A Misguided Change on University Athlete Admissions

The problem is that grade-point averages are determined entirely by each student's high school. And it should come as no surprise that a grade of B in geometry earned at one of the nation's better high schools represents a level of achievement that is significantly higher than the same grade earned in the same subject at one of this country's weaker high schools.

As much as we might hate to admit it, the SAT and ACT exams are the only common standards we have for secondary education in the United States. When there is a cut score in place (and preferably a challenging one at that), athletes in every high school in the country are forced to learn something in class if they hope to enroll and compete at a Division I university. But once the cut score is removed, the teachers in our weakest high schools come under enormous pressure to give A's and Bs to all athletes, whether such grades are merited.

If real academic standards were enforced in all of the nation's high schools, I would be the first to urge that we drop the use of SAT and ACT scores as the basis for determining athletic eligibility and rely instead on high school grade-point average. But the reality is that no such standards exist at our worst high schools. In these schools, the greatest gift we can give to teachers and students, and the only bulwark we can provide against wholesale grade inflation, is the continued imposition of a challenging cut score for the SAT and ACT exams.