Monday Cardinal Couple -- What price athletic success?

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MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-UNC quandary over classes for athletics a black eye for academia.

The recent revelation of controversy between "no attend" classes at North Carolina and grade boosting for athletes is a dark cloud floating over the whole system of academia. 

A riveting report on the current controversy on the TarHeel campus can be found at the link below

Classless Classes?

A decade of academic fraud? At what price does success on the athletic fields and dollars for the athletic program via keeping star athletes academically eligible come? 

Is this anyway to run a University? 

A) Tom isn't that great a student..but he can toss a football 65 yards and threw for 5 TD's against State U.
B) Tom needs to carry a 2.0 to play for 'ol coach' and the grades just aren't coming for him in sociology, choir and algebraic concepts. 
C) Professor Abe Sentee has this class where the students don't have to attend, just turn in a paper and...presto! They get a "B" (Where were these classes when I was in school?) 
D) How many kids like Tom can we get into Prof. Abe's class and how many more classes are out there like it? 

And, if it's going on at UNC...a highly respected ACC center of academic learning...where else does the shadow fall? 

Just another reason for Duke to giggle at UNC, I suppose. 

The term 'student-athlete' gets sacked for a 10 yard loss in this case. Do all-conference stats and All-American honors begat bunny classes and questionable standards? Does academic cheating wash itself clean if the team gets to the Super Duper Bowl and earns the "U" 3 or 4 million? 

And has it bled over into other sports beside football? 

Tip of the iceberg here, I fear...and that's a sad thing. Consider the average student, working a job, struggling to get by with a "C" average but actually paying tuition, taking classes that might lead to a nice paying job upon graduation and this poor soul actually having to attend class, study and sweat out mid-terms and finals. He might even get a rare Saturday where he can sit in the student section and cheer for Tom to beat State U. 

Now, if he could run a 4.3 second 40 yd. dash and  bench press 300 lbs....

It could drive you Cameron crazy. 

I always thought of my college years as a combination of professors who really taught me something, cared about how their students learned and performed and ample opportunities to learn, explore, have a little fun.

That and spending time at Jim and Joe's Beer Depot, Zanzibar and in the Delta Zeta sorority house. 

Maybe a chance to get a degree in something that might be useful in later life? My G.P.A. may not show it, but I actually studied and learned some important business concepts. 

Location and capitol. 

I'm guessing 99.9% of the college scene is still that way across academia land. Students still yawn and stretch at 8 a.m. classes and there are still albino squirrels on ye dear ol' Belknap campus? 

It's the .1% that really stinks, though. 
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