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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsUniversity of North Carolina learning specialist receives death threats after her research finds one
A university learning specialist has received death threats and hateful messages after she exposed shockingly low academic levels among revenue athletes the University of North Carolina.
Mary Willingham found that between eight and ten per cent of colleges football and basketball players had a reading level of a third grader.
By studying eight years of test scores from University of Carolinas revenue sports players, she found that a majority had a reading level between fourth and eighth grade.
We may as well go over to the elementary school up the street and let the fourth-graders and third-graders in here, she told CNN.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2537041/University-North-Carolina-learning-specialist-receives-death-threats-research-finds-one-10-college-athletes-reading-age-fifth-grader.html#ixzz2qEVTk8pu
Warpy
(110,900 posts)so no one is ever going to get it.
Most of these guys won't go on to pro sports. Of those who do go, most will be supporting players and not stars. Most will end up injured and poor and with a college diploma no one takes seriously.
Because no one expected better.
Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)They will tend to go into the military-industrial complex, almost without a thought, to opress others...
icymist
(15,888 posts)Wouldn't want that lieutenant leading me.
Ghost Dog
(16,881 posts)And my father always advised me: Never Trust An Officer.
(rueful)
CaliforniaPeggy
(149,297 posts)Doesn't that just say it all?
hibbing
(10,076 posts)However, these athletes bring in millions and millions of dollars to the university. Yeah yeah yeah, they get a scholarship for an education, but I do think they are exploited.
Peace
BlancheSplanchnik
(20,219 posts)Makes sense. US media is so euphemized. It should be euthanized.
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)DeSwiss
(27,137 posts)mythology
(9,527 posts)Doesn't she understand that sports matters more than academic integrity?
MineralMan
(146,192 posts)You rilly stuped. You shoud dye.
Sined,
Redshurt Runing Bak
Gravitycollapse
(8,155 posts)FrodosPet
(5,169 posts)"I threw a block to open a hole at left guard and received a 5 year sentence for playing an illegal sport!"
Gravitycollapse
(8,155 posts)I said competitive college football leagues should be banned. I never said the sport of football should be made illegal.
FrodosPet
(5,169 posts)Humor bad jokers bad shame shame shame Mr Funny Mans making jokes.
Gravitycollapse
(8,155 posts)It is indicative of either malicious intent on your part or a reading level on par with that of the average college footballer.
FrodosPet
(5,169 posts)Finally! Help For The Humor Impaired
Today we`re going to attempt a groundbreaking medical experiment to help those unfortunate readers who suffer from a tragic condition called Humor Impairment. Don`t laugh! Humor Impairment afflicts Americans from all walks of life. Look at Richard Nixon. Here`s a man whose sense of humor was so badly stunted that he was forced, at White House social functions, to wear special shorts equipped with radio-controlled electrodes so that his aides could signal him, via electric shocks, when he was supposed to laugh. Sometimes, if the guests were unusually witty, the chief executive wound up twitching like a fresh-caught mackerel as dangerous voltage levels were reached in his boxers. So it is possible for a Humor Impaired person, through courage and determination, to overcome his handicap, and maybe even someday, like Mr. Nixon, attain the ultimate political achievement of not getting indicted. But before we can treat Humor Impairment, we have to be able to recognize it. It can affect anyone. YOU could have it. To find out whether you do, ask yourself this: What was your reaction to the first paragraph of this column? Did you think: ``Ha ha! That Nixon sure is a geek, all right!`` Or did you think:
``This is offensive, cheap, crude and vicious humor, making fun of a former president of the United States, a major public figure, an internationally recognized elder statesman, just because he is a geek.``
If you had either of those reactions, you are not Humor Impaired, because you at least grasped that the paragraph was SUPPOSED to be funny. The Humor Impaired people, on the other hand, missed that point entirely. They are already writing letters to the editor saying: ``They wouldn't use electric shocks! They would use hand signals!`` Or: ``Where can I buy a pair of undershorts like that?`` Trust me! I know these people! I hear from them all the time!
Gravitycollapse
(8,155 posts)As opposed to someone who simply uses the label to mask their contempt or ignorance.
