Why are Athletics so important to most colleges?

Parents Forum
221

<p>

Alan Page, Cory Booker, Gerald Ford, and the other scholar-athletes I mentioned are not my relatives. And while my kids are athletes, it is highly unlikely that Div 1 $$$ will be in their future. </p>

<p>Just the title of your thread is anti-athletics ---- the tone is incredulous, seemingly perplexed that athletics could matter to anyone.</p>

<p>Just curious: What is (or was, given the confusion about your current age) your varsity sport?</p>

<p>And if your school lets athletes break rules, that is the school’s problem, not the entire culture of sports. It doesn’t happen at my D’s h.s.</p>

222

<p>" …Nobody would defend admitting unqualified athletes to prestigious schools." Why not? Unqualified athletes are admitted to presitigious schools. They are also admitted to non-prestigious schools. Many colleges want athletes who will win and this is especially true for the big sports, like men’s football. These athletes are not admitted because they are good college material. It is a nice bonus when they are but that is not the reason they are recruited and admitted.</p>

223

<p>O.K., edad. I’ll amend that statement to say “most people…” If you think admitting unqualified students is desirable, than you are entitled to that opinion. I just don’t know many people who share it.</p>

224

<p>katwkittens-
I am a student - I “took over” my mom’s id a few months ago when she pointed out a thread that she thought I’d be interested in. Sorry - didn’t think it would result in confusion.</p>

225

<p>BTW, does my age make a difference regarding the arguments?</p>

226

<p>no age doesn’t make a difference, except in perspective which relates to having a broad or narrow viewpoint of the topic discussed.
Youth has many things going for it, but depth and breadth of experience, isn’t one of them :)</p>

227

<p>With age comes wisdom and life experience. And I didn’t mention age, rather I referred specifically to whether your were a parent. There is and can be a large gap in the ages of parents which has been seen here on CC as well as in real life. Being a parent speaks to one’s life stage. Most but not all parents on this forum are coming from the similar life stage at this point in time (having children of college age). </p>

<p>It wasn’t your age that was affecting your participation in the initial post and ensuing discussion but rather your life stage and all that goes with it.</p>

<p>Good luck with your college search.</p>

<p>Kat</p>

228

<p>I smell a red herring. This issue of Vango’s age could not be more irrelevant. When was the last time, if ever, anyone on this thread made a coherent argument for preferential treatment of recruited athletes in college admissions and financial aid?</p>

229

<p>Being a new poster within the last 11 days may make it difficult for you, curious14, to be an authority on when a coherent argument was made for any discussion on CC. Many posters made the assumption that Vango was a student based on his responses to the argument you speak of, much in the same way you are making an assumption that the argument was coherent. </p>

<p>And again I was not commenting on Vango’s age but rather his life stage.</p>

<p>Kat</p>

230

<p>Curious14, and when did anybody make a coherent argument as to why they want my (assuming I had one , that is;)) college to change to their way of thinking when the vast majority of us are happy campers ? Why should we change to suit you? </p>

<p>Try not to be so jealous when others are successful in admissions. </p>

<p>Vango is just a Princeton (“dream school”) obsessed kid who wants to blame somebody , anybody, for the fact that her admission chances are not as she wants them to be. Today it’s athletes but Native American, college employee’s kids, nobody is safe who is getting a boost. Trying to game the system “What is the easiest AP?” so that P’ton is in the future? manipulating course schedules? Yeah, I think the maturity of the poster is an issue when their primary goal appears to be an Ivy admission, even by manipulating the system. That’s not a position most of us on this board appreciate.</p>

231

<p>I’ll try one more time. Why would I, not a Notre Dame grad, not a Catholic, be on here complaining that the school tends to give greater aid and an admissions boost to Catholics (if that is even true, I don’t know) ? Or Hendrix and Methodists? Or ______ and ________ (name of school) and (name of favored “trait”)? Fill in whatever you choose, as long as it’s legal. </p>

<p>There are plenty of schools that value things other schools don’t. Find one where you are valued for what you can bring to the table. Now, if you are an alum, or a paying parent, you’ve got griping rights IMO as to where and how “your college” is doing things. But that ain’t what is going on here , now is it? </p>

<p>I don’t want Bob Jones or Patrick Henry College, Liberty U or Grove City or Pensacola Christian College to change a whit. It keeps those kids out of schools my D would be interested in. LOL. The fact that they can value what they want to is A-O.K. by me.</p>

<p>This is mostly just whining that the bar is set too high for non-athletes, non-urm’s, non-legacies, non-employees kids, non-locals, OOS, non-development, non-celebrity kids at the super selective schools. It is a convenient whipping-boy, isn’t it? </p>

<p>It ticks me off that PSAT high scorers get 1/2 tuition at USC but what right do I have to demand a change? D just didn’t apply there. They didn’t value as highly what she had, at least not as directly, so she voted with her feet (but someone was there to gladly take her place). </p>

<p>All the hoopla over major college sports isn’t what vango was originally focused on. Check back and you’ll see. What she’s ticked about is a seemingly arbitrary, capricious, and in her view wrongheaded decision to allow subgroup A some points in admission over subgroup B and she also mentioned aid. Grad rates and abuses weren’t the keys. Y’all took it there in an effort to confuse the agenda. It didn’t work. We stayed back at the issue. </p>

<p>Don’t y’all think if there was this big groundswell of apps to schools that dropped varsity sports programs, or even sports “hooks”, that other colleges would follow suit? But they haven’t, have they? And why do you think that is?</p>

232

<p>Ok. Let me see if I can summarize your position. Schools are entitled to look for whatever they want in students and reward that in the admissions and financial aid process. If they want good athletes or anything else for that matter, so be it, it’s no body’s business but their own. Is that it?</p>

233

<p>curious- that sounds fine to me! Get over it.</p>

234

<p>Subject to the constraint that you mention in your post that it’s legal, ok.</p>

235

<p>“Get over it.” Now there is a brilliant line of argumentation.</p>

236

<p>Money .</p>

237

<p>OK, Three Issues, First Issue: Public Universities</p>

<p>Some of these institutions are state universities supported by tax dollars and that makes it a public policy issue and very much my business and that of every other tax payer. It’s not just the business of the university and its alums. Argue what you want but don’t tell me it is none of my business.</p>

238

<p>8888888</p>

<p>Would you mind elaborating a little?</p>

239

<p><a href=“https://www.ncaaclearinghouse.net/NCAA/common/index.html[/url]”>https://www.ncaaclearinghouse.net/NCAA/common/index.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>here’s an assignment for you and van. Take a few minutes and go here and look around. </p>

<p>What you’ll probably find here is answers to your questions. It’s no more free range than the turkey you eat for thanksgiving. </p>

<p>And Curm has made an excellent point. Van are you a princeton wanna be? Is the girl you know getting in and your not? If that’s the case with the feelings you have why are earth would you want to go there? Screw princeton. </p>

<p>You do realize you are complaining about schools you want to go to no? </p>

<p>And SS I was thinking of Alan Page today for the same point. He was my hero when I was a little guy.</p>

240

<p>Second Issue: Many Private College and University Administrations Oppose the Current System</p>

<p>As both Vango and I have pointed out, there is ample evidence that at least some college and university administrators would like to change the current system of rewards for recruited athletes if they could. The problem is that they find it difficult to do so acting independently. Therefore, even under your terms of engagement there is a legitimate basis for arguing over how they might do that.</p>