The Education of a Football Player
There are so many things wrapped up in this profile in the Chronicles of Higher Education about a college football player. This is the opposite to The Blind Side, the film about Michael Oher. Though the focus here is the University of Memphis, likely it is no different from most other college football programs. Mostly it strikes me as sad:
One of the popular paths for Memphis athletes—including Mr. Cathey and nearly a third of his football teammates—is an online program designed for working adults and students looking to build their own degrees.
Most semesters he takes a potpourri of courses, hardly building toward any specialization. This year he is enrolled in "Area/Facility Planning" through the School of Leisure Studies, and an online family-communication course. He has also taken "Wellness Concepts," "Introduction to Dance," and a class called "The Developing Adult" (which he failed—twice).
Fortunately for Mr. Cathey, D's count toward graduation in almost all of his classes. And one-third of his credits can come from electives. Over his five years at Memphis, he has gotten credit for 10 phys-ed courses, including yoga, kickboxing, free weights, and beginning tennis (which he aced—twice).
On the whole, Memphis athletes have had a 3.0 grade-point average or better the past three semesters. But many of its football and basketball players come to college underprepared for university-level work. Two years ago, the athletic department started a summertime "bridge" program for transfer students and first-year athletes with academic deficiencies. Of the 50 players who have come through the program, nearly half tested at or below a seventh-grade reading level.
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Comments:
Jun '11
Re: The Education of a Football Player
It would seem to be axiomatic that any college that admits a student who is so unprepared that he twice fails the course "The Developing Adult" should be de-accredited immediately. Or would that knock out every major college in America?
Edited on June 5, 2012 at 11:35pmRe: The Education of a Football Player
It might, Colin.
Jul '10
Re: The Education of a Football Player
They should start naming names. Every time someone writes one of these stories about such athletes they should include the names of every teacher that passed that athlete.
Jul '11
Re: The Education of a Football Player
Not surprising at all. On the opposite level my son played for a year at Wheaton and the dual demands were overwhelming to him and he dropped out after a year. No free lunches at that school which is as it should be but serious athletes have room for little else and getting solid grades is not only hard but often precludes any semblance of a social life.
May '11
Re: The Education of a Football Player
One of the more interesting aspects of the Michael Oher story, discuused in Lewis' book but not the movie, was that Oher tested an IQ of 70 but with the determined tutoring of the Touhey family became a very good student. I am sure that the athletic department at the University of Memphis, affectionately known as Tiger High by locals, has extensive remedial education programs but they are a little late for the students who most need them.
May '11
Re: The Education of a Football Player
College football athletes are preparing for a career much more competitive than the typical engineering, business, or education student will face. The fact that his chosen career does not require the ability to read over a 7th grade level does not diminish the fact that the college IS preparing him for a career.
May '11
Re: The Education of a Football Player
Actually, what the schools need to do is send the high schools a bill for the remedial programs that each athlete utilizes.
Jul '11
Re: The Education of a Football Player
What NCAA basketball and football need to do is quit hiding the reality of these huge money sports and change the dance card a bit.
Aug '11
Re: The Education of a Football Player
Some years ago, my son was a tutor at a large Big 12 school. Not unlike most colleges, a tutoring program was available to all students but the athletes had a "special" tutoring program. The student tutors in that program actually earned more money than the regular tutors. Athletes attended classes designed especially for them and as most students observed those classes weren't very difficult, certainly not standard fare for most colleges. Yet, every season many of these student-athletes struggled to complete these basic courses and some were placed on probation. Statistics will show that many student-athletes, certainly not all, never reach graduation. This statistic isn't just for this school but for dozens around the NCAA. I blame administrators at every level of these kids lives who turned a blind eye to the scholastic problems that these kids faced and parents who thought that their kid was headed for the big leagues. No one helped these kids prepare for the real world and those actually tried were probably told to pass them.
Jul '10
Re: The Education of a Football Player
Southern Pessimist
Actually, what the schools need to do is send the high schools a bill for the remedial programs that each athlete utilizes. · 8 minutes ago
And have the taxpayers pay even more for the "education" the athlete didn't get in the first place?
Mar '11
Re: The Education of a Football Player
Paraphrasing the Bard, the fault lies not in the stars, but in college football fans. As long as our hunger for gridiron glory outweighs our commitment to ethics and standards... real ethics, not just Potemkin shows for the public... then this stuff will continue to happen, just like cash and cars to athletes.
May '12
Re: The Education of a Football Player
The idea of college football and basketball being school sports was discredited years ago. There are certainly exceptions, but among Div 1 schools, this is the ultimate TV entertainment package.
These are the minor/development leagues for the NFL and NBA and give boosters an avenue to kick some money back to the school in exchange for a little pride of ownership.
Feb '11
Re: The Education of a Football Player
These programs drive up the cost of a college education. New arenas, new stadiums, highly paid staff. Only the top tier schools come out ahead, and maybe not even those when considering all the incidental costs.
May '12
Re: The Education of a Football Player
Don't blame the teachers in secondary schools for passing those illiterates. I know from personal experience that administrators are pressuring teachers to pass everybody. Peninsula School District in Western Washington state is now prohibiting teachers from giving a grade below 50% for a test: "It's too discouraging."
No graded homework or grade deductions for late projects either.
May '10
Re: The Education of a Football Player
This is the problem with our universities broadly speaking, not just sports. Our culture has a misapprehended view about the purpose university/college. Thus, the consumer abets all of these things that are eroding higher education from within, from the aforementioned hypocrisy in the relation between college sports and academics, to rising tuition costs, to the new age claptrap substituted for real scholarship. So long as people keep shoveling their money into the higher education system uncritically, don't expect anything to change.