Will a 2.7 GPA Help You Read a Cereal Box?
Uncategorized September 28th. 2007, 1:07pm
We’re reluctant to get into race issues on a Friday, but this news is some good for for thought, so why not. Here’s what a Rutgers professor said about athletes and the university: “If you were giving the scholarship to an intellectually brilliant kid who happens to play a sport, that’s fine,†he said. “But they give it to a functional illiterate who can’t read a cereal box, and then make him spend 50 hours a week on physical skills. That’s not opportunity. If you want to give financial help to minorities, go find the ones who are at the library after school.€
The Star-Ledger has jumped in today with some quotes from Rutgers coach Greg Schiano, who kind of scoffs at the report, since Rutgers has a smart football team (inconceivable!) with a 2.7 cumulative GPA. So it sounds like maybe this author has a point … but he needs to take his material to a school where the football team really is dumb. Surely, you can help him find one?
Officials accuse professor of racism (Star-Ledger)
30 Responses to “Will a 2.7 GPA Help You Read a Cereal Box?”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
September 28th, 2007 at 1:14 PM
2.7 is smart? That’s a joke right? This is the standard we have were a 2.7 is considered smart?
September 28th, 2007 at 1:18 PM
For a D-1 football team, yeah.
September 28th, 2007 at 1:21 PM
The professor is an idiot. There are tons of white collegiate athletes who have no business being in a place of higher education, not just minorities (chris rix comes to mind). If you enjoy the perks that result from increased revenue from a football program, don’t bite the hand that feeds you. College is, more or less in today’s age, job prepatory school. If a kid feels that his future job is football, let him go to school for football and take “leisure studies” classes. Chances are good, the money the sports bring in are giving scholarship oppurtunities that wouldn’t be there without these cash cows.
September 28th, 2007 at 1:23 PM
how much of that 2.7 GPA is due to tutors? Pick a random student out of the student body and give him/her tutors and mandatory study periods and I assure you that student will surpass a 2.7 GPA. Calling the professor racist was uncalled for, because he is telling the truth. Universities will always face the question on whether big time football is compatible with great academics.
September 28th, 2007 at 1:25 PM
About 5% of a GPA has to do with intelligence. It’s far more a yardstick for disciple and work ethic.
Also, if you want dumb D1 kids, read this about Tennessee football players:
http://espn.go.com/ncaa/s/2003/1006/1632218.html
money quote from a kid’s paper about Maddona:
“I have learn a lot of the things about Madommon thought her videos, hearing to her music and Magizines Articiles people wrote about her. Both in positives and negivites ways. They should not be a double standard for men and women. Because if they are double videos, they could be Double standard everywhere.”
’nuff said.
September 28th, 2007 at 1:26 PM
Hey….My Team is Smart!!…We average a C+!!!…you do realize that since this is the case…there are not only players who have 3.5s but players with 1.5s. My wife works in East New York (for those who don’t know…probably one of the “worst neighborhoods” in NYC) She tells me that the problem she has is that while she might have smart kids she also has kids that need more help but the school systems and the parents do not provide adequate support systems to give them a step up. Since this is the case she spends more time with the slower kids and the smarter kids do not get the attention they would need to progress and become smarter. Hence all of this drags down the opportunities for both the high end and low end students and the system fails….what this has to do with College Football and scholarships…nothing probably…but I find it across the board from when these kids are young all the way up to college they get the shaft and the system we have set up does not allow for a growth in intelligence..unless you can throw or run..then you get everything.
September 28th, 2007 at 1:27 PM
Oh, and no, football does not bring in massive amounts of money…especially seeing that Rutgers has been cutting sports to meet budget cuts, but has increased spending on football. Plus his comments were taken severely out of context. He was responding to the argument that giving football scholarships helped out minorities…his argument was give it to academically gifted minorities instead, a perfectly valid, non-racist, statement.
September 28th, 2007 at 1:28 PM
“College is, more or less in today’s age, job prepatory school.”
Amen spencer096… Even the best schools are mostly just corporate breeding grounds that neglect actual well-rounded intellectual development.
September 28th, 2007 at 1:30 PM
my gpa at rutgers was about 2.9. and look at me! i’m a freaking genius.
once rutgers gets to the elite level ohio state is at, perhaps we’ll be able to afford to pay for better grades.
September 28th, 2007 at 1:36 PM
GPA’s are overrated anyway, I had a 2.5 and not once since I left college has anyone even asked about it.
September 28th, 2007 at 1:39 PM
If these guys are taking the “leisure studies” classes, then why are they still only at a 2.7 GPA? Does that prove this professor’s point?
I did the military first before I went to college and witnessed first hand how the college athlete is treated versus the kid who is about 20,000 dollars in debt and is working towards a real degree. The difference between the guy that pays to go college and the athlete is the fact that most athlete’s don’t get to play after college. Then what? How do they contribute to society? Meanwhile some poor kid who could probably help our economy with some help financially gets to become a ditch digger.
I love college sports, but it is really sick how much money these universities use towards sports versus education which by the way was the major reason they were founded in the first place.
September 28th, 2007 at 1:41 PM
I’m torn on the issue, as I personally think the college can’t bear total responsibility on a kid with no work ethic or perspective on life after college.
With that being said, let’s all enjoy the musical stylings of Kanye West, and watch Pervis Ellison highlights.
