Rutgers' Professor

[aggypryd]

"If you were giving the scholarship to an intellectually brilliant kid who happens to play a sport, that's fine," Dowling said. "But they give it to a functional illiterate who can't read a cereal box, and then make him spend 50 hours a week on physical skills. That's not opportunity. If you want to give financial help to minorities, go find the ones who are at the library after school."

www.sportsline.com/general/story/10376293

If he would have worded this correctly, no one would be complaining. Not even me...

Personally, I don't mind if you give a scholarship to a kid that's functionally illiterate. But make sure you take time to educate him. Don't just use him up, and after he's injured or he runs out of eligibility, you turn your back on him.

[SFHoya99]

aggypryd said:

"If you were giving the scholarship to an intellectually brilliant kid who happens to play a sport, that's fine," Dowling said. "But they give it to a functional illiterate who can't read a cereal box, and then make him spend 50 hours a week on physical skills. That's not opportunity. If you want to give financial help to minorities, go find the ones who are at the library after school."

www.sportsline.com/general/story/10376293

If he would have worded this correctly, no one would be complaining. Not even me...

Personally, I don't mind if you give a scholarship to a kid that's functionally illiterate. But make sure you take time to educate him. Don't just use him up, and after he's injured or he runs out of eligibility, you turn your back on him.

Do you realize the comment posted was in direct response to a question about minorities and athletics? His use of a minority specifically was specified by the asker.

I think his counterargument to you is that a college is not the place for a functional illiterate person to learn to read. That's a tremendous waste of resources.

[aggypryd]

sfhoya99 said:

aggypryd said:

"If you were giving the scholarship to an intellectually brilliant kid who happens to play a sport, that's fine," Dowling said. "But they give it to a functional illiterate who can't read a cereal box, and then make him spend 50 hours a week on physical skills. That's not opportunity. If you want to give financial help to minorities, go find the ones who are at the library after school."

www.sportsline.com/general/story/10376293

If he would have worded this correctly, no one would be complaining. Not even me...

Personally, I don't mind if you give a scholarship to a kid that's functionally illiterate. But make sure you take time to educate him. Don't just use him up, and after he's injured or he runs out of eligibility, you turn your back on him.

Do you realize the comment posted was in direct response to a question about minorities and athletics? His use of a minority specifically was specified by the asker.

I think his counterargument to you is that a college is not the place for a functional illiterate person to learn to read. That's a tremendous waste of resources.

We waste money and resources on so many things in our society. If a kid genuinely(sp) wants to learn, give him a chance.

As far as the professor's comments, I'm not going to get all bent out of shape about it.

[SFHoya99]

My point was simply that the kid could go to HS, go to adult education, etc., then when he was ready to take advantage of colelge, he could go.

[vcjack]

sfhoya99 said:

My point was simply that the kid could go to HS, go to adult education, etc., then when he was ready to take advantage of colelge, he could go.

I sure hope you toook advatage of your colelge expreiance.

[strummer85]

This professor don't speak so good.

If you think that college should ONLY be looking to enrich someone academically and promote intellectual achievement, then fine. Some of the most important things I learned at Georgetown had nothing to do with classes. I might have been in the Leavey Center. The ballplayers are in the gym. Everyone does the class thing and experiences the academic component of school, but it's insane to say that there are no other skills, traits, abilities, etc. that universities should took to foster, and like it or not--the kids who are on the NBA trajectory are not usually your 4.0 scholars. But the "functional illiterate" athlete makes up such a small percentage of students body at most quality schools that it's less a problem element than an alternative goal being promoted by the institutions.

Who is Rutgers to talk about being in the library? Do you get the clap from the card catalog there?

[zanderman]

vcjack said:

sfhoya99 said:

My point was simply that the kid could go to HS, go to adult education, etc., then when he was ready to take advantage of colelge, he could go.

I sure hope you toook advatage of your colelge expreiance.

Shhh! He's training to work in the Geogetown Athletics Press Office!

