LETTERS - Letter to the Editor

School Administrator, March, 1999

Justified Criticism of NCAA

Your thorough coverage of the NCAA's interference in high school curriculum ("The NCAA's Misguided Role in School Reform," November 1998) counters the claim that this national problem consists of a small number of unfortunate but isolated incidents.

As you point out, many education groups, including the National Association of State Boards of Education, are alarmed by the NCAA's process that hinders educators from implementing proven innovations simply because such changes do not conform to the NCAA's rigid and outdated approach to education. Ironically, the eligibility rules and standards imposed upon our nation's high schools and students by the NCAA do not apply to colleges and universities.

Your magazine has done a great service to the high school community by bringing this issue to the attention of local superintendents, many of whom may not be aware of the NCAA's demands on principals to cooperate in the college-eligibility process. This is especially important considering the growing number of lawsuits filed by students against their school districts because of the districts' involvement with the NCAA in certifying core courses.

I encourage all superintendents to examine the issue of a private membership athletic association approving high school core curricula and to discuss its significance with their principals and boards of education.

BRENDA LILIENTHAL WELBURN

Executive Director, National Association of State Boards of Education, Alexandria, Va.

As an administrator in charge of academic policy at a suburban public high school in Vermont, I have been fighting the injustices and the ineptness of the NCAA's Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse for five years.

During this time I have been compelled to advocate for the victims--both students and teachers whose courses have been blackballed by incompetent judgments.

I hope that AASA will take up this cause and return full judgment of academic programs to educators.

G. ROBERT PASCO

Director of Guidance, South Burlington High School, South Burlington, Vt.

Thank you for publishing Joe Nathan's disturbing article about the NCAA. I had heard rumors of high-handed actions by the NCAA Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse, but Nathan documented these and pointed out their long-range effects on the improvement of education in this country.

As an association that has long promoted integrative/interdisciplinary approaches to education, we are especially sensitive to the NCAA's apparent hostility to that kind of education. Our association monitors research on the effectiveness of all types of interdisciplinary programs and distributes a bibliography of pertinent research that currently has more than 150 entries. In 1996 I personally reviewed more than 100 studies and confirmed the conclusions of previous reviewers: Students in interdisciplinary programs do as well as or better than those in separate courses, even on traditional standardized tests.

Like Nathan, we support the need for academic standards for those who wish to participate in collegiate athletics. But the NCAA has no business telling schools how to promote and maintain those standards. That responsibility rightfully belongs to accrediting agencies and to professional associations like ours, which know the score in the field of education.

GORDON F. VARS

Executive Secretary-Treasurer, National Association for Core Curriculum, Kent, Ohio

Worthy Athletic Insights

The articles about interscholastic athletics (November 1998) clearly captured and explained the issues facing state associations and member institutions as we approach the new millennium.

I circulated this issue throughout our office and, judging from its appearance, it has been of tremendous interest. At a recent meeting in Schaumburg, Ill., my counterparts from other Midwestern states also commented on the attention and detail given to high school sports in a concerned yet positive manner.

DOUGLAS E. CHICKERING

Executive Director, Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association, Stevens Point, Wis.

A Bigger Sports Program

I read with great interest the Editor's Note, "It's No Longer Fun and Games," and Kimberly Reeves' article, "Athletic Eligibility: Right or Privilege?" in the November issue. Your coverage certainly brought to light so many of the concerns shared by those who administer high school interscholastic sports.

However, Reeves' reference to Berkeley High School as perhaps the largest high school sports program in the nation is debatable. In New York City, the Public Schools Athletic League is responsible for the organization, administration and supervision of an interscholastic sports program that consists of 26 sports, 165 high schools, 2,365 coaches, more than 7,500 officials and 40,000 student athletes. We believe it is the largest high school sports program in the world.

THOMAS D. HEMANS

Director,

Public Schools Athletic League,

New York, N.Y.

The Same 'Stuff' Here

I loved Raymond Waier's guest column ("Whoops! Who Unplugged What?" September 1998). It was just what I needed.