text: I strongly agree with your position on this new policy change. I believe it will benefit the students in many ways. For example, if a student wants to play a sport bad enough, he or she will want to strive for academic achievement to be able to play on his or her sports team. If the school was to just give out these privileges to any student who wants to play, they will stop putting in the hard work they need to learn in school, and they will be more focused on their sports teams. The outcome of this if we didn't have the new policy of a grade B average to play, would be that students would lag behind in school, possibly dropping their grade further. Secondly, if we go forth with this new policy change, it will boost the students confidence while playing sports. They will have a more positive outlook on school, their friends, family, and life in general. I believe this will happen because all the students playing sports will have a B grade average or higher, so they will not be depressed, like they would if they had C' s and below, and were rejected to be on the sports team. Another reason to consider making this policy change, would be the fact that it would increase the overall academic achievement on the school. There would be more B and A students, instead of C, D, and F students. So, when the MCAS testing comes around, we will be a lot more prepared then we would be without the policy change. Lastly, on events like field day, volunteer service, kids would be more willing to join, because they feel like they can make a difference in our community, on account of the higher morale and grades they will be receiving. Now, I believe there would be many consequences if we don't make this policy change. The big thing you and I can both agree on, is the fact that the students will lag behind in school, on account of their attention being put towards the thing they think is the most fun, which is sports. This will drop their grades. In the long term effect, it can affect the students MCAS scores. Can you imagine if the students in school playing sports kept getting of the habit of ignoring homework, quizzes, tests, and extra-curricular activities? It would be horrible! These bad habits could develop into something much more. It could continue into high school, even college! Even if we look at the present, right now. You said it yourself, most of the students are getting C' s. This policy change could someday change the lives of every student in this school, at the very minimum the ones who want to play sports. Also, like I stated before, if the school is rewarding the students with the privilege of being able to play a sport, when the students are getting C' s, they will become lazy. They will feel like they won't have to work for anything, and this could also affect the students life at home, which could in turn fire back at the school. By backfire, I mean lagging behind. If you haven't noticed a pattern yet, look at the facts. Without this policy change, everything leads back to depression, lower grades, and laziness. Also, one thing that no principle, staff, or teacher wants to see in a school, is drugs. In today's world, drugs use in teens is on the rise, and who are the kids that use them? The kids that get bad grades, who have lost the privilege to play on sports teams, and the kids who are depressed, and just don't care what happens to them anymore. So I ask you, please, we need to make this policy change. Look aside from the fact of grades and home life for a second. This could potentially save lives, drug abuse has killed teens with very bright futures in this world. In conclusion, I agree with you one hundred percent on this topic, and I hope that you make this new policy change.