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"That the gap increased rather than decreased is particularly disappointing," said Richard Lapchick, who conducted the study. "The fact that the disparity is bigger now than 2009 is cause for trying to figure out what we eed to do to narrow the gap."
Lapchick argues that much of the gap in graduation rates between white and black players can be attributed to many of them coming from underfunded inner city schools. He found that roughly one-quarter of all schools participating in bowl games graduated less than half their African American players, and that one-fifth of the schools have graduation rates for black players that are at least 30 percentage points lower than the rate for white players.
The results of Lapchick's study are not surprising, and reflect the constant state of the black athlete in this disturbing system called collegiate athletics. The money has become so great in college sports that the goal of educating students has become subjugated to the greater ambition of getting rich by stealing the labor rights of other human beings.
If the NCAA wanted to fix the graduation gap, they could easily do that. You could start by not taking players out of classes to make long road trips to play in sporting events. You could allow students to actually choose their own majors instead of allowing universities to cluster the athletes into the same classes granting them worthless academic degrees. You could also open the door for independent oversight by outside entities to ensure that athletes are not having their academic priorities deliberately pushed aside by 50-year old men seeking multi-million dollar bonuses for winning a bowl game.
When it comes to determining the NCAA's priorities on graduation rates, the proof is in the potato salad: While many coaches are given multi-million dollar incentives for winning games, their contractual incentives for academic performance are virtually non-existent. If a coach graduates players and wins just a few games every season, he will never receive the same number of university job offers as a coach who wins games and doesn't graduate a soul. The NCAA knows exactly what it's doing when black athletes aren't graduating, and aren't being compensated. Exploitation rarely happens by accident.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and the Athlete Liberation and Academic Reform Movement (ALARM). To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here. 
Comments: (12)
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By: Renee' on 12/06/2010 9:46PM
Why aren't there many responses to this very important story? How long will this generation not give much credence to education? Think about it, other cultures (Asian, Foreigners, Whites, Hispanics,etc.) are going to College, and graduating. Where will most of Black America be? We should support and assist to the fullest extent those who have a desire for higher education. We need our families to assist by babysitting, or all pitch in to help pay for daycare. Help with some bills because he/she has to work part-time instead of full-time. Yes the economy is bad right now, and eating is more important than a piece of paper, but in the long run it can be the difference between working for someone else, and working for yourself. The difference between an upper level position with great pay, benefits, and perks, and a job where yes you work had (hard work is always honorable) but struggle often. NO shame in struggle (Give Glory Even In The Struggle) but also realize Honorable Success is not a bad word.
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By: EB on 12/06/2010 10:42PM
In my own personal opinion, and having had first hand experience the past 28 years in working with high school and college coaches and athletes in all Divisions, I feel that this story would have been more effective if statistics were presented showing the graduation rates among black athletes who graduate from HBCUs.
You see, most of these athletes (1) select their own majors; and (2) they graduate.
The problem is that most black athletes don't realize that if you are a legitimate athlete, the NFL and the NBA will come to recruit you regardless of where you play.
Yes, it might take you two years to "earn" that salary that you deserve, but its there.
In addition, a great majority of black athletes who start their collegiate careers at white universities often find themselves transferring down to the Championship Bowl Schools [Division I-AA] because of the NCAA's "progress towards degree" rule, or unfortunately, many of them also have to leave because of other social reasons.
Thank God for Black Colleges and Black Coaches.
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By: mswll4 on 12/07/2010 12:30AM
Hey, look at HARRISON BARNES: A all-american in high school basketball and a honor roll graduated, who play for UNC BASKETBALL. That is [ UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA ] for people who dont know. He probably going to graduate, because he is from IOWA, Not the GHETTO. That is why he is going to graduated from college. He did not go to college so he can play basketball or football, and try to get into NBA. Look at PHIL FORD.
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By: M. Alexander on 12/07/2010 7:39AM
Where you're from has nothing to do with where you end up !
Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz is a White guy who grew up poor in New York and now he heads a billion dollar company ! He went to college on a football scholarship and pulled himself up by his bootstraps !
He didn't start with a silver spoon in his mouth but he ended up with one !
It doesn't matter whether a person is from the ghetto, suburbs, or an affluent family ! It matters what that person does !
Barnes may come from a home where education was stressed much like Grant Hill ! Hill graduated from Duke but few people know that Grant Hill's dad Calvin was an NFL player and an IVY league grad (Yale class of 1969) who came from the ghetto !
So that defutes your stupid theory !
