Yesterday the NCAA came out with the APR. In case you missed it APR stands for Academic Progress Rating. You can go to NCAA.com to read more about.
Cal State Northridge was the only west coast basketball team to go on probation because of a low APR.
My take on all of this APR stuff is, SO WHAT. Education is overrated. Yes I really did write the last sentence.
Education today in my mind simply educates you, it for sure does not TRAIN you and train you for life experiences.
That is why I don't get excited when people get upset that college players play one year and then leave for the NBA draft. Quite frankly most of those players should have never been in school in the first place and I wish we still had the old rule that people could come out of high school and go directly into the NBA.
My view on life and it always has been is that there is too much pressure on people to get a college education. College is not for everyone and we seem to be as a nation that is obsessed if you do not go to college, you are a disaster and your worthless as a person and you will never get a JOB. (There are lots of sixth graders today who know more about computer science than most college graduates.)
If we are serious about education, training people, then here is what we need to be teaching and educating people in today's college and universities. My five CORE subjects.
1. Everyone should be required to take a second language, with emphasis on Spanish.
2. It should be mandatory to take several writing courses and several public speaking courses. (No texting and no tweeting)
3. Your personal health. How to eat properly, how to exercise, how to sleep, down to even how to properly brush your teeth. Your health is your wealth.
4. Math and I am not talking about algebra and trigonometry. Basic math, needs to be revisited in the college class rooms.
5. History. History dictates the future and is so important.
If we stuck to my five basics above we could see a lot more people in college who would succeed and also could get through school in three years or less, with a degree. Who says it needs to take four years?
Now don't think for one minute that I don't realize we need Doctors, Lawyers (ouch we have too many), Accountants, Engineers, Teachers and I could go on and on, but we also need to realize, the real education comes from life experiences, not a college degree. Grad school is and always will be for the people above.
And why is a basketball blog talking about this? I guess I just get sick of always hearing about the term student/athletes and there being so much disparity between these two. Trust me, on the Division 1 level, most students who play sports are athletes first, some just happen to be GREAT students.
I also worry about good people who are just not made to be college students. Are we just going to discard these people, tell them they are worthless and not create jobs for them. WAKE UP AMERICA.
My greatest joy in life outside of being blessed with a great family, is the friends I have in life. Some have college degrees and some do not, but I have learned so much from all of them and that is why life lessons are the greatest education one can ever get.
And finally to the many teachers on all levels and coaches as well, who read this blog on a daily basis and by your emails, there are lots of you, my hat goes off to all of you. You get criticized often, but you all are having a major impact on society by teaching people life lessons they will never forget and will help make the world a better place. Sure your subjects and your coaching are important, but they never will be even close to the life lessons you do a great job of conveying to young people each and everyday.
It will be back to college basketball tomorrow, thanks for letting me do a one day venting.
emails to crawscorner@gmail.com
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