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Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2006 > September > 26 > Entry
Football and the magical GPA: An academic disgrace
(Michael Oher, football player)
How do you get a high school sophomore into college who is homeless, attended 11 schools in 13 years, missed 46 days of school in first grade, didn’t even attend for 18 months around age 10 and sports a 0.9 GPA at the end of 10th grade?
Impossible, right?
Oh, did I mention he weighs 344 pounds and is a potential NFL football star? Now what do you think his chances of getting to college are?
If you guessed 100 percent, you’re right.
I’m a huge fan of Michael Lewis, the author of a great book about baseball called Moneyball and a frequent contributor of engaging narratives to the New York Times magazine.
Lewis writes a lot about sports and this week’s cover story in the Times magazine is another mesmerizing read. It’s mostly the inspirational story of Michael Oher, once homeless and essentially orphaned, who now appears headed to NFL riches.
But along the way, the story indicts education systems that alternatively failed Oher and now seek to exploit him. The Memphis school district takes a beating for passing him on year after year even when he wasn’t even showing up for school.
But as it becomes clear in high school that Oher has the potential to make millions in football, supportive adults surround him and try somehow get him onto a college football team despite the train wreck that is his academic career.
Most stunning to me was the way they turned his D average into a sports-eligible 2.65 GPA almost overnight. And apparently this is perfectly OK under NCAA rules. Oher signed up for Internet courses in “character education” offered by Bringham Young University:
“The B.Y.U. courses had magical properties: a grade took a mere 10 days to obtain and could be used to replace a grade from an entire semester on a high-school transcript. Pick the courses shrewdly and work quickly, and the most tawdry academic record could be renovated in a single summer.”
Oher also had help from a tutor, Sue Mitchell. Here’s what it took to pass one of these BYU “courses:”
All you had to do in such a “character course� was to read a few brief passages from famous works — a speech by Lou Gehrig here, a letter by Abraham Lincoln there — and then answer five questions about it. How hard could it be? The A’s earned from character courses could be used to replace F’s earned in high-school English classes. And Michael never needed to leave the house!
Thus began the great Mormon grade-grab. Mainly it involved Sue Mitchell grinding through the character courses with Michael. Every week or so, they replaced a Memphis public school F with an A from B.Y.U. Every assignment needed to be read aloud and decoded. Here he was, late in his senior year in high school, and he had never heard of a right angle or the Civil War or “I Love Lucy.â€? But getting the grades was far easier than generating in Michael any sort of pleasure in learning.”
Wow. I just found that shocking. In a matter of weeks they took a kid who is barely prepared for high school work and not only got him into college, they made him eligible to play football! Here’s how the story of his academic makeover ends. Sean is the wealthy private school gadfly who adopts Oher:
On July 29, Michael took his final B.Y.U. test — another character course. Sean sent the test to Utah by Federal Express, and the B.Y.U. people promised to have the grade ready by 2 o’clock the following afternoon. … With Michael’s final A in hand, Sean rushed the full package to the N.C.A.A.’s offices in Iowa. The N.C.A.A promptly lost it. Sean threatened to fly up on his plane with another copy and sit in the lobby until it was processed — which led the N.C.A.A. to find Michael’s file. While it remained suspicious and didn’t close its investigation, the N.C.A.A. on Aug. 1, 2005, informed Michael Oher that he was going to be allowed to go to college and play football.”
Amazing.
(Image credit: www.nytimes.com)
Permalink | Comments (11) | Categories: Colleges and Universities, My Favorite Posts, Sports and Athletics
Comments
By Scott Elliott
September 28, 2006 12:02 PM | Link to this
James, that is a very interesting viewpoint. Indeed, Michael Oher’s best chance for a future probably is pro football if he is really that good. He certainly doesn’t have much chance of making millions any other way. And that is the decision administrators ultimately made. Initially, they kept him out of sports because of the low grades but ultimately relented, at least in part because football probably was his best chance for a successful future. And it’s a fair question to ask if Michael Oher alone should be penalized for his poor academic career, much of which resulted from forces beyond his control. Even so, this raises a tough question about when rules can or should be bent. Does Michael’s story justify replacing F’s in semester-long high school English classes with A’s based on one reading and five questions answered from a week-long “character” Internet course? And does Michael Oher, at his skill level, even belong in college?By James
September 28, 2006 10:48 AM | Link to this
My question is simply this: Would this even be news if this kid wasn’t an athlete? What if the kid showed promise in acting? What if he was a great musician? What if he was an excellent artist or writer? Would this even be a debated topic? Has anyone ever stopped to think of what might be best for the kid? Obviously this particular kid did not have the best upbringing. His environment has always lacked structure. Educationally, being in 11 different schools in 13 years, by itself would be difficult for anyone to be successful. Being part of a team not only gives the kid’s life much needed structure, but also direction, something to work toward. Where is this kid going to be without football? What kind of direction would he have? To change his situation this kid has basically 2 choices, football or the Armed Forces. He has no other means of changing it, he has known no other life. Maybe I’m wrong here, but I thought schools were in the business of helping all children no matter their circumstances.By Oldprof
September 28, 2006 8:16 AM | Link to this
