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Just looking for intelligent conversation and debate. Feel free to move this to the OT discussions section if need be.

I know this is a touchy subject but coming at this from a purely curious perspective. If the Supreme Court overturns the use of affirmative action/race as a factor in college admissions because it gives undue advantage to one person over another. Couldn't he same be said of athletes?

The NCAA minimum qualifying standard is stupidly low giving athletes a huge advantage in the admission to colleges and universities across the country. I can't imagine all those football and basketball players at Harvard or even William and Mary are straight A students. I mean heck, if I recall a few of our very best basketball players had to take the SAT several times just to achieve the NCAA minimum standard, which I believe at the time was a 770. Just so everyone is aware, you get 400 points just for putting your name on the test answer sheet.

It just concerns me that when we start nit picking individual details of multi-layered processes the ramifications could be huge in areas no one can foresee.

I think the difference is that race is among the privileged classes in this country, and we are not supposed to discriminate based on it. There is nothing in the law protecting the inferior athletes among us from being discriminated against.

(02-17-2023 10:57 AM)ODUCoach Wrote:  I think the difference is that race is among the privileged classes in this country, and we are not supposed to discriminate based on it. There is nothing in the law protecting the inferior athletes among us from being discriminated against.

But racial protections are not the basis for the previous Affirmative Action rulings. It is based on the fact that because of race or poverty, or other factors these individuals have not or do not have access to the advantages other students have, private tutors, testing coaches, etc. so they should be considered under a different lens.

The colleges are not comparing student X at Norfolk Academy against Student Y at Granby. They are comparing student X's performance at Norfolk Academy as compared to the opportunities he or she had there. and the same for student Y at Granby and the opportunities they had there.

So if you (not you specifically) say that a different lens cannot be considered, what is to say athletes should be given advantage under an even more unequal lens simply because they play a sport we all love to watch on Saturday afternoons?

Affirmative Action has nothing to do with poverty or whatever perceived economic advantages or disadvantages anyone has had. It has to do with the fact that minorities have been oppressed and discriminated against for years and continue to be, which is why Affirmative Action still exists. It's not a perfect solution, but it helps to level the playing field. You can certainly argue whether racial discrimination still exists, but it is hard to deny that it has had a historical effect on college admissions.

While special admissions for athletes may not seem fair, it does not have the level of discrimination that race does. Inferior athletes and non-athletes still have the opportunity to go to college, just maybe not at the top level schools they aspired to. It's like saying you are being discriminated because you weren't born with a big enough brain so you are disadvantaged and should gain admission to a better school than you would normally gain admission to. These athletes provide a service to the school. Much more than an inferior athlete with better grades could provide and the schools are willing to pay for that on top of lenient admissions. White people as a class don't provide any specific advantage over minorities to the school such that they should discriminate against minorities. The big problem with special admissions for athletes is that rich people take advantage of it by bribing schools to admit their children as "athletes".

This should probably be moved to Off Topic.

Mods - Feel Free to move it, I do not have ability to do so

(02-17-2023 12:41 PM)BigBlueMonarch Wrote:  Mods - Feel Free to move it, I do not have ability to do so

Moved. For whatever it is worth, you can create OT threads in the OT section of the board.