Unbeknownst many civilians residing in the United States are graduating with hundreds of athletes who have only gone to class a handful of times. Being a fellow Thunderbird student-athlete, Sumeet Grewal’s blog, “Double-Dealing Diplomas”, gave me a greater appreciation for the Canadian School system.
For Sumeet Grewal, “the impact of fake degrees does not stop with the student who is robbed of one. It affects every student who has ever earned a degree honestly”. For me a fake degree does not only affect the individuals who earned their degrees (whom are now competing for careers against these impostors), more importantly impacts the misguided student-athletes themselves.
University is more about playing sports, partying and going to school. University is all about maturing into an adult who will one day foster a family of their own. These student-athletes are deprived of their education and acceptance into adulthood. As one false degree rises above it is only a ripple effect from there.
An edited picture by Bloomberg Businessweek, was released short after the student-athlete scandal was uncovered.
“When education becomes meaningless, it is not just the students who suffer” (Sumeet Grewal), it is the whole economy and educational system in itself which suffers. Inhibiting a dishonest degree generates corruption. It is “especially troublesome when, in many countries, people with false credentials are put in positions of power; politicians, professors and even doctors” (Sumeet Grewal). Vise-versa, as these former athletes fail to find jobs due to their incompetence, they resort to petty crimes or panhandling. The ripple continues as jail houses in the states begin to expand and the economy worsens.
Though there may be the odd hiccup in the Canadian educational system, it is incomprehensible compared to the felony occurring in the U.S.A. Coaches not only in the states, but around the world, should have morals and ethics when participating in such actions. Yeah, I guess you may have won a championship or two, by letting your players skip class to sleep in. But, are you really winning if the only metal their clenching onto after a collegiate career are the bars in a penitentiary?