My alma mater plays UNC today at noon.
A recent study of UNC basketball players does not paint a flattering picture:
[...]But a researcher at the University of North Carolina, Mary Willingham, came in for particular vitriol after reporting that of 183 Tar Heel football or basketball players, 60 percent were reading at levels between fourth and eighth grade.It's a shame. Most of these players will not get picked by the the pros, what kind of jobs will they get once they graduate ... if they even graduate?
She also cited the example of one basketball player who came to her for help early in her career who could not read or write. In response, the university issued a statement saying it did not believe her claim about an illiterate player — adding it could not comment on the other claims because it didn’t have the data. CNN says it has e-mails showing the university knew about the research, had even given its permission and has the data.
We note that Willingham’s numbers about UNC accord come in the context of the study’s larger finding that “most schools have between 7 percent and 18 percent of revenue sport athletes who are reading at an elementary school level.” Recall too that UNC is the same school where just two years back 18 members of the football team took a class that existed only on paper.
1 comment:
You would get rid of a huge campus problem by just requiring athletes to be academically capable of collegiate level work. As is, they are tweaked, juiced, pieces of meat. Most of them shouldn't have gotten through highschool. My guess is that most of them will go on to crime, or pseudo-crime there in the fringes.
Often the bright seeming kids in school enjoyed praises. They are rewarded for doing what the teacher says. But when school is over and the real world doesn't continue with praises, as function is rewarded, not appearances, or simply following instructions, they become liberal, criminal really. Odd that the top and bottom of academia end up, pretty much, in the same place. Just a different direction. Gimme, cause... because!
Hmm... close most colleges, or really just make them compete completely without state or federal money. Yeah, leave them where they are leaving most of the people who go through them, actually.
There are some good degrees, professional degrees. Engineering, some math (not most), accounting, and a few others that actually are worth achieving. And if they would bring Western Civ into liberal arts, as the premise for it, there is a culture worth to such. But as is, what... 90% of degrees are handed out and poorly taught to people who shouldn't be in college? Yeah, my guesstimate.
Doh! /rant Almost forgot. Didn't realize I was ranting. Bleh.
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