re: 5th Grader Reading Skills....Does LSU have this issue?

quote:

---

You're throwing out the baby with the bath water. I'm sure there are a few Eddie Lacy's, but there are also some football players and athletes who are smarter than you, Tom Bronco. Peter Dyakoski and Ronald Dupree are both very smart guys that I took classes with.

As for incoming guys, Brandon Harris and Jamal Adams both seem pretty intelligent. That's just scratching the surface.

---

I'm not throwing out anything. I am just stating facts. You missed the point entirely. It is not that there may be two or three or even a couple of dozen football players smarter than me. The point is that there is a certain percentage, who knows what it really is, who would never be in college if they weren't football players. Indeed as someone else pointed out they wouldn't even have gotten out of high school. Do I have a problem with this? No, not really. It is what it is. What I do have a problem with is the hypocrisy that these are students who take the same courses as most students and their degree, if they get one, is the same as other students.

Here is the point. Athlete's make millions for the University, coaches, athletic dept. employees etc. but don't get paid. It is said that their payment is the opportunity to get a college degree. Well if they are functionally illiterate this is just not true. Either they won't get a degree or if they do get one it will be essentially meaningless. I'm not saying pay them a lot. Pay them the hourly wage that most students get for part-time work for the hours they spend on the practice field and at a game or promotion work they do for the Universtity which enhances it's image. That seems the least that could be done considering how much income they bring in.