Lou Harris Poll says 72% of Black high school athletes put education first - Harry Edwards disagrees

Jet, Nov 29, 1993 by Holland. Dobie

A new Lou Harris Poll says that 72 percent of Black high school student-athletes put education ahead of athletics, however the same percentage of them still rely on athletics for fame and fortune.

The nationwide survey, conducted for Northeastern University's Center for the Study of Sport in Society in Boston, polled 865 high school students at the end of the 1992-93 school year and got some encouraging results.

"We may have turned the corner on the issue of academics and athletics," noted Ricahrd Lapchick, director of the sport center.

"Many African-American high school student-athletes, while still carrying the unrealistic belief that they can be the newest rising star, now clearly understand that playing sports is a vehicle that can deliver educational, social, and life-skill benefits that will help them be productive members of society. They don't have to play for the (Chicago) Bulls. They can be the team doctor or attorney," Lapchick explained.

According to the survey, 51 percent of Black athletes believe they will make it to the professional level of their respective sports, compared to 18 percent of Whites. And 76 percent of Black student-athletes favor a minimum C average for eligibility, compared to 66 percent of Whites. Currently, 44 states do not require students to maintain a C average to play athletics.

But Dr. Harry Edwards, a sociology professor at the University of California at Berkeley and a leading authority on Black athletes and the effects it has on them in society, is at the very least skeptical about the poll.

"The results of the survey are at least of dubious value. There is not enough information to tell whether the corner has been turned or not. In fact, (the situation) is much worse," Edwards contended.

"If you were to ask a college coach whether his priority is athletics or academics, the coach would say without question: 'academics.' I think this is a case where they (student-athletes) have learned to say the right things," Edwards said.

Edwards noted that the poll does not provide data explaining whether these athletes are male or female, hotly recruited, or playing in sports in which they can sign professional contracts, noting that female students usually do better in school and that hotly recruited athletes rely on their athletic abilities more than their academic prowess.

"If the student is not a recruit of a Division I school, then they know they have to hit the text books and not the play books... Are these athletes surveyed participating in golf or cross country or basketball and football," Edwards mused.

But survey results, which does not maek the distinctions, maintain otherwise and logged information that show encouraging results in high school drop-out rates. The survey reveals that 57 percent of Black student-athletes say they are certain that sports helped "a great deal" for them in staying in school. The survey also reports that 50 percent said that playing sports helped them "a great deal" to become a better student and 44 percent attributes their productiveness in society to athletics.

"This runs contrary to prevailing wisdom that athletes who believe they will make the pros ignore any academic preparation for alternatives. It is the first conclusive evidence that we have finally reached the young people after a decade of messages that they need to balance academic and athletic goals," Lapchick said.

In South-Central Los Angeles at Manual Arts High School, two such athletes were highlighted. Both are highly recruited and have better than average grades in school.

David Rickenbacker, a senior tight end for the football team and center for the basketball team, is an example. When JET visited him there, he was in the midst of being crowned Homecoming King. Manual Arts Principal Dr. Robert Barner said RIckenbacker has a B average and recently signed a letter-of-intent with San Diego State University to play football next fall.

His classmate Kareem Wafer, a senior running back, has a B gpa but has not yet decided what college he wants to attend next fall, Barner noted.

At Paul Robeson High School in Chicago, athletics and academics are working "hand-in-hand," according to the assistant principal Earl Gibson. Gibson pointed out that Robeson, named after the late All-America and Phi Beta Kappa actor and singer, stresses "a well-rounded, education" and cited the success of popular student-athlete Nathaniel Omar.

Omar, a senior defensive back, recently received All-City plaudits in football and, according to Gibson, is in the top 10 of his class.

Lou Harris, the man for whom the survey is named, was also encouraged about the results along racial lines in America, saying, "It was critical to see that at a time when racial and ethnic tensions boil over school into serious conflicts almost every day, the survey showed that team sports create friendships that cut across racial lines."

The new Survey results show that 76 percent of Black and White student-athletes noted that they became friends with someone from another racial or ethnic group through playing sports.