Interesting article about the extent of academic fraud at UNC. The Link The fake classes and guaranteed A's and B's had been going on for 20 years, the article says. If I remember correctly, this all started coming out when a TA blew the whistle on the fact that she'd been writing papers for athletes at the school, after being directed to. Of course, the school denied everything, admitted nothing, and made counter accusations, including firing her and blaming her for any misdeeds. Unless someone involved in the programs blows the whistle, it never comes out. In UNC's case, apparently several "probes", in quotes for their lack of seriousness, found no problems. It was only when the department chairmen was charged with felony counts of fraud, and he squealed about the misdeeds as part of getting the charges dropped, that the truth came out. I wonder how many other schools have similar joke programs and departments, designed just to keep athletes eligible. Pretty much all of them I'd wager, UT included.
You are making a serious charge with no evidence to back it up. I don't think UT has special "jock curriculum" classes, or professors who give out A's with no work involved. There could be individuals helping or writing papers, stuff like that. There are classes that aren't as hard as others, but show me the ones designed just for jocks...or where you don't have to attend class if you are a jock. I would be surprised if this goes on Of course, I am surprised that it went on at a school like North Carolina which has an excellent academic reputation, or at least they formerly did. The faculty and administration do not want this kind of publicity for UT.
I think Texas is worse. Texas has the "Longhorn Scholar" program. The Longhorn Scholar program allows "special" students including athletes to get college credit for middle school curriculum. Regular UT students are not allowed to sign up for the classes. So under the guise of inclusiveness, athletes (along with other special students) are able to go back to middle school and get college credit which includes a nice gpa bump. Don't point fingers at North Carolina when we have the Longhorn Scholars Program. Texas also added "Undergraduate Studies" baloney.
Actually, believe it or not, back in my day everyone went to the same classes and you either passed or flunked out. That is why I value my degree from Texas and hate to see it devalued by programs like the Longhorn Scholars or the College of Undergraduate Study. What a sham. The point is that we should not point fingers at any one else while we are engaging in awarding fraudulent college credits.
I mean, yes, it's difficult to "prove" that these courses exist everywhere, including UT. But it's pretty easy to find which majors the... *ahem*... anti-Nobel Laureates are steered towards. Let's just say there's a reason that several team members are never granted interviews. The moment they open their mouths, and reveal their 2nd grade sentence structure, it begs the obvious questions. What did they get on their SAT? Who taught that summer correspondence course that they needed to graduate? And so on. We don't like inviting those questions in a program. I don't, because I want to attract good football recruits to Texas. It's the trade-off. David Ash is well spoken and a corporate communication major. But well over half the football team is steered towards "Youth & Community Studies" and "Education - Physical Culture & Sports." Not calling it "general studies" doesn't mean it's more difficult than general studies. As to the fraud aspect of it like UNC is battling, that's a lot tougher to address. Someone would have to prove wrongdoing in those aforementioned majors, including cheating. While I bet that might go on, I think it's a long shot to get anything out of it.
Almost every college is doing it, including us. It is pretty evident with the college of undergraduate studies, longhorn scholars, etc. North Carolina just got caught. We are superior than North Carolina in that we have not been caught. If college athletics is going to turn into a job where athletes are paid, I do not see the point of requiring any of them to go to class anymore at all.
It is one thing to have easy classes but to actually have the advisor grade the papers and write the papers are two different thing. Not taking classes to get a degree is on the student and the University now gets penalized for not graduating players.
Here's is what is wrong. For students = Pick a major, dumbass. Looking at the classes, History in Liberal Arts will do nicely. For the Administration = Don't ask for any more money. Because if you apparently have enough to start a sham like Undergraduate Studies and can pay the salaries of a new Dean and his staff, you don't need any more money.
Taps, you have a point. We should utilize the local middle schools for the Longhorn scholar program and cut the cost at the university. What's to like?
Mack had to be pretty "uninformed" while he was Head Coach. I guess he can plead ignorance as Joe Paterno did (although Paterno's ignorance was much more damaging). Perhaps this could damage any plans that Mack might have had to be a head coach again. And maybe it gets him off ESPN. I sure hope so--I can't stand the sight of him. Thanks for leaving the cupboard so bare Coach "Hubbard"! And this UNC revelation is another reason why I like Coach Strong's policies.
Taps, just get a complete list of the Longhorn Scholars classes that are exclusive to the participants in the program. No problem. I agree that Strong is making the players show up to class and now we will see their GPAs go up exponentially. Ha!
There are no courses designed for the LSP. There are advisors who steer the participants of LSP to certain majors/classes. LSP is more about special opportunities for people who wouldn't have gotten into UT otherwise. Not continuing "middle school" courses as Diablo suggests. I wouldn't be surprised if there were LSP students and student athletes in the same courses.
"So the classes the LSP students are directed to are open to all students?" Mostly. Some are for people of a certain major, like upperclassmen coursework in the Education or UGS department. I wouldn't have been able to take them as I wasn't an upperclassman in either. Kind of like high level engineering courses wouldn't be open to non-engineering majors, but you know... with a reverse difficulty. LSP is more about having a personalized advisor to help spell out options, much like the AVID program does for high school students. I didn't have anyone tell me how to register for classes or pay my room/board bill, but LSP walks kids through it. It's not a matter of creating "low level" courses because, honestly, those low level courses already existed without LSP.
Horns11, that was pretty good. Ha! No sense beating this horse. The Op was regarding NC scandal and hopefully our system passes the smell test for the NCAA. I would like to see all students take the same difficulty of classes in order to get a degree from Texas. Sink or swim, if you are not prepared for college, then you did not prepare your self. If the problem is college preparedness, then address that problem prior to attending college, not after the fact. Otherwise, you taking a spot form a prepared applicant.
"Sink or swim, if you are not prepared for college, then you did not prepare your self." To an extent. You're prepared to argue that there are never ANY outside factors that could possibly hinder someone's college preparedness? There is definitely a level of student who can/will succeed with the opportunities that LSP provides. Stating that it's not worth the trouble because it eliminates the bubble students from whom it's "stealing" seats is a narrow view of why Texas has LSP. Let us not forget the hundreds of kids who drop out, flunk out, get kicked out, etc. There are many paths for students to get a higher education.
