Blog 19: Chapter 19: College Sports MEGANIC. Versus Undergraduate Education

Here we go again, screw the undergraduate! An ad was published in a popular mid-western fast food chain. It deals with students asking the fast-food chain owner several questions: Why the University president’s house is so big? The fast food owner, replies because he represents everything that is important to our school as an institution of higher learning. He also said that the University president and the house he lives in must represent the same thing. The next question in the ad states: Why is the coach’s house bigger? The owner had no answer. Other answers to this question are that the school places more emphasis on its athletic programs than its undergraduate education programs. Students at “BIG-TIME” universities agree strongly that their school places more emphasis on its athletic programs than its undergrad education programs and it is better that way. “A freshman female at Kansas State noted, “They treat the jocks a whole lot better than they do the regular students here and it shows their priorities” (Sperber 232). On the flip side many Division III students feel differently. They feel that the academics come first and the undergrads put them first. “It is clear the academics come first here. If you don’t want it that way, this isn’t the school for you” (Sperber 232). So cut to the chase, the bottom line is Division I athletic programs come first for both the administration and the students.