IT SEEMS wrong, on its face, that a school division might help raise athletes' academic achievement by lowering standards. But there is a serious case to be made that easing classroom requirements for freshmen might in fact help students make better grades in the long run.
The reasons are myriad. Athletics may motivate students so they can keep playing. Sports might force better time-management.
But the most compelling arguments for sports as an inducement to better grades comes from the performance of athletes themselves. Several studies in recent years have shown that athletes simply do better in school than non-athletes.
Peer pressure, especially among adolescents, is a powerful force. Put a struggling athlete among others doing better, and that student is suddenly under pressure to improve both his game and his grades.
Couple that with the role models coaches provide, as well as the academic help available, and suddenly athletics look more like a road to better classroom performance than a barrier.
Norfolk's public schools are considering lowering the grade-point average they require for freshman athletes, currently 2.0 on a 4-point scale, among the strictest in the region. According to a story in The Pilot, three of every 10 freshmen were ineligible under that requirement.
Administrators worry - rightly - that athletes who don't make the grade will find other ways to fill their time and may even give up on school altogether. So the division is considering lowering the 2.0 requirement for freshman, either for one semester or the entire first year.
It is easy to interpret this as an effort to lower standards for jocks. And if Norfolk were to propose lowering the standard for all high school athletes for all four years, that argument might be true.
But that's not the case. The schools want to ease the standards long enough to get freshman involved and on track in high school.
"We're not lowering the standards by having a 'clean slate' policy," said Dave Hudak, longtime coach and mentor to football players at Granby High School. "We're giving more students the opportunity to get motivated about their grades."
That, in the end, is the goal of education, whether in the classroom or on the playing field.
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Prospective Editors
Perhaps these 2.0 gpa Jock Thugs can major in Journalism and come work for the Pilot. I can't think of much else to do with them.
HA!
Hang in there C.S., I'm full of surprises.
satan's wearing a turtleneck
I have donned my parka and snow boots because georges61555 and I actually agree on something.
What does the Pilot want
What does the Pilot want a bunch of uneducated jock thugs? A 2.0 average is quite low enough.
Get real....
The basketball jones theory has shown time and time again that kids who are allowed to replace school work and education with sports has done nothing but produce illiterate socially promoted imbeciles. Maybe the idea is to get less than stellar performers into an activity instead of a gang but the priority is still skewed. Bring back corporal punishment, school uniforms, zero "rights" for adolescents and an atmosphere that sports is a privilege in concert with good grades. Only then will adult society start to gain control of "kids" that, today, KNOW they are in control of us.
What's happened to the Pilot?
The last few months, the Pilot editorial board has seriously started losing it. They actually applaud Norfolk's lowering the grade standards for athletes below a 2.0
That's a C, folks. The logic, that D students might quit school if they can't play sports, is silly. This weekend, ODU graduated a 17-year old who skipped local high school and started college at 13.
If an athlete can't average a C in high school, there are a lot more problems to deal with than when gametime is. BOY, the Pilot is missing the point of education. Since when is a D in every class an accomplishment worthy of reward?