Speaking of College

In relation to my post yesterday about college education, please read this article by George Will at The Washington Post. Not that it’s a homework assignment, but as usual George Will points out another specific inefficiency in America. This time, Will focuses in on college sports; most notably football and the peculiar fact that they get tax exempt status for a significant portion of their monies even though many of the goals that they state are never really accomplished.

To illustrate his point, George Will writes:

How does the NCAA fulfill its proclaimed purpose of maintaining "the athlete as an integral part of the student body"? Only 55 percent of football players and 38 percent of basketball players at Division I-A schools graduate. The New York Times has reported that at Auburn, a perennial football power, many athletes have received "high grades from the same professor for sociology and criminology courses that required no attendance and little work." Eighteen members of the undefeated 2004 team took a combined 97 hours of those courses while at Auburn. Who believes such behavior is confined to Auburn?

I hope one day to be as excellent a commentator as George Will is, or as excellent an economist as Greg Mankiw, but for now I’ll let them do what they do best. Also, I’d just love to see somewhat try to refute the pose that Will makes in his column. I’m not good enough to do it, plus I agree with him.