ESPN reports that Florida State University uses diagnoses of “learning disabilities” to provide extra help to athletes struggling with their schoolwork. The investigation, by ESPN’s Outside the Lines program, aired yesterday and was based on interviews with a former learning specialist at Florida State who is now suing the university. Athletes with learning disabilities are able to receive more-intense academic support and are eligible to apply for waivers from the NCAA that relax certain academic requirements. More than a third of Florida State’s football team, and three-quarters of its men’s basketball team, have received such diagnoses, ESPN reported. Florida State issued a rebuttal to the program, asserting it contained “false information.”
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6 Responses to ‘Learning Disability’ Diagnoses Help Some Athletes at Florida State U.
willynilly - December 14, 2009 at 8:08 pm
The actual definition of the above stated term “relax certain academic requirements” is that athletes with the diagnosis (A very high percentage) may have surrogates sit in class for them and take tests for them. Now that is real relaxation.
la4097237 - December 14, 2009 at 9:30 pm
I was never really a “jock.” The closest I came was being a late additon to a junior colege swim team and a university intermural competitor for a fraternity.But I did set records for flunking algebra and trig 50 years ago. I understood my problem then to be failing to open the book and do the homework after hunting season opened in the fall or having the same problem when the fish started biting in the spring.Since, I’ve learned that there is something akin to dislexia when it comes to mathmatics. And I know someone who was diagnosed as having the “math dislexia problem” and awwarded a degree after not failing math courses nearly as many times as are on my transcript.Do any of you have a degree program where I could substitute a lot of “life experience” in for flexible degree requirements and have a diploma to hang on my wall? Please respond ASAP as I’m a three year cancer survivor and it might kick up again without notice…
jffoster - December 14, 2009 at 11:05 pm
I believe the numerical equivalent of dislexia is called “discalculea”. The Romance Languages department in a university I’m quite familiar with some years ago tried pulling that to get it counted as a disability so they could get some of their majors through. The then director of disability services, whose job depends on finding victims, was helping them and didnt even know what it was called. But of course now we have “First Year Experience Directors” (we aren’t supposed to say “freshmen” any more) who act like being first in your family to go to college is a learning disability. Or an excuse. (I was first in my family to have gone to college — and it wasn’t an excuse. Or even very much remarked on, as I recall.) There are genuine learning impediments and students who strive mightly to overcome them have my respect. But the most common learning disabilities I have seen are laziness, stupidity, and lack of intellectual curiosity.
coppervz - December 15, 2009 at 9:30 am
I find this article almost unbelievable that a school would go to such extremes. This is personal to me on three levels. First a director of disability support services, I find it shameful that my peers in the field would even do something like this. Where did professional ethics go to? Second as a person with a documented disability I have worked so hard to not ask for accommodations, because I feel like it is my choice to take on academics and be a member of the academic community. Thus, it is my responsibility to meet the requirements of the programs. Lastly, as a football player in college coach made it very clear we need to perform in both the classroom and field and if we could not make it in the classroom then we had no business on the field.
davi2665 - December 15, 2009 at 10:05 am
What an insult this scam is to students who have genuine learning disabilities and can benefit from intensive assistance. Most students with learning disabilities know about the problem long before reaching an undergraduate institution. The fact that a large number of FSU athletes have “discovered” that they have “learning disabilities” is almost as disingenuous as the inevitable group of medical students entering with 4.0 averages from top ranked universities who find out that they are NOT in the top 20% anymore, and suddenly “discover” that they have learning disabilities and need extra time on tests, additional tutoring, etc. Entitlement mentality run amok. Why not be honest and just have the big jock institutions have separate subsidiaries for professional athletes who license in the university’s logo and name, and get the rah-rah good ol’ boy alumni thrilled with having a winning team. It sure beats the machinations the universities go through to have the pretense of academic performance from athletes, many who could not care less about anything other than their sport.
princeton67 - December 15, 2009 at 12:42 pm
If Football Coach Bobby Bowden could have won more games n the mast four years, he would still be at FSU, despite not only the scandal detailed above but “Florida State University, where 61 athletes allegedly were involved in an academic-fraud scandal that included, in some cases, access to test answers and tutors who edited and typed papers. The NCAA ruled Florida State guilty of major violations, announcing it would reduce scholarships in football and other sports, and force Bobby Bowden’s team to vacate as many as 14 victories from 2006 and 2007.” The solution: colleges can admit anyone they please, but no student can represent the college until scoring a 1000 combined on the Math and Reading sections of the SAT. Drama, debate, football, architecture…: all included.