The NCAA Gets Tough On Student/Athletes

Almost every college student takes five years to graduate these days. It only makes sense that if one doesn't take any classes on Fridays or any classes during Monday Night Football or any classes on Thursday (party night)...well, you get the picture. Add to that the fact that universities have figured out that if they can get kids to avoid the work force for one more year, they'll pay extra tuition and assorted fees. This might be considered a win-win for everyone except the parents who have been patiently waiting for their kids to be contributing members of the society and plug the drain on money going to colleges. Face it, college kids today aren't dumb: they've watched their parents come home beat from work every day and get precious little vacation. College kids want NO PART of that! The only gig better than a college student these days is, perhaps, being a college professor (with the exception of that "publish or perish" thing). College athletes have the same deal, but they actually have to work while on campus, both in the classroom and on the court/field. It's getting there that has the NCAA trying to be righteous.
For years, marginal athletes (read: the really good ones) have struggled with academic requirements involved in a) graduating from high school and b) meeting the basic requirements for admission as a scholarship athlete ( be able to read a bit and hit the mid-range jumper). To help these student/athletes out, a whole cottage industry has sprung up in recent years: the prep school. There are two kinds of prep schools: the kind I went to, and the kind athletes have been finding in order to boost their GPA in order to meet the NCAA eligibility requirements. I was reading the Greek poets as a sophomore; they are getting diplomas for doing almost nothing. The practice is widespread, and the investigation of such places is widening. Now, the NCAA is stepping in to say that a student can no longer have FIVE YEARS to finish high school! Are you kidding me? High school in five years? Yes, it happens all the time; a kid can't meet the reading/writing/arithmatic rigor of HIGH SCHOOL in four years so he/she takes another year at a pseudo-high school (prep school), gets eligible and is given a $100,000 scholarship to Hoops U. It's incredible that a) coaches and schools use kids like this b)kids don't understand the odds of making it in pro sports c) kids don't understand they are one knee injury (or five scrapes with the law)away from janitorial service as a career d) parents are so blinded by money being waved at them that they forget what's in the kid's best interest.
As a college athlete, I didn't ask for or get tutors, extra benefits OR five years of eligibility (as some coaches are calling for). I graduated in four years with two majors...OK, so one of them was PE, and did all my own work. If this sounds like "When I was a kid, we had to walk five miles uphill both ways to school..." maybe it is. However, we will eventually get what we deserve: college athletes who can't succeed in spite of everything we do for them.
For now, high school athletes are limited to only one class after four years of high school, not one year. That means they'll be attending summer school in classrooms instead of on the AAU scene being wooed by colleges and shoe companies. Good!