Doug Henwood wrote:
> >From today's Chronicle of Higher Education daily update:
>
> * MINNESOTA GOV. JESSE VENTURA asserted on a television show
> Friday night that college athletes should not have to enroll
> in classes.
Actually, from a strictly academic point of view, there is something to be said for the proposal.
1. From the point of view of truth in labeling: colleges and universities have become the minor leagues for pro-sports. Why not label them as such.
2. I personally liked most of the athletes I had in my courses, but an overwhelming majority, though *not all*, of them were a drag on the course. My classes would have been better classes for everyone in them if the the athletes could have been excused from class work.
3. There is probably no hope at the present time to suppress college athletetics altogether, which would be desirable. But if the academic requirement for athletes were removed, it would be easier to insist that university funds not subsidize athletics -- which would include general funds as well as compulsory activity fees. But that is probably pretty utopian too, as I see no way of mobilizing any particular constituency to fight for it.
Carrol