A recent Inside higher ed article explained how one Division I basketball coach instructed his staff to complete some of his players’ and potential recruits’ academic assignments. The article even describes one case where a student, who was “as far away from graduating as any kid [the coach] ever had,” managed to earn a GPA of 3.75 in three online courses (which needed to be passed for this student to attend the college). I know many of the articles we read about college sports had to do with the issue of paying student athletes, but I think this issue is just as important. Why should these college athletes get a free academic ride when most of us work tirelessly to achieve satisfactory grades? Why should they get the privilege of training in high line athletic facilities and receiving special treatment while not having to do any actual school work? Being more athletically gifted doesn’t make them any better than their fellow students!
However, I do recognize that not all these athletes receive this help by choice. I imagine many student-athletes (who weren’t able to receive a decent education in the past) would love to expand their in minds in college. Unfortunately for them, their coaches want to ensure they don’t fail off the team and therefore may come to give some extra “assistance” even if the student athlete doesn’t agree to it. An attitude like this is very selfish. Since most student athletes don’t make it to the professional leagues they’ll need to get a good education in order to land a decent job after graduation. Coaches are robbing some of their athletes from such an opportunity and it’s despicable. I had never been such a big fan of college sports so I therefore wasn’t aware of how bad the NCAA can be, but our seminar has opened my eyes to some of th ebig issues.One thing is for sure, some major change is definitely needed in college sports.
