This article will undoubtedly be altered in some way before it is published in our school newspaper, The Dial. I thought I would give everyone a chance to read it before it is butchered into conformity by the censors.
It used to be that if you were good enough at a sport, you got recruited by a big name, Division I college. You were given a scholarship, guaranteed some playing time, and all was well on earth. For those who were less athletically inclined, this was all well and good. The jocks would go to their jock schools, have jock parties, get jock glory, and leave the thinking to the thinking man. But now, that seems to be less and less the case. Recently, a classmate of mine was offered the chance of a lifetime, a guaranteed place at a Division III school, just for performing well in a sport. Division III schools are traditionally thought of as havens of the intelligentsia. If you also happened to excel at a sport, that made you an even better candidate, but it was not the sole reason for acceptance. You got in because you were academically qualified and intellectually driven. The usual benchmarks for achievement, high SAT scores, a near perfect GPA, and rigorous course-load, are now replaced by baskets scored, home runs hit, and interceptions caught. This should not ring true, but it does. Should a more qualified candidate be turned down by a college because of a lack of athletic talent? Certainly not. Division III colleges should maintain an air of academic excellence in addition to sporting prowess. Their goal should be to mold the minds of the best and brightest, not those with the most brawn. Intellectual achievement needs to be the determining factor of acceptance. For a school to accept an under qualified individual just because they can catch a football better than most is a direct insult to those who have worked to achieve the grades necessary to attend such institutions. Much to the dismay of all who apply to college, there are only a certain amount of spots to be filled. Once the institution is full, it is full and the rejection letters begin to go out. If that school is filled with unqualified super athletes, it is a scathing slap in the face to those more deserving applicants. These people take away potential spaces from those whose lifelong goals have been to attend these schools. This is in no way fair. By being allowed to bypass the regular application process, the chain of special privileges afforded to the athletically gifted is lengthened and the notion of superiority is reinforced. Get into a college because you deserve to grace its campus. A Division III athletic career can only get you so far anyway. The true success stories will be told about the students who graduate and go on to write novels and cure diseases, unstuck from the mediocrity of ignorance and apathy gracing much of organized athletics. There are only so many basketball stars, but the need for thinkers and dreamers is endless. I implore all of you, achieve to the best of your ability and let your mind speak the loudest.
