<p>Duke/Notre Dame/Stanford (and a few others) are not a panacea for college athletics. They suffer, to a degree the same problems as every other school engaged in the rat trap of sponsoring professional or quasi-professional athletic teams. Parents of student athletes in my area are surprised at how negative I am concerning the college athletics scene and the perversion of the academic mission flowing therefrom - thinking that I somehow would be compelled to support the status quo given my experience. I suffer no illusions about the corrupting nature of college sports. </p>
<p>But what Duke, Stanford, Notre Dame, etc. do have, except for a few extraordinary star revenue sport athletes (i.e. first or second team All-American types in football or basketball), are real students doing real college level work, albeit often at a level often beneath their peers. This doesn’t in and of itself make them “better”, because the university mission is being corrupted to some extent, but the degree of rot is generally less. And my own experience was at Duke, where I attended. I was in an honors program of ten, and was the only scholar athlete in the program, but at no time was I given any favors or presented with any lower expectations - and all of us (I believe) went on to Ivy League grad schools and the like. And many of my teammates had similar experiences in their programs - most of whom are now physicians, professors, lawyers, etc.. And it was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life - bar none. I was recruited by the largest athletic factories as well as the Ivy League schools, and Duke, while far from perfect, was one of a handful of schools that could land me in a major conference (with a meaningful high level athletic schedule) and permit pursuit of the top rung in academics. It was not my first choice - one of the Ivies was - but given the circumstance of a single mother home (and that mother had no job), Duke made far and away the most sense. Financial aid and work study did not jive with thirty hours a week at a near world class athletic performance level. </p>
<p>My twin brother (perhaps one of the the best student athletes the school has had) was an All American at UNC in his sport and Phi Beta Kappa and all the rest (math and econ). He would have not have been a rarity at Duke - but for a top level athlete, there really was no other at UNC like him (the current vice chancellor there was such a student athlete, however - he preceded by brother by 3 years and was, like my brother, a once in a 10 year phenomena). And UNC is not the athletic factory that some other public schools are. He at times felt isolated. </p>
<p>Witness the national champion in football last night - LSU. Look at the academic records and graduation rates on that team. I feel quite comfortable in concluding that but for a few happy exceptions, most of that team is not engaged in anything that folks on this board recognize as academic pursuit. These schools establish “family life” and “recreation majors” really for the purpose of warehousing athletes - and while some education is better than none at all, what these students are doing bear little relationship to those focused on receiving a challenging education. I hesitate to be so critical - many of these types, if they finish and somehow mature (not an easy thing when you have been handed kudos and favors all of one’s life) do play a helpful roles in the community as coaches, physical ed teachers, and the like - but from the perspective of a serious student or academic it does call into question not only the significant direct costs of athletics, but more importantly, the huge indirect costs and burdens - because big time athletics so changes the face and academic mission of the schools. </p>
<p>Suffice to say this is all tilting at windmills - students with extraordinary athletic talent will continue to get a huge plus in admissions and other benefits.</p>