I take it you're from the US? I lived in Germany a while ago where they reduced the high school years from 9 to 8 in some states. Here, parents complain about t

I take it you're from the US? I lived in Germany a while ago where they reduced the high school years from 9 to 8 in some states. Here, parents complain about the opposite of what you observe, namely that the kids don't have the time anymore to participate in extra-curricular activities such as sport clubs, because the kids spend more time in school or doing homework. So in both cases it seems that there's not enough time for both school work and sports. But the focus of what is considered more important seems to be different between the two countries.