how do you feel about athletes being forced to go to school?

[Yakuza Rich]

I agree Rich. Unfortunately, I see more and more of this line of thought permeate society with every passing day, it seems. I just don't understand it. I'm getting old I guess.

No, it's not your beliefs that are getting 'passed by.' It's about our society wanting 'everybody to win' all of the time. It doesn't test kids' grit and stick-to-it-iveness because nobody fails anymore. They just keep lowering the bar in hopes of keeping everybody happy.

School wasn't easy for me. But, I really wanted to play sports because I loved playing them. So I got the grades and behaved and was allowed to play sports.

If there is something I have a problem with schooling is them forcing mandatory courses that are really 'peripheral' courses. Stuff like art, foreign languages, home economics, music, etc. I think schools should try their best to get kids interested in those subjects because they may have a passion and talent for them. But, it should be more or less optional than mandatory. However, this rant really doesn't have to do much with the subject at hand.




YR

 

[burmafrd]

When you see how many high school students can barely read and write, and then how many colleges have to teach remedial classes, the system is failing.

Kids no longer get the grounding in the basics like they should be- there is a reason grades 1-12 were called PRIMARY. But now there is very little pressure on the schools to make sure that their graduates actually deserve to graduate.

And as regards athletes that has been ridiculous for a long time; special treatment and winks and nods as regards school.

 

[Doomsday101]

I was talking to a friend of mine the other day who is a sophomore at a Pac-12 university. She's taking some meaningless English 101 lecture hall class and she's been placed in a group with another girl and two guys on the football team. The class breaks up into 4-person groups each class to discuss assigned articles and review/critique each other's writing. Not surprisingly, the two football players don't do anything. They just sit there on there phone and say "I don't know" when the two girls ask them for their input. Actually, one of the guys is a little more respectful and at least tries to pretend like he cares.

Anyway, so I was thinking about this and it got me thinking about sports in America, mainly football and basketball. People are forced to go to school in order to play sports. They're forced to maintain certain grades in order to play on their high school team, and they're forced to actually graduate from high school. Then they're forced to maintain a certain GPA in college in order to stay eligible to play, and they're forced to attend at least two years of college.

I know the whole "It's good to have a degree to fall back on" argument, but let's be real. For one, they're not forced to finish their degree so that argument is invalid. Secondly, someone shouldn't be forced to earn a degree as a fallback plan. I agree that the smart thing to do is to get a degree because there are no guarantees that you'll become a rich professional. But just because it's smart to get a degree, doesn't mean it should be mandatory.

As an American, you have the right to do earn any kind of living you want. You're only required to stay in school until you're 16. There are so many jobs and skills/sports/hobbies that don't require you to be in school. For example, you don't need school to be a comedian, movie star, musician, pro skateboarder, surfer, snowboarder, ultimate fighter, martial artist, video game designer, businessman, entrepreneur or almost any other thing.

I just think it's unjust that football and basketball players are forced to go to school. I mean you don't "have to" but let's be real. Colleges recruit big time high school players, and the pros draft big time college players. There's no way around it. Whether or not it's smart to attend college (I'm working on my PhD so of course I'm an advocate for education), I don't think it's right to force people.

What are your thoughts?

High schools responsibility it not to produce athletes it is to educate kids if a kid can't maintain a passing grade then he can't play. Simple.