Over the past few years, I’ve grown opposed to the idea of college athletics as we know it. More specifically, I can’t stand the caste of student-athletes it creates, and I think it should be abolished, or severely modified. Check that, just abolished.
I’ll admit, most of this follows from the resentment I’ve developed for student-athletes in two phases. First, I came to resent the student-athlete BMOC type. They always stand out on campus because they’re the ones dressed in the free sweats and gear, one of the perks of being an athlete. But I also came to resent athletes for getting a free ride while my family had to borrow a Brinks truck worth of money to pay for my education. Sure, it’s petty, but it’s hard not to harbor a grudge when you get the feeling not all students are being treated equally.
But I didn’t begrudge student-athletes then as much as I did once I came in contact with them in a teaching capacity. Student-athletes were often a pain to deal with, not because they were incapable of doing the work or lacking in intelligence, but mostly because they missed a lot of class and couldn’t always put in the time needed on their coursework. Here, too, my opinion was shaped more by the effects teaching athletes had on me than by the students in question. Mostly, I instinctively came to resent how athletes often had to miss section, and the expectation, it seemed, was that it was acceptable for them to miss class for a meet or a match, without being penalized for the absence, like I was supposed to accommodate them simply because they’re athletes. This isn’t something that gets addressed in most TA training (though I could’ve gone to a panel on teaching student-athletes at the TA conference, instead of something more immediately helpful to a rookie TA, like how to foster discussion from students), but I just got the sense — don’t ask me where — that we were supposed to be accommodating. Again, it wasn’t really a big deal, since I gave the athletes the same makeup opportunities as non-athletes.
Still, it’s hard for me to think “going to a tournament” is a valid reason for skipping section. It didn’t help when both of my athletes (in different sections and different sports) had to miss class, they noted, to go to Hawaii. I found it hard to muster much sympathy for that when I was stuck in Seattle in the winter. And when I discovered there’s a whole center called Student Athlete Academic Services, which pays regular non-student-athletes to take notes for classes students miss or tutor student-athletes, providing them with a level of academic support not offered to the student population at large…. Let’s just say I didn’t think this was very fair to the ordinary folks paying their way through college.
I had a roommate who ran J.V. track a couple of years in college, and he disagreed with my views because of the demands athletics put on the students who participate, most of whom aren’t on scholarship. And that’s a good point. So it makes me think, again, that the whole system of college athletics is deeply flawed in the way it’s almost paying lip service to the “student” half of “student-athlete.”
What’s the solution? I don’t really know, though I have some ideas. I know from being an instructor that scheduling is a pain for student-athletes, and I can only imagine what it’s like being on the other side of that. Really, I like the idea I’ve seen batted around in other forms of separating the two facets. Essentially, you don’t make athletes take classes while their sport is in season, even if it prolongs their time spent in college. It’s imperfect, and not particularly thought out on my end, but I think making student-athletes juggle both sets of responsibilities simultaneously is cheating them, certainly as students if not as athletes. Call me a fuddy-duddy, but I still think the primary reason for going to college is to get an education and a degree, and that goal is better served by not having to miss classes and make up assignments haphazardly to play a sport. Sports can be a means to that end, but not the way the system currently works.
I agree that athletics do not seem to mesh with the academic mission of universities, but considering the amount of money sports bring in, I doubt you’ll ever see them disappear.
Also, I would reemphasize the point that most student athletes are not getting a full ride. In fact, lots of parents meet with bitter disappointment when they discover, after years of pushing their kids to high levels of sports achievement with the glimmer of a free ride in their eyes, that most college athletic programs simply do not have the money to offer many students anything more than a paltry scholarship. Academic scholarships are likely more plentiful and lucrative than sports scholarships, as they can come from a variety of outside sources as well as the school. And if you’re looking at schools below the top 25 or so, you’re looking at a real possibility of nearly a full ride on scholarly merit while the athletes get nothing.
Another thing to consider is that for the highest-level student athletes, such as the football or basketball players on full rides, their career goals most likely are in the professional sports arena. They need the high-level training and competition offered by college athletics the same way the rest of us need the classes in our majors.
Really, it’s admirable the efforts colleges and (most) student athletes make to keep up with courses during the season. Yes, the university is providing athletes with special tutoring and maybe even people to take notes, but these aren’t services exclusive to athletes. You work for the UW writing center, which is available to all students, after all. And the rest of us get by on friends sharing notes because we don’t need to miss class the way athletes with university-dictated commitments do.
No, that doesn’t mean student athletes should be allowed to slide by on no work. You can be accommodating to their need for more time or alternate assignments (just like with special-needs students) without just rubber-stamping them on to the next course. Besides, it’s not just athletes who shirk on sessions. Plenty of people put in an appearance without actually preparing or participating — would you miss them if they weren’t there?
It’s not a terrible thought having athletes take off a semester when their sport is in season, but there’s likely too many logistical issues. Some sports are always in season. Some schools work on a quarter system instead of semesters, so the season might overlap multiple quarters. The biggest problem would likely be students not wanting to spend like eight years in college. Even redshirts only stay one extra year.