College isn't an internship. True internships are sponsored by the prospective employer. College is just a vehicle to get cheap labor for propping up the school's athletic program, and providing free education is about the cheapest way of providing compensation. Many of the players would be ineligible to gain entrance to the college outside of an athletic scholarship. Either they've been coasted through school while their athletic skills have been overemphasized, or they simply lacked access to a quality school prior to being recruited. It's very telling that many of the best athletes are African Americans from low income communities. College football was once a predominantly white sport and now it is the complete opposite. It is not because one race is better at the sport versus the other but it could be that athletic skills are simply overvalued in certain communities, and perhaps seen a way out of the 'hood'. I read in a study somewhere that in a survey of both blacks and whites over 50% of blacks thought they could make it to the NFL, while only 12% of whites thought they could. Socioeconomic status probably has a major role in this thought process as well as prevading stereotypes regarding athletic and academic prowess. Here is an excerpt from an article I read:

 

Quote:There's no question that athletics can be a pathway to education that transforms lives. But all too often, black male student-athletes leave college without degrees, and with little in the way of the training they need to succeed in life beyond sports. Recently I heard from a senior athletics administrator who was startled when one of his black former football players served him lunch at a fast-food restaurant. Why should that have surprised him? For what else was the young man prepared once his college sports career ended?


Only 50 percent of black male athletes graduate within six years from colleges in the seven major NCAA Division I sports conferences, compared with 67 percent of athletes over all, 73 percent of undergraduates, and 56 percent of black undergraduate men. And while black men are underrepresented in the undergraduate population at predominantly white colleges and universities, there is an enormous overrepresentation of them on those revenue-generating Division I sports teams. Their comparatively lower six-year graduation rates warrant a resounding response from college presidents, trustees, and athletics administrators.
 

This reeks of exploitation at the highest level. At the major universities football is king, not academics. The argument free tuition is enough compensation would be valid if the schools actually valued education but they simply do not. The current system is designed to keep the money flowing. It is not designed to provide adequate compensation either in the form of a high quality education that students can use after their careers or in the form of money for the job of being a full time athlete.

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