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Garcia: North Carolina’s academic scandal is shocking even to former athletes
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Editor’s Note: Stephen Garcia threw for 7,597 yards and 47 touchdowns at South Carolina (2007-11) and also had a brief career as a professional quarterback. He’ll be providing SEC insights throughout the season.
Man oh man, the Tar Heels are in a world of hurt after the latest investigation found that more than 3,000 students, not just athletes, took a class that didn’t exist.
First off, this scheme ran for 18 years. How in God’s name did nobody catch on for that long?
Secondly, was there not an actual class that was just as “easy?” There was no basket weaving? No archery?
Let’s be honest, and I am guilty as charged: college students tend to take the easier classes while in school. And why not? We all have the ability, due to a few websites, to check on the teachers and how they have graded their students over the years. It’s a very valuable tool.
Every student has a academic advisor as well that guides them on what classes they need to take. I’m not sure how other college students get advice, but our advisors were pretty legit and helped out drastically to keep us on schedule to graduate and put us in the best classes. Real, actual classes.
One could argue that college athletes get preferential treatment, and maybe that’s true. However I don’t know what the normal student has to do. I do know that they aren’t going from a full day of classes to the facility for a team workout that is brutal. They aren’t going from class to meetings for two-plus hours. They aren’t going from class, to meetings, then practicing for three hours. Then after practice, to dinner and study hall. Next day, repeat.
I am not saying that normal students have it easy, because I simply don’t believe college is easy and I don’t know what everyone else’s situation is. I am just stating what our schedule was like while I was at South Carolina.
During my days at SC, a few people always asked me which semester was the most difficult. It was usually the spring.
My fall schedule was very light, because obviously we were in season. When we met with our academic advisors during the summer to set up or schedules for fall, we all tried to work together to set up a lighter workload. It had to happen because of our football obligations.
Our classes weren’t the most difficult in most cases, but they certainly existed!
I was completely shocked, as I’m sure everyone else in the country was, at the new developments in the story regarding the University of North Carolina.
Again, I think the most interesting part of all that is how in the world did it continue for 18 years? That is just amazing that it was kept a secret that long. There is barely any secrets these days because of the access to the internet and social media.
Plus everyone has a camera phone and loves snapping pictures of athletes doing things that regular people do (but for some reason it becomes interesting when an athlete does it).
Like everything else in our world, time heals everything. It may be a giant black eye for the University of North Carolina right now, but it will soon be forgotten.
The Man. The Myth. The Legend.