[DFW HOYA]

William Dowling is a Dartmouth-educated professor with a long held ambition for Rutgers to divest itself of scholarship athletics, so it's slightly disingenuous of Ruttgers atheltic officials to brand him racist.

Dowling contends (in a rose-colored glasses way) that Dear Old Rutgers is better suited to the Ivy League than to associate with schools like West Virginia and Syracuse. He created a web site 15 years ago for a group called the Rutgers 1000(http://members.aol.com/rutg1000/) which advocated moving RU out of I-A and into to the Patriot League and, after that received no interest, proposed a nonscholarship league with the state universities of many of the former 13 colonies. Needless to say, he found no takers.

Despite being a university professor, Dowling neither maintains a web site nor an e-mail address, so the 21st Century isn't his thing. Here's his last web page update.

www.rci.rutgers.edu/~wcd/message.htm

[SFHoya99]

vcjack said:

sfhoya99 said:

My point was simply that the kid could go to HS, go to adult education, etc., then when he was ready to take advantage of colelge, he could go.

I sure hope you toook advatage of your colelge expreiance.

Oh my God! A typo!

Your opinion has been proven worthless by your own words in the Apple Store thread.

[vcjack]

I SHALL NOT BE SILENCED FOR MY BELIEFS. I think this requires a demonstration in red square...

And my first act of protest will be to unthreadjack this and weigh my two cents

This professor clearly does not understand why a university such a Rutgers chooses to admit some students over others. Higher education are places for young adults to learn and prepare themselves for life, but they are also an opportunity for students to make an imediate contribution towards society. That's why admissions look at other things besides grades, such as activities and other pursuits outside of academics. Now probably people will laugh and say "well its Rutgers" but even large state schools look for ways potential students can contribute outside of the classroom. And the perfect example of this are student athletes.

This ivory-tower guy does a great disservice to those who are gifted physically. A body is more than just a protective case over the mind, it is an intrical part of human life and it must be celebrated not derided. Moreover, the professor fails to see what we have seen over the past couple of years of what a sucsessful athletic team can do to school spirit and pride not only amongst students and alumni, but in this case the entire state of New Jersey. Give me a kid who can do all of that (and still able to benefit from an education while not necessarly being on par with other students) over a normal generic student who brings nothing except churning out grades.

[SFHoya99]

Wow. I hope there was sarcasm in there somewhere.

The key words here are functionally illiterate.

[hoyarooter]

I believe this guy also wanted to kill the football program a few years ago when Rutgers was down among the dregs. I don't guess that view would be too popular any more (loss to UMCP notwithstanding).

[strummer85]

vcjack said:

I SHALL NOT BE SILENCED FOR MY BELIEFS. I think this requires a demonstration in red square...

And my first act of protest will be to unthreadjack this and weigh my two cents

This professor clearly does not understand why a university such a Rutgers chooses to admit some students over others. Higher education are places for young adults to learn and prepare themselves for life, but they are also an opportunity for students to make an imediate contribution towards society. That's why admissions look at other things besides grades, such as activities and other pursuits outside of academics. Now probably people will laugh and say "well its Rutgers" but even large state schools look for ways potential students can contribute outside of the classroom. And the perfect example of this are student athletes.

This ivory-tower guy does a great disservice to those who are gifted physically. A body is more than just a protective case over the mind, it is an intrical part of human life and it must be celebrated not derided. Moreover, the professor fails to see what we have seen over the past couple of years of what a sucsessful athletic team can do to school spirit and pride not only amongst students and alumni, but in this case the entire state of New Jersey. Give me a kid who can do all of that (and still able to benefit from an education while not necessarly being on par with other students) over a normal generic student who brings nothing except churning out grades.

Totally agree. This guy sounds like he needs to get back online, find some good porno sites (reference the link to his website above for this story), and go to a damn basketball game. Seriously.

I will agree with his point that Rutgers does NOT attract the best NJ has, but athletics has nothing to do with it. It probably has to do with the fact that it's in NJ. And while I love my home state, I'd say 85% of the kids I knew growing up, I could live without ever seeing again. I sorta really hate that school.