The American education system is diseased and we aren't just talking about a common cold that can be cured with some tea and a cold compress.
I mean fatally diseased. Like Bubonic plague or Ebola.
I guess a more accurate assessment would be cancerous.
There are parts of our education system that have become almost too broken and sick to save, so the only viable option is cutting those parts away or purging it with heavy duty radiation to rid it from the system.
While I think that the whole system in general is very broken, I am actually reacting to the very disturbing study done by CNN in response to shocking data released by Mary Willingham about the reading levels of collegiate athletes at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
Willingham did her own research in her position as a graduate student at UNC-Greensboro and looked at the reading levels of 183 UNC-Chapel Hill athletes who played football and basketball from 2004-2012 and found that 60 percent read between fourth- and eighth-grade levels and between 8 and 10 percent read below a third-grade level.
The issue goes beyond that too. It was exposed two years ago that student athletes from UNC were given credit for classes they did not attend, among other things. The professor at the center of the scandal was indicted by a grand jury last month for fraud.
CNN launched their own investigation in response to the data and found that the issue was present in a number of public universities. They requested the SAT and ACT scores from 40 institutions where open record laws apply and heard back from 21.
Hitting close to home from someone who lives in Ohio and habitually roots for the Buckeyes, the data from The Ohio State University is troubling.
While they initially denied CNN's request for ACT and SAT scores to be released, OSU offered up the Wide Range Achievement Test results when CNN asked for aptitude tests in lieu of the SAT/ACT scores.
The spreadsheet provided is clunky and difficult to make sense of, but it is obvious that there are a number of student athletes, specifically football players in OSU's case, that are scoring that the elementary levels in math and reading.
While the majority score at the high-school level or above, it is troubling that this problem is being taken so lightly by these big name universities.
Athletics are the lifeblood of many large universities in this nation. In 2012, the University of Louisville earned a profit of $26.9 million from its men's basketball program alone. That is 60 percent more than the $16.9 million profit that UNC had from their men's program.
But should these universities overlook the obvious academic shortcomings of the student athletes they admit just because they can make a killer three pointer or run the ball down the field for a 67-yard touchdown?
My argument...no way.
Universities should be ashamed at themselves for allowing students who are underprepared for college into their institutions just because of their athletic skills.
The argument about college athletics seems to be getting more and more intense as the years go on and more is being exposed about just how much is being hidden from the general public.
We go to college to learn. To expand our minds and become functioning contributing members of society.
Lots of students work incredibly hard academically to get into the school of their dreams. They agonize over test scores and each and every paper grade. Why should people who can throw a ball get special preference academically over those who actually study hard and want to further their education in college?
As I said, the education system in America is diseased and if we ever want to compete on a global scale education-wise, preferences and allowances for underperformance and academic negligence need to be taken off the table as options for our college athletes.
That being said, I appreciate what they do. I love watching OSU students play football and basketball. I cheer on my own college football team, but it will never be acceptable for education and learning to be put under athletics.
Because you know what they are first? Students. They are going to school to learn, not play basketball or football.
After all, the body decays and breaks down, but the mind can stay sharp and honestly, how far is the fact that you have killer footwork and a good arm going to get you in corporate America?
Education is important. Let's stop acting like it is in second place.
