I've found a new meaning for my life

[rbarata]

ES, I just have one thing to say: WOW!
Now I know who can help me with my music theory doubts.
Don't worry, just kidding!

The educational system seems to be the same as here, including the cuttings. Today, what we used to learn at school in past years, s not available anymore but the best resources to learn and investigate are at a distance of a click. Inspite of that, kids don't seem to bother with it.
My own kids sometimes ask me questions... when I don't know the answer I always tell them: "Google it!".

The music classes here, in the first high school years, are considered as of "low importance" for the curriculum and their teachers are not considered the same way as a math or any language teacher.

That's a shame!

With your experience I think you should consider seriously return to music as soon as you can. You had a serious "parallel" carreer. With a curriculum like that, you can resume anytime you want.

When I was younger I also was playing drums in rock/pop bands and for a few years I was earning more than I am today with my work. But a friend of mine, who is a famous professional drummer, always tell me the worst mistake he did was dropping school to play the drums.

[Leafmite]

Good luck with your new direction in life!

My spouse is good with piano and violin (many years of lessons, High School orchestra, a few music electives in college, taught piano) but no longer plays in public because he is a perfectionist and afraid to make a mistake. People still ask him....

It is unfortunate what has happened with the sports in the USA. When I ran cross country and track many, many years ago, we practiced about an hour and that was it. The meets were always with nearby schools and over quickly. That was pretty typical for sports. Now, some kids practice four hours per day, every day, including weekends, holidays, summers, etc. They often have morning lifting at 5:00am. The meets can be with schools three hours away.

Because of the time commitment required by coaches, many kids drop all the college-prep classes (honors and AP classes) because they cannot handle the work the classes require and do sports. Instead, they take the least challenging classes possible. My kids, swimmers, would often be working on homework into the early morning hours because of the long practices and late arrival home after meets. Because of the extreme wear and tear and no rest period, some of their teammates had to get hip or shoulder surgeries and most had to get physical therapy--while in High School!

[rbarata]

My kids were also swimmers as a school extra activity. They both reached the highest degree but when it came the time to decide to go to the competition level they decided not to (and I agree).
Time was limited and school was/is far more important.

[Leafmite]

You made the right decision. Sports are great only if they contribute to health and happiness, not if they prove detrimental.

Our kids did the butterfly for the YMCA and High School teams (the youngest also did the backstroke) and they wanted to put the kids in summer training and clinics, etc. but we never did any of that as we felt they needed to rest and Heal (and do activities beyond swimming). They won their races for their team and qualified for advancement but never advanced as far as the State Competitions. Nor did they ever need therapy or surgery so I think we made the right decision.

Academics always came first for our family as that is what ultimately counts. Two graduated from college and one is in the middle.

[No-Pro-mwa]

Good luck. And Wow es you are a talent.