Letter to Michigan Department of Education president

Kathleen N. Straus
State Board of Education
Post Office Box 30008
Lansing 48909

Dear Mrs. Straus,

The current issue of interest is that of the student athlete. I know that education is one of your top priorities. I also know that you are a member of numerous of boards and committees dealing with education, but none of them concerning athletics. The majority of student athletes in high schools are failing or barely passing their classes. To them sports are more important than school. I am concerned about when they go to college: will they be ready for the difficult college curriculums? As a result of focusing more on excelling as an athlete, they fail as a student.

According to an article written in The School Administrator magazine North Carolina many of their high schools were illegally playing ineligible students in sports. The coaches of these schools told teachers to raise the students’ grades in order for them to play sports. This might already be occurring in Michigan schools. Student athletes are not passing their classes. An article in The Economist magazine says that 20% of college basketball players graduate and 40% of college football players graduate. If they don’t graduate and get a degree they don’t get a good job to earn a living later in life. Student athletes are barely making it out of high school and when they get to college they can’t keep up with school and sports.

Some athletes are failing classes and getting away with it because of the popularity of sports and they are not ready for higher education in college. Sports more or less are becoming more popular and more important then education because of the dreams of becoming a professional athlete. I suggest that the eligibility requirements of sports be raised so education will always come before athletics.