Let them Major in their Sport? (New York Times)

This would be a horrible idea.  This would be great for the few players that go on to a successful professional career.  The other 95+ percent of athletes would be left with a worthless piece of paper.  My tax dollars and students activity fees are already subsidizing collegiate sports.  I would at least like to think that a good portion of student athletes are taking advantage of the opportunity and graduating with skills that can get them an actual job.

+1

The problem, IMO, is allowing people in college, that are not otherwise academically suitable, just because they excel in a sport.  

 

http://www.gse.upenn.edu/equit...ckman_%282013%29.pdf

 

Major results of our study include:

Between 2007 and 2010, Black men were 2.8% of full-time, degree-seeking undergraduate students, but 57.1% of football teams and 64.3% of basketball teams.

Across four cohorts, 50.2% of Black male student-athletes graduated within six years, compared to 66.9% of student athletes overall, 72.8% of undergraduate students overall, and 55.5% of Black undergraduate men overall.

96.1% of these NCAA Division I colleges and universities graduated Black male student-athletes at rates lower than student-athletes overall.

97.4% of institutions graduated Black male student-athletes at rates lower than undergraduate students overall. On no campus were rates exactly comparable for these two comparison groups.

At one university, Black male student-athletes graduated at a comparable rate to Black undergraduate men overall. On 72.4% of the other campuses, graduation rates for Black male student-athletes were lower than rates for Black undergraduate men overall.

It is time for the nfl and nba to stop using the colleges as their farm system.  adopt the mlb approach.  

. . . as opposed to those valuable pieces of paper liberal arts majors use to compete for barista jobs?

 

Seriously, this article reads like something out of the Onion with that retired professor speaking so reasonably about the merits of his proposal while ignoring all the larger questions about the purpose of a university or a college education.

 

I did like that line about the "learned coaches."

• Bachelor of Music in Flute Performance
  This is a professional degree program for the student who plans a career in performance. It requires 8 semesters of applied flute lessons (one-hour lesson per week). A senior and a junior recital are required.
  
  
• Bachelor of Music in Flute Pedagogy
  This is a professional degree program for the student who plans a career as a studio teacher. It requires 8 semesters of applied flute lessons (one-hour lesson per week), and a senior recital.
  
  
• Bachelor of Music Education with flute as the principal instrument
  This is a professional degree program for the student who plans a career teaching instrumental music in schools. It requires 7 semesters of applied flute lessons (one-hour lesson per week). A senior recital is required (may be a half recital performed jointly with another student or may be a full recital).

I don't know.  I think there are a lot more positions in baseball than playing the flute. And you can get a degree in flute playing.  It's good to keep an open mind.

I think that they should have a choice upon enrollment - guaranteed 5 years on campus room, board & tuition with specific number of hours set aside for school work OR the cash value of the tuition plus the Room and Board.

 

In any event there should be a stipend for incidentals.

 

Stop the Sham and make the minor league players what they are: Professional.

Go 44Dad,

 

It goes back to those questions about the purpose of a university and a college education.

 

There's a big difference between offering majors in fields that, despite limited employment opportunities, do have established bodies of knowledge and standards, and inventing a major with none of those attributes for the sole purpose of letting someone who is already on campus and not engaged in the academic life of the school stop pretending he's there for an education.

 

The whole idea shows great disrespect to the majority of college athletes who do understand that they need meaningful degrees. 

Lionbaseball,

Are you insinuating that black athletes are not academically suitable?  It appears so because the OP had nothing to do with race and you inserted an article that does and furthermore it doesn't relate to the original article.  i find your not so subtle comment inflammatory and I think your suggestion is ignorant and it appears that you are too.  Maybe I'm reading too much into it but it seems pretty clear to me.  If I am wrong, I apologize for thinking you are ignorant but the way you worded your comment leads me to no other conclusion.

I agree, but if you start a logical path back to the true purpose of a college education, there would be no sports involved. 

They already offer the degree. It's called physical education.

So we have a kid who is an excellent student and an excellent athlete. He's recruited by a major conference team. The kid has a bright future. He wants to major in a math or science. The coach says, "No dammit. You're majoring in your sport!" What now? There's enough of this going on already when athletes want to major in challenging subjects.

 

The whole idea makes a bigger joke out of college than it's becoming.** I'd rather see sports go away from college than adopt the suggested scenario.

 

** Go to college and get a degree so you can earn a living starting with 100k of college debt. The fastest growing job market is hospitality. Did your college education teach you to say "Would you like fries with that," politely?

 

Don't misunderstand my understanding of the value of a college education and grad degree for the right students.

Back in 2011,  Taylor Branch wrote an article called “The Sham of College Sports” for Atlantic Magazine.  There have been slight changes since then with the top 5 conferences dictating to the NCAA how it is going to be, and minor changes with scholarships & stipends, etc…    This amounts to “couch cushion change”  in the grand scheme of things.

http://www.theatlantic.com/mag...43/?single_page=true

 

There were follow up articles in 2011 about how to fix college sports.  I think most everyone agrees there is a problem but there is not much agreement on how to fix it.  Six very smart people gave us their strong opinions on how to fix it. 

http://www.theatlantic.com/debates/college-sports/

 

Very little has changed in 4 years, and I think it is because there is not a group of citizens who has come together to identify  the root cause of all of this.   In my honest opinion, the root cause is US and our society.   Until we change what we do and how we think, the Media, NCAA, Conferences and College Presidents own us.  These are powerful people & organizations with lots of resources.   Our society has blurred the lines of education, entertainment, and athletics over the last 40 years.   We did this to ourselves.  We don’t want to admit it, but they own us.  They hold all the power over us because we let them, and we keep giving them our money and our kids every year without asking questions.   Franklly that isn’t going to change unless we change our priorities, behaviors , and how we raise our children and grandchildren.  It isn’t going to happen overnight .  

