Ed. Sec. Duncan proposes NCAA Ban for low grades. Who is he kidding? #education #ncaa

http://tinyurl.com/ycry63p

Thomas Jefferson said it would require an educated populace for a democracy to work effectively. Statements like these from politicians tell me just how ignorant they believe us to be. This is the kind of tough talk Secretary Duncan thinks we want to hear. We are just as ignorant about this as we are the health system, the economic bailouts, the recession and what caused it, and on and on and on. It seems to me DC figures the more ignorant we remain, the better. Of course, then we run into the greater problem of apathy...but that's another post for another day.

The reality is that there are policies in place that allow many athletes to gain admission to universities for which they would not qualify as a non-athlete applicant. They already come in underprepared and the athletic departments spend a lot of time and money keeping these athletes eligible. The article admits "graduation rates for black basketball players are 18 percent higher than for male black students who are not athletes." Obviously, the large academic/tutoring offices in these athletic departments are doing something well.

The other important point this article does not cover is the fact many of these athletes are not going to school to graduate/get a degree in the first place. Their sole objective is to get through a year or two until they can get drafted into the professional ranks. If the student does not want a degree, is it the programs' fault when they don't graduate? Where does personal accountability come into play? This is just more of that "everyone must have a college degree" thinking. But again, I digress. That, too, is another post for another day.

The final point has to do with all the economic realities that make recruiting the best athlete and not the best student-athlete a critical necessity. Are coaches earning million dollar salaries for graduating players or for winning championships?

We might even stretch and make the case that these students being recruited into the pros will benefit the school in their future philanthropic activities on campus. As a college fundraiser, I can tell you that is the rare exception and not the rule. Go around the country and count the number of large donations given by professional athletes to their alma maters. You'll count them on two hands.

Let's quit kidding ourselves. We pay the exceedingly high tickets costs, we buy the corporate luxury suites, more of us donate to/support the athletic enterprise of schools than we do the academic enterprise, and we do all these things to see our team win. We don't want them to lead the Academic All-America count. We want them to win when it counts...on the field or the court. To do that, we expect our schools to get the best athletes and we don't blame any of them when they leave school early for the pros. We quickly forget about the bench warmers who never graduated. We are just looking to the next freshman class of great athletic talent.

Karl Miller
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