Good Discussion of Proposed NCAA Academic Reform

[southerncomfort]

I agree with PoconoPony - the GPA's for many athletic teams are actually quite high. Naturally, you will always have a few of the less brighter student athletes in every team and the smarter student athletes will skew the GPA higher but the point is most teams actually boast average to higher than average GPA's.

[Mexmustang]

Samuri--There are degrees or levels of athletic friendly majors that are useless--simply a joke. I am not referring to "teaching degrees" or those that provide a professional future, but those that simply are made up to move a student along or keep him in school.

Currently I am helping a firm a number of my friends have invested in that helps reverse the trend in high school truancy. I have been shocked at the problems that I have been made aware of. Our nations public high school system is broken--perhaps beyond repair. The school district that leads the list of problems (according to our current Dept. of Education) is DISD. Would it surprise you to know that in many of our local schools truancy rates reach over 30%? In many instances these students are not being prepared for college work. Maybe my ideas are impractical, but there must be an alternative, other than junior college, that can help these students "catch up". Yes, there are those students that will never "get it", or don't have the potential to do so. But, many do have the potential to succeed, given the right preparation and support.

As far as NCAA violations by offering additional academic assistance to athletes, there must be a number of ways around the issue, because these programs do exist at other schools. Perhaps they are offered to all students having the same "learning disavantages" and a disproportionate number of students admissions of these types of students are athletes, I don't know. I do know that average students are steered away from athletic friendly majors and athletes are given first priority in registration for these classes. We all know that many athletes at many schools would not have been admitted had it not been for their athletic potential--and need additional help. Somewhere between the Stanford/Vanderbilt models and the Boise State model we should find the answer.

[Samurai Stang]

Would it surprise you to know that in many of our local schools truancy rates reach over 30%?

Would it surprise you to know that I do not care? If there is a problem with high school truancy rates, then the answer is not to implement a new curriculum at a university. Your public school system has more than enough problems of its own without needing to look elsewhere.

[Mexmustang]

First, it is obvious you don't care. Anyone that doesn't recognize that if we have a major problem in our public education system it is a major problem for the country--in terms of crime, competitiveness of our workforce and society, you are simply a fool.
Second, I am not sure I understand your position. You feel we need to create worthless atheletic frendly courses, regardless of their lack of long-term value and shouldn't help them with courses designed to prepare them for more difficult work?
So let's just take advantage of the athletes, push them through school without any real education and hope that they are the 1 in a 1,000 that might make it to the pros?
Finally, your Japanese act is grating and insulting. No Japanese I have even met would debate an
issue so thoughtlessly and argue it less tackfully. Having lived in Japan for a number of years, I can only conclude you must have gotten your matterial from watching grade B movies on late night television.

[Samurai Stang]

No Japanese I have even met would debate an issue so thoughtlessly and argue it less tackfully. Having lived in Japan for a number of years, I can only conclude you must have gotten your matterial from watching grade B movies on late night television.

In truth, it is you who lack tact. You seek to reduce me to a racial stereotype (and I assure you there are no shortage of stereotypes that relate to Mexicans and education), while I continue to respond to you as an individual. Do not seek to lecture me on my own culture, and I will continue to give you the same respect I have always had regarding yours.

For all of the moral high ground you seek to claim, you have attempted to change the course of this conversation into the unrelated realm of public education, while also claiming that SMU should find ways "around the issue" of providing aid to athletes that is not available to the general student body (which I have already described is against NCAA rules and even provided an example in SMU's own LEC). You claim such great morality in your attempt to create remedial classes for athletes, but at the same time seek to break existing rules.

I have never claimed that I do not care for the future of SMU's student athletes. My claim has been that SMU is already doing well in this area. You are projecting your own issues with your country's public school system onto the private university of SMU. As of 2007, SMU had an 84% graduation rate for football players, which is substantially higher than the general student body's four year graduation rate of 59%. In fact, even the six year graduation rate is 74%, which is still lower than that of members of the football team. Clearly, SMU's athletes are succeeding at a higher rate than the general student body.

[malonish]

Education reform starts with the parents of the kids in the school. If the parents do their job then the kids will go to school and learn and most problems will fix themselves but of course we will want to blame crime, hunger, lack of social workers, etc. for the failures in the school system. For example, if a student is indoors studying then he's not out strolling with a gang.

Two cents? You can have three of mine.

[ponyte]

I needed 5 years to mature on the field, not in the classroom

Ponyte, MD, MBA, FCCP.

[SMU_Alumni11]

Academics are overrated, it's truly who you know and real work experience. Colleges are or the most part, scams. Who will always call you even when your dead... Colleges, just saying

[couch 'em]

You people looking for academic reform and no athlete majors are insane or you really want SMU to drop football.

Are we really on an even playing field if athletes at SMU are taking real SMU classes and athletes at places like Boise, Texas Tech, UNT, etc are taking real classes there? There are many programs at those schools, and even quality schools like UT, that might as well be athlete majors even though they were not created that way. SMU is not large enough to have those advantages.

[couch 'em]

We should be creating a major called Professional Athletics to stash.these players in. Teach PE, basic education on contracts and money, speaking ability for coaching, etc.

[SMU_Alumni11]

We should be creating a major called Professional Athletics to stash.these players in. Teach PE, basic education on contracts and money, speaking ability for coaching, etc.

So true, lets face it you can't convince an athlete that his poetry class is more important than his/her sport. It's ridiculous and a lot of the faculties are on the border of insane when they think a majority of students ( no matter where) have an actual interest in their class. If some kids do, I would say with 95% confidence that its for extra credit which comes back to my previous posts that colleges are scams especially the liberal indoctrination degree (liberal arts) hehe

[couch 'em]

Plus, it doesn't even have to be garbage. It can prepare the athlete for the concerns of being a pro, and for the life after, aka coaching.

This is no different from the dance or music majors over in Meadows.

[SMU 86]

Plus, it doesn't even have to be garbage. It can prepare the athlete for the concerns of being a pro, and for the life after, aka coaching.

This is no different from the dance or music majors over in Meadows.

Agreed. Nothing wrong with coaching or teaching as a profession.

[alamocitystang]

We should be creating a major called Professional Athletics to stash.these players in. Teach PE, basic education on contracts and money, speaking ability for coaching, etc.

That's what Vince Young got at UT and he still can't read.

[mrydel]

We should be creating a major called Professional Athletics to stash.these players in. Teach PE, basic education on contracts and money, speaking ability for coaching, etc.

That's what Vince Young got at UT and he still can't read.

I always wonder at this statement, although possibly correct. I have never believed a University should be concerned with teaching students to read. As a University Prof, I am going to assume my students learned to read in elementary school. I should not have to spend class time on the 3 "R's".