Should Colleges Lower Their Admission Standards for Athletes?

In the modern world of colleges and universities, sports have become an enormous part of the social life of colleges. In order for these colleges to be successful in area of athletics, colleges must recruit naturally talented athletes. These gifted athletes sometimes are not academically eligible, as far as grades and SAT scores go, but colleges still accept them in order to run a flourishing athletic program. There are individuals, who are upset at this, because athletics are believed to be accepted at a far lower standard than the admission standard for the rest of the student body. There have been many arguments and proposed solutions be able to lower their admission standards for athletes based on their athletic merit, and why they should not. I deem that it is right for colleges should lower their admission standards for athletes One augment is that there should be a special athletic admission standard, which would enable colleges to lower admission standards for athletes. This would enable colleges to be more open and not hush-hush about their admission standard, because its also no secret that colleges around the country, admit athletes who academically have no business being at these prestige universities of higher education. In the world of NCAA Division I football, it is an inescapable reality. An example of this was Vince Young who was admitted by the University of Texas. There was a chance that Vince Young might not have gotten in if he applied solely on academics, but Vince Young's natural athletic talent brought the school its first National Championship in thirty years. This would not have probably occurred if he had been cut academically. Colleges receive numerous amounts of money from these programs, and should be able to fund projects for other school programs. For example the University of Texas made reportedly $53,204,171 from its football programs alone, which was also tax free. Another augment is that an athlete's talent speaks for itself. It would be a shame for an athlete with their caliber to not be accepted in to a college, where they would be able to showcase their gifted ability, because they are not academically skilled. Every individual has a specific talent, which in this case athletes have which others do not have. Athletes have to go to college these days because it is required by the NFL and NBA. The NBA increase the age for draft eligibility in 2005, and made it mandatory that a player is at least one year removed from high school, and has graduated from a U.S. four-year college or university prior to or during the year of the draft, and has no remaining NCAA eligibility. This policy is made a requirement by the professional leagues, largely because it enables players to get practice while playing under pressure, and enables scouts to see an athlete's talent head to head against others with similar talents. Academics and sports? Let's be honest they really don't blend in. So, why should an athlete being capable of playing in the professional league take a class that really does not help them in the future. They are not the future professors, doctors, or lawyers. Admission standards now required by the NCAA for an athlete is to complete four years of English, three years of mathematics, two years of science, one year of additional English, math or science, two years of social, and four years of additional core courses, along with taking the ACT and/or SAT. This standard is very tough for an athlete to handle, because he or she is too busy after school from practices and games. This leaves them with limited time to study or do homework, let alone taking very difficult classes. If an athlete was to make it to the professional level, like the NFL or NBA, he would receive a six figure salary, and would need no use of this education. They go to college to play their respected sport well enough to be pursued by professional scouts, this is their future career. Colleges should offer a major in athletics. The players could learn, as other students do, information relevant to their chosen career. They could take economics and finance classes to study the market mechanisms behind their gargantuan salaries, and study the proper way to manage their wealth. It would be very wise for college to offer this type of major to athletes, instead of the other classes which some athletes would be uninterested in. Also athletes I believe should be given a little break when it comes to academics because they were probably traveling throughout high school and had a lot more things to worry about compared to a normal student. They are gone from on average a month every semester and that is extremely tough to make up. College should lower admission standard for athletes because they have a special ability and there is no need for them to get a higher education. If colleges lower their admission standard, they would not have to be so stealthy about admitting players who have no business being at the college academically. Also athlete are going to hardly ever use higher education in their career, so why can't they learn more specific stuff based on sports, which could enable them to focus on their performance out on the playing surface. Athletes are a special talent, and forcing them to meet strict regulation is not right, because they already got enough to deal with. Athletes belong at the universities, because without them, a source of income for the school, and there would be no exciting element of student life on campus.