Student-Athletes

I have a little trouble with the people who complain about college sports. They say "oh they aren't really students" or "they don't care about their education" These comments always lead to the next one which is, "they are being exploited and should be payed."

There are a couple of things to consider. 1st. They aren't really talking about college athletes, they are talking about college football and basketball players. Lou Dobbs said today that college athletes have terrible graduation rates. That is of course complete garbage. College athletes have better graduation rates than the regular student body. Its really only basketball and football that struggle in this area. The women athletes are even better in this regard. So it is really just football and men's basketball that might be a problem.

2nd. only a tiny % of athletes have any thoughts of playing their sport professionally. And many of that small percentage are not going to make it. These are the ones that need the most help. They don't take advantage of the college opportunity because they hope to play sports.

3rd. THEY ARE BEING PAID!! I owe a lot of money in student loans, and I am going to be paying them for a long long time. It is personally offensive to act as though a free education is not of value. If the athletes do not value it, then it is because no one has explained to them why it is valuable.

Everyone is looking for someone to blame. Anytime large amounts of money are involved in something, people assume that rich people are making money off the backs of poor people. If you are looking to blame someone, blame whoever it is that is misleading these kids. Someone needs to tell them what a great chance they have. Someone should tell a talented kid in high school that he can get a full scholarship to Duke or Stanford or Northwestern or Vanderbilt, or many other top notch schools. Where all they have to do is get decent enough grades, and they will be in fantastic shape for the future. Why won't anyone help them for real? Instead of pretending to help them by running their mouths about how they are being exploited. I don't know.

-T