"Should college students play sports? Sure, for fun. Not to make money for their schools, massage the egos of donors and alumni, raise up false idols like Joe Paterno—and deprive themselves of a real education in the process. According to the NCAA, to be a top college football player takes at least forty-three hours a week. There is just no way that even a well-prepared, devoted student can handle a full load of courses around the edges of such a brutal and exhausting schedule. Instead, they’re hauled through dumbed-down courses in gut majors like "interdisciplinary studies" and "social science" by an army of tutors and professors who know the drill: we need this kid, so he’s got to pass. One of my heroines, Jan Kemp, lost her job teaching English at the University of Georgia when she went public with the pressures that were put on her to pass the athletes in her classes. Even with all that help, the graduation rate of Division I athletes, 65 percent, is nothing to cheer about." Thoughts?