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By: jeromequigley on 12/07/2010 6:08PM
M. Alexander: your truth could not be more on point if you had a knife!! There are endless stories of peepz of all colors that came from dirt and nothing. Those are normally the peepz that when they put their mind to do some thing better they make the biggest impact!!! I grew up in a low-middle income hood(nicely mixed culture). But believe me my single mom of 3 was at the bottem of that income level. It was not until I was 15 and could work that I finally got NEW CLOTHES!! Every youngest of a good size family that did not have much understands how much that REALLY MEANS TO A PERSON!! My bro was 3yrs older so I took shigity for years cuzz my clothes were always 2-3 yrs out of style!! I am not a rich man by a income view. But after seeing the effects of no dad involved and mom struggling(almost lost her 2x to suicide) I wanted better. I never came close to marriage till my wife (married her when I was 36). Then the ultimate thing I waited for...My 1st child(my age..39)! I am not brain, I have common sense and street smarts, but I knew I could make my own family better than the one I had!! But it was DANG Hard!!! Point is, common sense and street smarts can be just as useful and needed than college book smarts (of course best to learn it all and be better set for any challenge)! So by Dr W making it look like these athletes are "to stupid" to know how to pick out classes they want and to tell others trying to guide them down the wrong path to back off.. is just stupid of him!!! You can throw out some general numbers and then fill in the blanks to make your point no matter what. I want to see where he got his data?? Whats the ratio between black and white athletes?? If you have 200 blacks compared to 75 whites, yeah the black "ratio" may be lower by simple size difference!! See Dr W is good at giving peepz on here just enough to fool peepz into hating peepz of other races! He is always going on about how bad the black athletes is treated, even going so far as to say that the one's getting a free scholarship are getting peanuts...but then 3 days later he will balk about how terrible it is that blacks are stuck with such High loans from trying to go to college?? He plays both sides just depending on who or what he wants peepz to hate on. It's sad!! Sorry but I know way to many brotha's that I have know since we were 2-3. And it was like any one else. Some tried hard and rose above where we lived and did it the right way, and some got caught up in the drugs and crime and ended up dead or in jail..and brotha's of a couple different races! I hope peepz start seeing Dr W for who he truely is..I want to be leader that is willing to demean and look down on others to make himself look good!! So Sad!!!
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By: M. Alexander on 12/07/2010 7:20AM
How true ! Back in the 1990s I played D1 football and when I was being recruited in high school, college recruiters who came to my home to visit often looked surprised and stunned to see my mother and father !
Once inside the home, my parents would question the recruiters about their schools academics, fraduation rates, etc etc etc and most of the recruiters would often look like a deer in headlights because they were not, for the most part, accustomed to parents asking the kids of questions my parents were asking !
One recruiter even went so far to tell my dad that in his 15 years of college recruiting, he could count on one hand how many times he went to an African-American recruits home and seen two parents nor had he ever witnessed parents who asked the questions my parents were asking !
In other words, in the world of big time college sports, most of these African-American kids who are athletically gifted often times come from undesirable home lives were usually they are being raised by a single mother who in some csses is either a welfare mom or wrking a menial wage job and in that situation, education is not a big part of that family's focus and when coaches get that impression, they usually use and abuse those kids for the sake of the university and the program and when that kids 4 years of eligibility are up, they are shuttled back to their neighborhoods with no degree or job readiness skills !
It's been going on for decades now ! Recruiters will often tell a highly publicized recruit that he has a great chance of making an NFL or NBA team because once that recruiter sees the home situation, he knows these people's financial hopes and dreams ride on that kids shoulders !
When that kid sees all the glitz and glitter of a big time program and all the illegal perks that go with it, he's drawn into that and he never studies because the coaches "fix it" so he doesn't have to go class or study and most athletes are not even taking classes that lead to a degree but they find out way too late !
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By: M. Alexander on 12/07/2010 7:29AM
Sadly, traditionally, African-American parents have not stressed the importance of education and when you add to that scenario the lack of quality education at the elementary, middle and high school levels, that often spells doom !
I agree with your comment but lets face it, we do not value education like other cultures and that is truly sad !
Also keep mind that for the first 100 years after the Civil War, most Blacks in American were struggling just to survive in America and as such we didn't have the freedom or right for that matter to attain a quality education and that just gets passed from generation to generation !
When a kid has no one to look to and be inspired by, they often will emulate what they've grown up surrounded by ! In other words, if no one in a family has gone to college, that kid most likely will not go as well !
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By: bob on 12/07/2010 8:43AM
Boyce does not black athletes "clustered" in classes with useless degrees (african studies). These useless classes were designed for athletes who do not deserve academicly to be in the school in the first place. Boyce wants the black athleted to recieve a degree in say, law, engineering, medical, or rocket science just because they can run and jump. He wants them to recieve millions of dollars or at least a fancy degree. He wants them "clustered" in a course for brain surgery scholars and to basicly be given a degree. He also wants a program (with judge mathis) to have black criminals records deleted if they stay out of trouble for five years! The problem is you can't just do this for black people you will have to do it for everybody! That is called crazy chaos! Lets just change everything to accomadate a black athlete who doesnt belong in college.
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By: paul on 12/08/2010 11:05PM
There are academic admission standards for a reason. Don't act surprised when kids don't graduate after they are allowed into college but aren't up to the minimum academic standards.
Nobody would be surprised if the top 5 math majors made a losing basketball team.
Hold athletes to the same admission standards and academic standards as the rest of the student body and watch graduation rates soar.
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By: bob on 12/07/2010 12:29PM
Yes paul and DR Boyce is either ignorant to this fact or just racially blind. College athletes are there to learn first and play sports second. Having the smarter kids playing the sports vs the hoodlums that can't spell would enhance the sport and make the school look better (clean cut, well spoken, no tattos or pearcings, criminal record etc) The only problem being is that there would be less black players on the court or on the field and Boyce would reel at that. How come there was never a problem with college athletes getting payed? All of a sudden its a problem because they are poor and black? Easy solution, If you can't pass the entrance exam or don't qualify for college you don't play..... no more problems with the black athlete getting paid or a honorary degree.
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