Nothing against Tim Tebow (as soon as he left UF I became a fan), but he was a gifted standout when he was young and started playing at a local Christian Academy in western Jacksonville his freshman year. That team didn't have a passing offense so his family wanted to find another school for him to go to so he could be a top recruit. They chose Nease High in south Jacksonville where the coach wanted him to play, and so he and his mom rented an apartment near the school so he could attend while the rest of the family lived back in their old neighborhood. The laws in Florida let home schoolers compete, so not only did he not have to be a real resident, he didn't even have to attend the school.
Parents who don't home school do this all the time with gifted athlete children, but at least they still have to arrange for the kid to attend the school.
So if the starting Nease quarterback who worked his way up to that position was bumped by a guy who doesn't even really live in your district, AND doesn't even go to the school....I don't know, I think that takes the spirit out of high school sports. Maybe I'm wrong, but if this were nationwide, top high school athletes can be recruited to go anywhere they want and they don't even have to attend the school.
Maybe this type of situation is rare, but its the first thing that came to mind when I thought about the kid in this article.
They can be required to live in the school district.
Nobody objects much to a kid going to school for academics and not sports.
Nobody forces him to participate in sports in order to participate in academics. But no one seems to mind forcing him to participate in academics to participate in sports.
Holding academic participation over a kids head in order to participate in sports is blackmail.
Other extra-curricular activities are often open to homeschoolers, things like clubs. In NY of all places, homeschoolers are permitted to borrow equipment from the schools to use in homeschooling. They're required to have their children tested for certain years.
But when it comes to sports, oh, the horror. We can't have any of this homeschoolers participating kind of thing.
Those parents pay taxes which support public schools, unlike the parents of illegals who don't. Homeschoolers are not a drain on the resources of public schools, unlike illegals.
While your attitude towards illegals is correct and admirable, reality is, they are here in this country using our resources for free and contributing nothing. And yet, because they attend the school, they can technically participate in varsity sports where the children of tax paying US citizens can't. And I'll be they are.
There is basically no valid argument against why a homeschooled child should not be permitted to participate in extra curricular activities, varsity sports included.
So, is making the NFL not an option for homeschoolers? Is making the NFL only for public school kids?
That's where your position takes you. It penalizes kids who are homeschooled from the opportunities like that which public school kids have, simply by virtue of the fact that they're homeschooled.