Shannon's Release show winning more inportant than Academics

People show their true colors via the simplest of ways. Take for example the educational system, or rather downfall of the educational system in America. A new study was just released looking at math, science and reading competency among 15 year olds around the world. The study was based on two-hour tests of 500,000 15-year-old schoolchildren by the OECD in 65 countries. Results showed that the Fifteen-year-olds in the U.S. ranked 25th among peers from 34 countries on a math test and scored in the middle in science and reading, while China’s Shanghai topped the charts, raising concern that the U.S. isn’t prepared to succeed in the global economy.

We all have a major concern about this in voice but in fact our actions show otherwise, and with the case of the recent firing of University of Miami Head Coach Randy Shannon, graduating students is not as important as winning.

The disparity between black and white NCAA Division I football players has historically been a problem. It is also evident that this situation is not improving, but getting worse. The annual report by the University of Central Florida's Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports indicated that the graduation success rate is increasing at a higher rate for white players than black players.

According to the primary author of the study, Richard Lapchick, the gap is like “the economy, if income for Latinos and African Americans grows at 2 percent but increases 3 percent for whites. Yes, it's getting better. But it's still not great for everybody."

The data was collected by the NCAA from each member institution. The Institute reviewed the six-year graduation rates for each school's freshman class that enrolled in 2003-04 in an effort to produce a four-class average. The findings also suggested that 57 schools had graduation success rates of 66 percent or higher for white football players. This was approximately three times the number schools with equivalent graduation success rates for black football players. Notre Dame and Northwestern were the only schools that graduated 95 percent of their players and at least 95 percent of their black players.

Although it has been suggested that getting more minorities in administrative positions such as head coaches and athletic directors may serve to improve these numbers, this has yet to manifest in a culture where winning is more important than graduating African American athletes. Using the example of former University of Miami head coach Randy Shannon, calls for his resignation have been occurring since the start of the season although he had inked a four-year contract. They grew even louder after his loss to Florida State and having a 5 and 3 record.
The fact is that graduation rates are not as important as winning in the NCAA. I'll bet if Shannon had finished 11 and 1, and had as many players in trouble with the law as Florida’s Urban Meyer or Georgia’s Mark Richt, he would still be coach, regardless of his players' graduation rates. Unfortunately, having the third highest graduation rate in the nation is not as important as winning a game or knowing how to read.

Big Booty Women and VIP: Why Black Students Can't Finish High School

Tatiana Reina wanted to graduate in the worst way — and she did. Ordinarily, a student's graduation would be applauded and presented as an achievement and symbol of perseverance, but not in Reina's case. The 21-year-old Reina was enrolled at Lafayette High School in Brooklyn, N.Y., for six years. Her grades and attendance records were abysmal, replete with missing classes and failing grades. In 2007, she even faked her graduation, sneaking into the commencement line panoplied in cap and gown.

Although she had ample time to complete her high school graduation requierements, Reina did not hold up her end of the bargain. She did not attend the majority of her classes. The standard for graduation is to attend at least 90 percent of one's classes. Even when she was confronted with "aging out" or being too old for the school system this year, she received another chance and still did not attend the required amount of classes.

Yet Principal Jacqueline Boswell still allowed Reina to graduate.

According to the New York Post in June, Reina showed up for the last five days and was given some health and chemistry assignments in the guidance office," where "She sat at a computer and Googled her answers." The Post also states that "teachers were pressured into giving Reina — and a half-dozen other failing students — minimally passing grades of 65, the equivalent of a D, to get the credits needed to graduate."

In Knoxville, Tenn., incoming top 100-freshman receiver Da'Rick Rogers was charged and detained after an early morning bar fight that left police officer Robert Capouellez unconscious on the street. Witnesses have alleged that while the officer was down, Rogers and others repeatedly kicked the officer in the head.

It is strange that people — not all, but some — do not appreciate the value of an education nor put forth the effort to maximize opportunities when proffered. Reina could have easily gone to class and studied just as Rodgers could have valued a scholarship to a major Division I school. However, neither exhibited behavior that indicated appreciation, but rather acted as if it was their right to graduate in the former case or attend college in the latter.

We often point fingers at the institutions rather than the individuals. The fact is, many of us spend more time chasing or being the big booty girl in the VIP section of the club, than studying, helping our youth value education, or assisting our kids with homework.