Do you support athletic scholarships and college sports?

[fishwax]

13. I've known many people who wouldn't likely have been able to afford college otherwise

I do have some conflicting thoughts on it, to be sure. I am a big fan of college sports on the one hand, but I also think that big-time athletics are often overvalued at the expense of attention to academics.

But I certainly wouldn't favor eliminating scholarships for athletic ability any more than I would favor eliminating scholarships for other things. There are all kinds of scholarships awarded for things that don't directly involve the classroom, and I think that's fine. We need more ways for people to be able to afford education, not fewer.

I know there is a common stereotype about athletes not being interested in the classroom, but in my experience (I've taught at the college level for several years as well as being a student, graduate student, and working in administration) it doesn't hold up. I've had a handful of students who were on athletic scholarship and cared only about getting a good enough grade to keep their eligibility. I've had more who saw athletics as an opportunity to get an education they would never have been able to afford otherwise and worked hard in the classroom. And I've had several whose interest, like any other college student, varied on the subject and innumerable other factors.

I've known several people (not speaking of students here, but family and friends) who were able to get athletic scholarships and who would have had a hard time going to school otherwise. They've done good things with the opportunities given to them.