 

JMO.

Life is full of choices.

 

The kid should have gone to a school to pursue his desired major.  

 

Don't go to a college and get $100k in debt for a degree that doesn't get you the career you want.

 

 

Yes, I couldn't agree with this more.  Life is full of choices, some of which are Faustian.  But should 20 year-olds be expected to make the right choice when faced with an offer from Big D1 U, to put an education and future career ahead of big time college baseball?  It's instructive that you don't see these discussions involving Ivy's, NESCAC, Patriot, and other high-academic D3s.  The fix may be staring us in the face, and very hard to consider.  Have athletic scholarships gone to far, and is it better to return to an academic's-first university system, and let MLB use its own farm system to develop talent?  In other words, shift costs back to MLB to expand recruiting and development of the next batch of Mickey Mantle's rather than require the players to bear the cost burden.

Both of my children have liberal arts degrees and they aren't working as baristas?

 

Again its about drive and persistence, work ethic.

 

 

Not all BA degrees are created equal. A BA in Economics goes a lot further than a BA in philosophy (unless the student plans to attend divinity school).

 

What a lot of college kids don't understand is sitting themselves up for success after college while they're in college. Internships go a long way towards employment.

 

 

Our dilemma for our son was this  and I am sure this happens. He went to a JR college first year as he wanted to play division 1 baseball. He took all the hard classes the first year so transcript was good and 3.5  So after a standout year he had several schools wanting him as a sophmore. When USC came calling it was one of many but his Jr coach did not want him leaving after one year.USC is a good school and for my son a great school he would not of attended without baseball and scholarship money.

When it came time to pick a major although all his credits transferred in certain degrees the requirements were different . It would of taken him at least 4.5 years or 5 to pick up a BUSINESS degree or some others.

 

So given that his school was being covered by school money and his senior year financial aid as my husband was forced into retirement we wanted him to have a degree from this school and not have to pay 28 or 56000  to get a different degree as that would of not been covered.

 

We did not want him to walk away from USC with no degree and could no way afford more time there. He needed to get done in four years. Baseball was tough and the coach that was fired because he demanded more time than legal by rules was making it very difficult on many players.

 

So my son got a degree in liberal arts. So many things go into the decisions and when baseball is the dream you do what you do.

 

I told my son he could get a master's degree at a state school for for almost same price as a fifth year at usc. So he got a sociology degree.

 

Yes it wasn't a great degree but he worked his a ss off for it at a difficult academic a school and employees respect a degree from a good school and the fact he played division 1 baseball.

 

A company called athletes to business contacted him though linkedin . They place athletes that company's want their work ethic and competitiveness. They get them past the phone interviews and 100 000  of resumes and right in the face of the hiring managers.

 

My son interviewed with some great companies with them and took a job in a sales training program and is doing well. He likes sales and believes he can do well. He is beginning some business classes in the fall and wants to earn his masters degree. 

 

His degree from a good school does open doors once through  those doors you have to sell yourself. I think he will be a very successful business man because he never settles for mediocrity.

 

I share this only to help other parents. Many ways to define success. 

My daughter got a psychology degree as she wanted to be a therapist and is  on social media director for the VIETNAM vets and is getting a digital media cert from Georgetown. She has worked her way up and enhanced her degree. 

 

Not everyone can or want 

be Dr lawyers,engineers, etc many kids don't know what they really want. 

I agree with your general premise and in this economy it's tough.

 

Successful people will be successful if they have the drive and will to be.

 

My husband was a blue color worker his entire life and college wasn't encouraged from his parents.my husband is very intelligent. He gave us a very good life and put both our kids through college. We got them to be able to earn a degree and   on its up to them to make things happen. They will because they are strong well rounded people who work hard. 

 

 As appose to what's happening now?  These big name schools are giving away scholarships to kids who can barely speak their native English and barely know how to read and write.  It's embarrassing watching some of these college kids with a microphone in their hands. Terrible!

Fanofgame,

 

Many people do come out of colleges unemployable despite the diplomas they hold.  And a high percentage of those people do hold liberal arts degrees.

 

I have seen far too many transcripts from liberal arts majors I couldn't hire. I remember one in particular because he had a high GPA and a great recommendation from someone I respected.  His liberal arts education included Drawing for Nonmajors, Intermediate Guitar, and Gender Issues in Modern Drama.  It did not include a single course in math, accounting, computer science, statistics, or anything else that conveyed any hint he could become useful in a modern economy. There are many, many college graduates like him.

 

Your son used his liberal arts degree (and his leadership and work ethic and other character traits) to land a job after baseball.  Since he's not working behind a coffee bar, my comment about liberal arts degrees didn't apply to him or his degree. His success does not undermine the truth of the generalization.

 

No offense was intended. If the shoe doesn't fit . . .

 

Best wishes,

 

 

 

I am not offended. Trust me I know all about college sports and kids graduating that have little to no skills.

 

The mention of a internship is really crucial as many companies want that now.

 

I just trying to offer our experience as there are  any kids who end up with these degrees. It's tough. 

 

I just view life different than some. I think there are  any ways to be successful and it isn't just about a certain degree.

 

Hard to believe that you can graduate without statistics almost a required subject for every major.????

 

I am proud that both my children have degrees and the rest of the road is for them to pave))