"On the subject of kids being recruited who aren't interested in the
academics of being in school, I wholeheartedly agree that this is a
problem."
 
BS ...
 
Our hockey team has a large percentage of Canadian players; so much so,
that the U Minn folks don't like to play hockey against us. Yet our
team average GPA is roughly 3.0 when the school average GPA is roughly
2.5.  We have a very few number of players that don't graduate, most
of those for non-academic reasons.
 
I have heard about "dumb jocks" for over thirty years now, ever since
I was one in college. The facts just do not bear this out. If I look
around the leaders of this country, I see "dumb jocks" who are certainly
are smart enough to gain the support and respect of their "non-jock"
peers to become business leaders, community leaders and professors.
 
As a former "dumb jock," I can not believe that this is a problem.
Instead, there are a lot of uninformed people beating keyboards
about an issue they have not personally checked out as to the veracity
of the comments being made and being repeated ad infinitum. Many of the
so-called "dumb jocks" would not have the opportunity or the funds
to gain a college education if they were not also good athletes.
 
Walt Olson, Ph.D., P.E.,
Department of Mechanical Engineering - Engineering Mechanics
MTU
 
HOCKEY-L is for discussion of college ice hockey;  send information to
[log in to unmask], The College Hockey Information List.