THE BOOK--Playing The Percentages In Baseball

Monday, June 15, 2009

Leaving high school “early”

Bryce Harper:

In the meantime, the former high school phenom, who won’t turn 17 until two months after he starts classes at CSN, will be paired with his older brother Bryan, a 6-foot-5 lefthanded pitcher who is transferring from Cal State Northridge, for the 2010 season. The Harpers will be coached by Tim Chambers, a longtime friend of the family.

Ron Harper told the LVRJ that Las Vegas High administrators and baseball coach Sam Thomas are “all supportive” of the move but recognizes that others may criticize this decision.

Apparently, this is a big deal.

Harper was born 24 years (and several weeks) after I was born.  I graduated high school in 1985, which was 24 years ago.  I did not skip a year or anything.  All my classmates were my age.  In Quebec, we finish high school in Grade 11 (or Secondary 5), we enter a 2 year “pre-college” (which we call CEGEP), and then a 3- or 4-year university program (McGill, Concordia, Universite de Montreal, UQAM are the 4 universities all around the downtown area).  We do our 16 years of schooling to get a bacherlor’s, just as in USA.  So, the idea that he’s leaving high school “early” is frankly a joke to me, as it would be in many parts of the world.