America should stop trying to worry about putting the "student" in "student-athlete."
High school athletes vie for university team positions, and some college athletes dedicate their lives to their sports. I don't blame those who put little thought into an academic career between training and games.
To me, sports are about as exciting as unsalted popcorn, but even I got a kick out of last Wednesday night's men's basketball game. A young freshman made Texas basketball history when he scored 37 points and made 23 rebounds. The standing record was 30 points and 20 rebounds.
I am no sports expert, but that's pretty amazing - especially for a first-year college student.
But we can't really call Kevin Durant, a college of education freshman, a student - nor should we refer to him as an education major. He would probably not oppose being called what was probably his childhood dream: a basketball superstar.
Durant's case is starker still: The biggest reason he's not in the NBA right now is because the league's commissioner urged the players' union to force rising stars to wait at least one season before playing in the NBA.
The NCAA has fought for years to maintain the image of the student-athlete, whether through implementing measures such as the Student-Athlete Bill of Rights or raising the academic standards for college athletes. In 2005, for example, the NCAA approved a plan mandating that schools must graduate 50 percent of their athletes or face losing scholarships.
In November, the NCAA released figures compiled from government data showing UT's athletes at a 58 percent graduation rate, trailing behind the 63 percent national average. Only two months prior to the release of that data, the association released study results showing that only 40 percent of UT football players and 44 percent of basketball players finished college between 1996 and 1999.
But study results, even if unquantifiable, don't really matter. Last time the NCAA handed out penalties, less than 2 percent of colleges actually lost scholarships.
If the NCAA isn't cutting corners when conducting its studies or computing its data, there's still a motive for athletes and coaches to cut corners to meet scholastic requirements and keep sports stars in the game.
I bet Durant's participation in a 300-person introductory class isn't on coaches' minds. And an athletic phenomenon has no good reason to be worried about class when he's at the top of the list for getting picked for the NBA, which would mean leaving UT for an eight-figure salary.
If America could escape the idea that college athletes are students, then the NCAA could stop running circles around scholastic requirements and get back to reality. After all, a minimum SAT score of 400 for entering freshman athletes is not going to bring "students" looking for an enriching academic experience. You get close to a 400 for filling out your name properly.
Many athletes are indeed students with future plans beyond college sports, and they carry the greatest weight in keeping graduation rates up. The rest just want to play ball.
No harm is done when college athletes such as Durant don't graduate. Just like every other student, star athletes are achieving their goals, working hard and setting an example for many. Not to mention that they are bringing in big bucks for their universities.
College is a place for engineers and scholars, but being a "professional" doesn't require a degree.
Durant is a young basketball player who will surely rise to professional ranks. If he decides to be held accountable for academic requirements after he's lived his dream, so be it.
Harlin is a Latin American studies and journalism senior.
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