, working in China now, and I see the exact same situation here, with my school having a nationally recognized girls basketball team, and admitting students purely because of their athletic prowess, with test scores far below the school average; the students take classes, but are basically just passed through the system.)

Note: this situation was not the same for all student-athletes at the private school where I taught.  Many of the athletes were able to meet the academic standards of the school (some have even entered Stanford on athletic scholarships).  But there are others that are clearly brought only for their athletic talents.  Also worth noting: my daughter attended a HS in Los Angeles, which is able to admit students from different regions of Los Angeles, drawing particularly from schools that score lower on the myriad standardized tests students are required to take these days.  Many people assume that this HS (not an athletic powerhouse by any means) draws a lot of its athletes from these schools, perhaps taking students who might not find playing time at their own school, but want to take a shot at the other school.  Not really "recruiting" per se, but another way in which academics and athletics fit, sometimes uncomfortably, in American HS culture.

[socalstanfan1]

[quote author=StanfordMatt link=topic=9617.msg134003#msg134003 date=1444581241]
Pardon my ignorance on the subject but how can it be frowned upon for private schools to recruit? By their very nature, private schools will go out of business if they don't recruit students, athletes and non-athletes alike.

I don't know, but every public school teacher, student, administrator and parent of public school student tells me it is unethical for private schools to recruit.
[/quote]

Having worked, briefly, for a prestigious private school in SoCal while in graduate school, here is my take on the ethics of recruiting athletes at private schools.

The school where I worked clearly brought in students who were below the academic standards of the school to serve, primarily, as athletes.  They justified this by saying that they were giving the students an opportunity, which I suppose they were, but they did not provide much in the way of additional tutoring or other assistance for the athlete.  On occasion, the athlete was coming to this school from a family that really could not afford such outside help themselves (while nearly every other student in the school had private outside tutors on multiple subjects).  This would be, at the HS level, he equivalent of Stanford admitting athletes who clearly could not meet the standard of the school, and just placing them on their team for four years.  (Interestingly, working in China now, and I see the exact same situation here, with my school having a nationally recognized girls basketball team, and admitting students purely because of their athletic prowess, with test scores far below the school average; the students take classes, but are basically just passed through the system.)

Note: this situation was not the same for all student-athletes at the private school where I taught.  Many of the athletes were able to meet the academic standards of the school (some have even entered Stanford on athletic scholarships).  But there are others that are clearly brought only for their athletic talents.  Also worth noting: my daughter attended a HS in Los Angeles, which is able to admit students from different regions of Los Angeles, drawing particularly from schools that score lower on the myriad standardized tests students are required to take these days.  Many people assume that this HS (not an athletic powerhouse by any means) draws a lot of its athletes from these schools, perhaps taking students who might not find playing time at their own school, but want to take a shot at the other school.  Not really "recruiting" per se, but another way in which academics and athletics fit, sometimes uncomfortably, in American HS culture.