When the news broke that student-athletes at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill had their grades inflated by the university, I was less than surprised.
Perhaps this shows how much of a cynical person I have become, in light of what some programs have been able to get away with when it comes to their prized students and their marks. Whatever the case may be, I was unfazed.
Rather, I expected that such a thing was happening, as it has become more and more clear that if an individual is a student-athlete, he or she will be given every sort of opportunity to succeed both in and out of the classroom. Such opportunities come via school-appointed tutors and other friendly people, eager to see their favorite teams succeed.
However, this is not to say that all student-athletes are good-for-nothing slackers (I happen to know quite a few that are very smart indeed). Nevertheless, there are certain student-athletes out there, whether it be at Fairfield or beyond, that are clearly in way over their heads when it comes to attending classes and doing well in their studies.
To be fair, I am not a student-athlete, so I am not able to give a firsthand account of how difficult it is to play a sport while also succeeding inside the classroom.
However, based on general fairness, it doesn’t seem just that a student-athlete is given higher grades than a student who worked their behind off on a paper, or just spent hours in the library cramming for a big midterm, only because the student-athlete had a game two days before the paper was due or the test was scheduled.
While this may not be true in all circumstances, in most cases it is the choice of the student-athlete to play a sport at school, and nobody else’s. While it is true that the student-athlete has a lot on his or her plate, they are often participating in their specific sport because of their own choices, and can always leave the team if they feel overwhelmed by their work.
Now I understand that this may seem like an overreaction (which it is, to be fair), but the point that I am trying to get across is that the student-athletes are not being forced against their will to play a sport. They are well within their rights to back out if they just can’t handle it anymore, and don’t want to rely on grade inflation, or easy classes, to get their degree.
This brings up another contentious topic that we face here at Fairfield: athletes having the first registration time. While it is typically understood that athletes need the first registration slot in order to ensure that their classes and practices don’t overlap, some view it as an opportunity for athletes to sign up for all of the effortless classes, thereby guaranteeing themselves “easy A’s.”
While this may seem like a sensible course of action in the short-run, are you really benefitting yourself by taking that joke 101 class? Wouldn’t you rather take an interesting upper-level class that poses a challenge, instead of taking a boring, sham of an entry-level class?
This is just some food for thought, and I have something to say that you may want to hear: Having your grades boosted and taking easy classes may work out for now, but won’t help you very much later on, so you may want to reconsider your choice.
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