Dave, please get real. Oher, as a starter with no real preparation, will probably only be a semblance of an amateur or a student. I’ve had many student-athletes in my classes. Of the scrubs, perhaps 1 in 6 understand that education, not sports, will provide their best future. Starters almost never think so—despite the fact that less than 1 in 1000 of them is likely to make the pros. Unless Oher is that ultra-rare Shaq-type, I predict he’ll dodge any rigorous courses for 3.5 years and then drop out. Far better to drop the subterfuge, quit making these young men put on a false front of amateurism or scholarship, and just let them play in an independent minor league for an honest day’s wage. Moreover, a genuine minor league system would excuse our universities from skimming funds away from education in order to volunteer as the minor leagues for the NFL.By Lea
September 27, 2006 9:59 AM | Link to this
Actually, Dave, I did read the entire story. However, you can be sure that he played before they started tutoring him (or they wouldn’t have bothered). Where are the tutors for the kids who don’t have an athletic “talent” but would like to get somewhere with their lives? I didn’t have the world’s greatest GPA in high school. I didn’t have an athletic “talent”. My parents “made too much money”, so I couldn’t get financial aid (including loans… HMM). So I worked a 40-hour week and took a full class load. It took me 7 years to get through college, but I did. Yes, I flunked a few classes. It’s about hard work and not getting pushed through the system.By j in huber
September 27, 2006 9:01 AM | Link to this
It seems to me to emphasis on sports is more a reflection of parents and community. When and if my young son plays football or some other sport, the coaches will not dictate to me when homework takes precedence. He is much more likely to get an academic scholarship than an athletic scholarship and that will be my emphasis. It is much easier for parents to raise athletes than it is to raise students, not as much responsibility. Most parents of young athletes live vicariously through their children and they have dreams of big pay days for themselves. Extracurricular activities are important but they are not more important that academics and parents who allow this to happen are the real problem, although when parents expect the schools to do so, which is more the norm, education becomes blurred and less important. But, on the other hand, I find it hard to blame this kid, I blame his parents and the community.By Dave
September 27, 2006 1:00 AM | Link to this
I wish folks would read the (rather long) story you linked to. He did NOT get into college with a 0.9 GPA. They tutored him through a couple of years of A/B grades and made him a regular on the honor role. He will probably still need tutoring while he is in college, but he’s a lot better off than if people were not “exploiting” him. The BYU grade thing stinks, but would it be better if the NCAA said, “Your first two years of high school were horrible, so just go away.” I just wish other kids who are NOT 6’-5” and 330 lbs could get this same opportunity.By Oldprof
September 26, 2006 11:21 PM | Link to this
And let’s pile on (football analogy) by noting that Oher and his colleagues will be forced to work practically full-time on their “extracurricular” activity, which the institution of higher ed. will claim (in most cases falsely) is a good recruiting and fund-raising arm of their operations. For which Oher will not only receive no pay, but will be artificially restricted from pursuing any other kind of gainful employment on a regular basis. It’s just too bad that Maurice Clarett didn’t get to go pro when he wanted to—we’d be financing the incarceration of one fewer felon, and Maurice might even be making donations to higher ed from his multi-millions.By Keith
September 26, 2006 10:35 PM | Link to this
I don’t know why anyone’s surprised; similar things happen here in Dayton. When your administrators are past athletes, when your school boards care more about sports and image than real classroom learning, when you look at OGT state test scores for individual buildings, it’s obvious. Many teachers are pressured to give scores. I’ve seen a kid graduate having failed a required course his senior year. It’s all in the district’s (schools board/ superintendent) value system. Look at all the hubub about Wayne’s having to play a football game early and possibly miss games due to the strike. Think the public would have cared if they were typically a 1-10 losing team year after year? People get out of the schools what the community wants. Most communities want a good image rather than the real thing. The real thing is where kids who don’t do in the classroom are off the team. A few coaches a willing to do that, but around here Sports Reign. That’s be a good series of articles for Scott Elliott to research and run.By Mary
September 26, 2006 9:35 PM | Link to this
This does not just exploit the athlete, it exploits our entire education system and undermines our culture a la “Beer and circus - how big time sports undermines undergraduate education”. As far as practice and overscheduling for kids in K-6 for football, cheerleading, etc, I made an issue of that years ago because of my experiences with my kids, but the local school board ignored me. Ohio law used to require school boards to set limits so that these practices did not overly intrude into homework, family time, etc. Now, these activities are run as little fiefdoms for fanatics - coaches, parents, students, and administrators who like to collect trophies.By Mary
September 26, 2006 9:24 PM | Link to this
This does not just exploit the athlete, it exploits our entire system of education and therefore undermines our culture. Read “Beer and Circus - How big time sports undermines undergraduate education” and “Game of Life”.By Lea
September 26, 2006 4:11 PM | Link to this
Actually it’s not that surprising. On the papers sent home (to parents) with football players and cheerleaders in K-6 in the Mad River school district, it very clearly states, and I quote, “Homework is not an excuse for missing practice.” Practice is 6:00 to 8:00 PM, Monday through Friday until Labor Day; then it is Monday through Thursday. Miss a practice and sit out a quarter of the game. This is what is being taught to our young children - and we wonder why they don’t take academics seriously. Why, with a 0.9 GPA, they can get into college. Think about it.