Nanjing to Seoul
(2,088 posts)His joke wasn't unfunny and you can come down off the self-righteous cross please.
Unless you forget. . .we're all on the same side.
Gravitycollapse
(8,155 posts)Has no one in here heard of irony?
Nanjing to Seoul
(2,088 posts)Enjoy being on the cross and my ignore button.
snooper2
(30,151 posts)The FEET! The FEET!
(waving arms frantically in the air)
Shivering Jemmy
(900 posts)Misrepresenting other people is hilarious. That's kind of the point actually.
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)It's certainly not a humor-free zone... we simply expect what people call humor to be, well... funny (instead of a justification for stupid statements)
Next time, try being funny, it will most likely work.
Demo_Chris
(6,234 posts)The better question is this:
How did they graduate middle school and high school?
Gravitycollapse
(8,155 posts)By being the best at a pointless game and knowing the right people to make academic exemptions.
ScreamingMeemie
(68,918 posts)here in Texas (where it's practically a machine). Out of his 7 teachers, 6 are coaches and 1 is a huge fan of the team. If I didn't care, no one would...really.
Vashta Nerada
(3,922 posts)Bernardo de La Paz
(48,786 posts)eggplant
(3,893 posts)They give them tutors and such, but they are expected to actually get an education while they are there. Many of them are actually quite bright and it tough academic programs.
JustABozoOnThisBus
(23,282 posts)There are so many.
Go blue.
eggplant
(3,893 posts)And yes, you had the right one!
vssmith
(1,224 posts)Go Green
eggplant
(3,893 posts)ha.
PS. Ha.
Scout
(8,624 posts)what percentage graduate with a degree? of those degrees, what percentage are in sports/sports management?
eggplant
(3,893 posts)Scout
(8,624 posts)maindawg
(1,151 posts)But it is always relevant. This topic was raised 40 years ago and then it was dismissed. Its an Elephant in the room thing we dont like to talk about. The players are the victims. Should there be better oversight to protect the student athlete? Yes. There should absolutely be an alternative league. Right now, they run the kid through a junior college, and make him eligible.
They have a few more tricks, but what our universities are all involved is is basically bondage.
You play to stay.If you get hurt, you lose your ride. The players are victims of an antiquated feudal system set up a long time ago by the universities who saw an opportunity to cash in.
Cash. Its about money.
Brigid
(17,621 posts)There would be intermural sports only. That would save a lot of headaches.
sulphurdunn
(6,891 posts)that will follow them into middle age for a college degree, and semi-literates get a free ride because they can play ball and after 4 or 5 years will walk away debt free and most likely with no degree. WTF?
progressoid
(49,825 posts)sulphurdunn
(6,891 posts)madrchsod
(58,162 posts)the cost of insuring sanctioned sports players
http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/high-schools/headlines/20131111-special-report-15000-for-an-acl-tear-the-ins-and-outs-of-supplemental-insurance-part-3.ece
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-10-13/news/ct-met-rockys-law-20131013_1_rocky-clark-high-school-athletes-catastrophic-injury-insurance
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/11/sports/football/insurance-liability-in-nfl-concussion-suits-may-have-costly-consequences.html?pagewanted=all
http://personal-injury.lawyers.com/Personal-Injury-Basics/Sports-Injuries-Who-Pays-the-Bills.html
Skip Intro
(19,768 posts)demonstrate what should have been learned in the third grade?
How did they get into college?
The focus of school should be learning.
PCIntern
(25,343 posts)Pi are square? No it isn't. Pi are round. Cornbread are square.
cilla4progress
(24,587 posts)our country's priorities.
RainDog
(28,784 posts)leftynyc
(26,060 posts)Dexter Manley testifying in front of congress and admitting that although he graduated from Oklahoma, he was functionally illiterate but nobody cared because of the football. It was one of the bravest things I had ever witnessed.
Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)about anything else, but even a hint of a suspicion about anything that might interfere with our distractions and there will be hell to pay.
That's what will get Americans out in the streets, today.
spanone
(135,632 posts)jeff47
(26,549 posts)College football and basketball players know a hell of a lot about football and basketball.
Now, they should also be receiving an academic education......
NCLefty
(3,678 posts)One WHAT??