September 28th, 2007 at 1:45 PM
I couldnt care less if my football team could read or do any level math problems. i watch college football to see my team win games and championships. i dont care where they would place in a science Olympiad tourney. They dont need to cure cancer but they do need to win the BCS Championship
September 28th, 2007 at 2:14 PM
“I couldnt care less if my football team could read or do any level math problems. i watch college football to see my team win games and championships.”
mmonast,
That’s what pro sports are for… this ‘win at all costs, screw academics, etc.’ mentality is utterly contrary to the principals of collegiate athletics.
September 28th, 2007 at 2:31 PM
A 2.7 average taking blowoff classes and getting help from tutors. Yeah, that’s real impressive.
September 28th, 2007 at 2:43 PM
no see thats where you are wrong…the universities use the kids to bring in millions in revenue…athletes use universities for big pay days in the pros…and yes this only applies to football and baseball.
you think any of those kids care about education? no and do you think the ADs or coaches give a shit either. they say they do to the papers but all they care about and all they are judged on is wins and losses. and at the end of the day, they better have more W’s than L’s.
how many head coaches have been fired because of low team gpa or graduation rates?
September 28th, 2007 at 2:44 PM
sorry obviously i meant basketball not baseball
September 28th, 2007 at 2:51 PM
What I never understood about collegiate athletics/academics is why they haven’t started allowing athletics as a major. These kids are in school to play football, not major in sociology or what have you. Think about it – most every school has music majors and theater majors. Are those kids any better off graduating with a degree in the tuba as opposed to a wide receiver with a 2.5 GPA in Enlgish Studies?
September 28th, 2007 at 2:59 PM
mmnoast,
Let me make my point more clearly: Your mentality is indicative of the problem. Just because it IS how you state above, doesn’t mean it SHOULD be like that.
There should be more coaches fired for horrendous GPAs and low graduation rates (unless the kid leaves for a job offer, since that’s what college is about anyways). College coaches love to talk about how they are ’sculpting young men’, so lets hold them to it.
As for money: ESPN reported a few years ago that only about 10% of D1 schools make money from their athletic programs and only about 1% of college athletes go pro, so it’s a terrible deal for both sides by your logic. Further studies have proven that success in athletics has zero effect on freshman enrollment rates, so it doesn’t create revenue there either.
I love college sports, but the current state of it is a bane on the university system and must be tweaked.
September 28th, 2007 at 3:03 PM
You miss a large point: he was asked specifically about minority players.
September 28th, 2007 at 3:05 PM
Most athletic program DON’T make tons of money. Usually the football and basketball programs subsidize the other sports and barely break even, if at all.
For Rutger’s revenue/expense figures, go to the Equity in Athletics website and search for 4-yr schools in New Jersey. The football program made ~$13M from 7/1/2005-6/30/2006, they also spent ~$13M. Profit – $0 (note that this data is 2 seasons ago)
rittyrich – they do, at most universities its called Sports Administration
September 28th, 2007 at 3:15 PM
it still doesn’t change my stance…those 10% of schools that make money make of ton of it. and the players at those schools are there for 1 reason…to play in the NFL. if the colleges were serious about getting degrees for their athletes then they would force them to take real classes and not check book management.
and all i am saying is i am a football fan not a college fan. if my team wins a championship the last thing i care about is the QBs gpa or the running backs SAT scores.
sorry again i am a sports fan not a academia fan…i care about my own academic performance, not those of athletes…if they dont give a shit why should I?
September 28th, 2007 at 3:30 PM
I want my team to win as well. We agree 100% there, but this is college sports and it’s different by design.
I don’t care to know the RB’s SAT score, but I would like to know that he’s pulling is own weight academically, not cheating to get by so he can spend a year on a practice squad for the arena leauge or play in Canada (which is the furthest the vast majority of these young men will go).
September 28th, 2007 at 3:32 PM
“if they don’t give a shit why should I?”
Because they’ll never give a shit unless the expectations change.
September 28th, 2007 at 3:33 PM
hate to tell ya august but thats the way it is…athletes cheat and dont take classes seriously.
i went to BG when we were ranked nationally and i had football players in my accounting class pretty much openly bragging they didnt have to really study for the exams. if its that rampant at a small school like Bowling Green then it is definitely going on at OSU ,LSU, USC, florida, etx
September 28th, 2007 at 3:40 PM
*etc
September 28th, 2007 at 3:44 PM
no doubt about that. I just think that higher standards throughout the process, and at all levels would lead to better results in this deprtment.
Easier said than done, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.
September 28th, 2007 at 4:32 PM
mmonast,
“no see thats where you are wrong…the universities use the kids to bring in millions in revenue…athletes use universities for big pay days in the pros…and yes this only applies to football and baseball”
- The % of athletes that actually go on to play professional sports is a small, small number. These kids, regardless of what their intentions are and regardless of “how it works” need to realize that they probably won’ t make it to the next level and need to have a back-up plan.
September 29th, 2007 at 12:39 AM
Football is the only sport that really doesn’t have a minor-league system. Make Arena Ball minor league and send everyone there. The same amount of money would be spent and universities could concentrate on their true purpose–educating people.
September 29th, 2007 at 12:07 PM
Seems to me that there’s one simple solution; remove the “student” from “student-athlete”. Just go ahead and bring in hordes of Todd Marinoviches, Chris Washburns, Willie Williamses and Isaiah Riders. That way, there are no illusions as to why they’re at your school(not that most people don’t already think that way). If an athlete actually wants to get a degree, make him or her a walk on. Fans could give a fat rat’s ass about some point guard’s SAT scores, or a running back’s GPA. All they want is wins, at any cost.