Solution?

I was talking with a buddy the other day about college athletics and the scholarship/recruitment process, especially with regards to big-time sports like men's football and basketball.  For sake of clarity, let me just rehash my side of the story/argument and then we can make some decisions.

Every scholarship that is given to a kid with an artificially pumped up 2.34 G.P.A. is using earmarked money from the school or athletic department.  This kid maybe cannot read, or skips class and doesn't care.  Perhaps this student expects the teachers/coaches to take care of all the "red tape" so that he/she could graduate high school with that scholarship.  Never mind the fact that they cannot even remotely handle the "rigors" of high school life, let alone the plush high school life that the better athletes are given.  Universities end up rewarding "students" for nothing that a university should stand for.  When there have to be so many strings pulled for a minimal ACT score, or grades inflated for a passing G.P.A., where do we draw the line?  Wasn't college athletics created as a way to honor the best student-athletes?  I mean, media types have been complaining that the line between student and athlete has become blurred so much that many advocate paying of the players, since they are turning profits for the school.  Well, maybe they should, since they don't participate in the schooling portion of the university anyway.  Or, even better, don't admit them to the university in the first place!

Check it out: what if each university only gave out scholarships/playing opportunities to those students who rightfully gained admission to the university on their own merits?  Playing college athletics should be a privilege, not a right, and, as such, student-athletes need to remember the first part of their designation: student.  No more line blurring or jacking of scores/grades.  No more big-time athletes getting preferential treatment over the kid who could help the university from an academic standpoint.  And no more me, as a teacher, wrestling with being the only person giving Dasha a failing grade, since she skipped my class 40 times during the semester, or falling in line and giving her the D- that she so, like her coaches and athletic director and other associated people trying to help her while she doesn't help herself say, deserves.

So what to do with those athletic freaks of nature who want to show off their skills for the pros?  Let them.  Perhaps they could form a professional team, or a semipro team.  The East Lansing Eagles or the Ann Arbor Anteaters.  Let them get paid for playing the game, since that's all they're doing at school anyway.  Maybe they won't make as much, but that could be because they've found out their real value - their skills aren't as much in demand as the talking heads say.  And then, when youngsters see only "real" college student-athletes succeeding, while the the athletes struggle to get by, maybe they will embrace the challenge of getting better at school as the ultimate goal, rather than getting better at sports.  My students, at least 10 in every class, have an irrational delusion that they're going to go to a big Division 1 college and then the NBA as long as they keep playing basketball hard.  Better grades is not present in that equation.  It's a shame that athletics prowess has been so admired, while academic aptitude is something to be laughed at.

And what about the colleges that are potentially losing riches?  People will still come to the games, especially if this practice is adopted by all universities.  I mean, at the end of the day, are paying customers trying to watch the individual athletes, the ones in which they can't form a personal connection with since they're only there four years at the maximum, or are they coming to watch the school itself?  It's a no-brainer.  Nobody cares who's on the Wolverines this year; rather, the fact that there are Wolverines in the first place is enough.