A lot of people want the most recent college bribery fiasco
to go away with a few high profile token scapegoats. After all, there are
millions of people who enjoy college sports and there is an entire industry
inside and outside the school where billions of dollars are at stake. For the sake
of higher education in America the college sports industry needs to either be
altered to the point where it is unrecognizable – or completely eliminated. It
is a moral imperative that people are judged - not on the color of their skin, or
their ability to jump higher or run faster - or that their families are so rich
that they can buy their way into a college with a large donation, but purely on merit, period.
College sports is a profitable revenue stream for some
schools with successful programs who have the advantage of rich donors who
support their sports programs. The downside is that the vast majority of other
colleges feel the need to compete by building costly and ever bigger stadiums
and athletic facilities – while recruiting star athletes who either play one
year and go pro (one and done), or play all 4 years, hardly ever attend
classes, and either don’t graduate or are given a diploma without have the
basic skills to read and write. There are exceptions to the above generality,
but we all know this is the way it works.
Having been on the University of Kansas Parent Advisory
board for 6 years, I have had an inside look at the admissions process - and
the issues that ever bigger Universities are facing every day. I contend that
the mismanagement of colleges and Universities today are the reason why college
tuition is too high, why students are burdened with too much debt, and why
students are graduating with degrees that are worthless in today’s society. The
net effect is that we now have generations of ex-students who are saddled with the
burden of a huge student debt, own worthless degrees, have low-paying jobs -
and can’t afford to buy a home.
The 1960’s and 1970’s saw a demographic explosion of baby
boomers and Colleges and Universities went on a building spree to house all the
new students and of course, they had to hire professors to teach them. The
building and hiring boom never stopped and now most of the professors are
tenured, even though the demographics have changed and there are less qualified students. So the schools lower their admission standards by focusing on non-STEM
courses and mass produce phycology, literature and English graduates who find
out after graduation they can’t find a job in their “field”. I love the Liberal
Arts but let’s not fool ourselves about reality.
College sports will not EVER be at the level of play we see
today if admissions was merit based on academics. That’s OK. College baseball
is a prime example of what ALL college sports should look like in the future.
If an 18 year old baseball player is especially talented, a pro team will pick
him up out of high school and put him on a AA or AAA farm team to develop his
talent. The kid is making a decent living and if he is good enough he can enter
the pros easily. The professional baseball teams are spending their money to
develop his talent. In College basketball, the colleges are giving admission to
people who obviously aren’t academically fit to attend, yet they get free
tuition, etc. In return, the University Coach makes Millions a year, the
University makes Millions and the average student athlete never makes one
dollar, never goes pro, gets injured and
never plays - or ends up either quitting college before graduating or graduates
without the basic skills needed to land a job. Does that sound fair to anyone?
Let the NFL, NBA and MLB run minor leagues for exceptional young
athletes. The leagues could even run academic courses alongside the training in
some manner, but it will be on their dime, not the tax paying public or parents
who are paying college tuition. This college bribery fiasco has been going on
for a long time, and everyone knew it. But if Colleges and Universities are
honest about cleaning up their act as institutions, they need to focus on STEM
sciences, reducing costs and doing away with high dollar college sport
programs.
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