Free the athletes!

[footballdad]

honestly I can't see any reason that the athletes have any problems with school. The ALEC is in the football stadium, I used it for english all the time, and its some of the best places to get studying done. I had several friends that worked there. Get them enrolled in a study aid class like ORACLE, teach these kids how to organize themselves if they don't know how.

Are there mandatory study hours? If not, why? Can they make the students go to study hours as part of being on the team? Do they need to extend them further?

http://www.smu.edu/Provost/ALEC
http://www.smu.edu/Provost/ALEC/ORACLE

I can confirm they absolutely have mandatory study hours. They are also held by the hand when it comes to organization and making sure their classes & schedules are in order, etc.etc.

-The primary way these kids get in trouble are the failed drug tests.
-#2 they simply refuse to go to class, attend study hall, work with tutors. If this is the case the staff is all over them, but there is only so much you can do for a kid. Can't send somebody to his room for wake up call and walk them to class or study hall.
-#3 they were such 'at risk' students to begin with, no amount of hand holding, study hall, or tutors would be enough to keep them eligible.

Don't know much about it, but the tougher rules about to be put in place, as detailed by Stallion many times, should probably eliminate most of the real border line kids. Whether that is good or bad is a whole different debate.

[PSCA]

These are great resources that are available to all students and should be used ... and the Student Ath does, and for many is mandatory. For football, all freshmen (maybe soph also?) have mandatory study hall, ALEC etc. After that, it depends on your GPA, instructor eval etc. Fall below the requirements, and you are back on mandatory no matter your year. The program watches these kids closely.

Even the very brightest of student Ath face a challenge of academics. I would say most GPA's suffer for all vs. being a dedicated student, even for the academic superstar Ath. Being a FT student, working what amounts to be about a 50+ hour grind of a work week, in addition to the physical (esp when you are hurt and beat up mid-season) and the mental demands, it is a challenge for anyone. Not an excuse or pass for a lack of effort and results. But, you cannot ignore the reality that these Ath face, that the general pop does not. If you have never exp it, it may seem like nothing … it is not I can assure you.

It does take extra commitment/effort from the Ath to meet his/her academic challenge ... and some fall short. Those who meet the challenge, who compete at this D1 level, and maintain academic excellence ... they are a hot commodity for many would be employers. Athlete or not, they understand the commitment, drive, discipline and over achiever mentality they have … and they want them on their corp team.

[NewAgeMustange]

I swore I had a mid-level econ class in which a bunch of football players took, but they "checked-in" with a lady that showed up to nearly half of the semester of classes ( this would be 2008). She would check them in and then leave.

I'm sorry, but shouldn't we treat the teams as jobs (even if they aren't paid). If you want to play (any sport) you have XXX amount of mandatory study hours, xxx classes you have to make, (didn't they make all classes "mandatory" with that attendance records), XXX hand holding (if they truly don't know what's up). These should be forced, if they don't like it don't do it, transfer, dropout (sport), but they will be better in the future for what they learn now.

I suffered when I came to SMU with not being prepared and GPA being horrible and I worked through school, the school wants kids to succeed not fail.

[PoconoPony]

The athletes are free; free to go to the library, free to study, free to use tutoring services, free to take responsibility for their plight, free to get an education and free to carve out the ability to live and support a quality life style.

[WildBillPony]

What athletes?