[Ekaros]

But why connect it to education? Why not make it general program for all ages? Why not encourage community run programs for teams consisting for example company workers, or local neighbourhood teams? The education ends very quickly and it is the older than that people who could really benefit from these activities.

[lotsofpulp]

They serve as a decent socioeconomic filter since many sports require the parents of the player to be of at least certain economic means.

[ragtete]

I don't know why folks put down college sports. If you do 4 years on a D1 team, you can certainly call yourself an expert in that sport. They're not just messing around, they're learning and developing their skills.

They may not go pro or use that knowledge directly later in life, but neither do a lot of degree holders in their field.

[Forgeties79]

> They're not just messing around, they're learning and developing their skills.

Yes, but almost universally at the expense of the education they are allegedly there to get. Especially D1 programs. That is why many of us don’t think it makes sense to tie it to education. To play at the level they are required to, they have to sacrifice their education. I think we all know how there are “football player classes” and curriculums designed to minimize school/education time and maximize their time for football.

Hell how many times have we seen scandals involving completely fake courses for athletes? UNC got in trouble for this in 2015 or so after decades of doing it. They were hardly the first and we all know it hasn’t stopped.

They can’t have both unless they lower the quality of the education received (which is pretty silly, considering they are at institution primarily designed around education) or lower the standards of competition for sports, which is never going to happen as long as one team wants a competitive advantage.

[whateverman23]

I'm guess asking: Why is 4 years of dedication to a sport (in at least the D1 context) not considered an education on its own?

List the degrees achievable from a typical college, and rank them in terms of usefulness outside college. Then fit 4 years of a D1 sport into that list. I have a hard time believing the usefulness of 4 years of a D1 sport would be at the bottom of the list.

[Forgeties79]

I think the forms of education here are pretty darn distinct. Didn’t say it wasn’t worth it/wasn’t valuable. Same reason we have conservatories like with ballet.

[whateverman23]

You can definitely get degrees in ballet/dancing, though. There are plenty of universities specializing in performance arts.

[Forgeties79]

Yes but those who want to perform often go to conservatories which are structured around the art/discipline first. We have no such equivalent for sports, except we sort of do and pretend they’re still there primarily for the education (basically every football team in the SEC).

[harvey9]

Lots of places do all of those things. It does not need to be just one or the other.