Christian school cheating scandal

[Starscream]

I caugth this little bit of news on CNN today.  Apparently it's okay to lie about a kid's GPA if he's a star athlete.

(source)

Gardner-Webb University has been embroiled in controversy ever since the school's president admitted he wrote a memo two years ago ordering a star basketball player's GPA to be calculated without an F he received for cheating -- in, of all things, a religion class.

Pretty remarkable actually, you'll notice this school won the basketball championship on the year that their star player should of been banned from playing.

I have to say though, I am very impressed with the students that are protesting.  It gives me great hope for the future to see that kids aren't being rail-roaded by their hypocrite superiors and yet they don't comprimise themselves or their identity either.

 

[strathyboy]

It was my understanding that intellectual learning took a back seat to athletics if you were a star athlete in many American colleges and universities. I have heard all the tales about teachers fudging grades in order to allow a star quarterback or something to stay on the team.
Is this a common thing?
Also, is the school you mentioned above a Christian school? Or was it just that the athlete was in a religion class at a secular school?

 

[amie]

Hi Starscream

Unfortunately this type of stuff happens. Once this year the father of one of my students said that if he is not earning at least a C in my class he would not be allowed to play football. The parent had problems with the child in the past and feels that education comes first and if sports and fun conflict then those things will have to take a back seat. He is expected to get C's in all of his classes according to his family and he is one of the starters on the football team, he's doing fine in my class (AP Bio) however in my coworker's class (history) he is getting a D. So last week the coach went and talked to my coworker and actually asked him to change the parental progress report from a D to a C-

we'll see what happens, but I think this type of thing happens more than we realize. It's not right, but the problem is there...

Have a good one starscream

Amie~

 

[MSBS]

Strathboy, I don't think they have religion classes in secular schools

 

[LouisBooth]

"Apparently it's okay to lie about a kid's GPA if he's a star athlete."

Yeah, all schools seem to do that at one time or another...relgious and secular, terrible isn't it?

 

[LouisBooth]

I found some other good articles...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/2057875.stm

http://pages.nyu.edu/~fmh1/classes/ed_as_a_social_institution/usncheat.HTM

Just a question..do you think stuff like this works??? Realistically??

"At the University of Maryland-College Park, for example, students caught cheating must attend a seven-week ethics seminar."

 

[LouisBooth]

In terms of christian colleges this was pretty interesting. I'd be curious to hear where they got their stats..

http://www.erskine.edu/news/booming.03.28.00.html

 

[strathyboy]

Originally posted by MSBS
Strathboy, I don't think they have religion classes in secular schools

Are you serious? I would imagine they have religion classes in most secular schools. You can even major in religion at my university (The University of Waterloo), which is a very secular school.

Classes such as Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, etc. would likely receive a large amount of enrollment even at a secular university.

 

[Starscream]

It was my understanding that intellectual learning took a back seat to athletics if you were a star athlete in many American colleges and universities. I have heard all the tales about teachers fudging grades in order to allow a star quarterback or something to stay on the team.

I have heard similiar stories with American schools.  Thankfully, you and I both attended Canadian Universities were some stupid jock wouldn't get a break on his GPA because he knows how to throw a ball.

 

Is this a common thing?

I think so, and it seems like the commonality of it makes it 'okay'.

Also, is the school you mentioned above a Christian school? Or was it just that the athlete was in a religion class at a secular school?

Yes, its a Baptist Christian College.

 

[Starscream]

LouisBooth:

Yeah, all schools seem to do that at one time or another...relgious and secular, terrible isn't it?

I agree, it is terrible.  What about the opposing teams who have followed the rules and kept their underachieving athletes off the team?  What about the other students who don't get their GPA recalculated (and perhaps miss out on attending law school as a result)?

It's incredibly dishonest.  To make matters worse, the school President and his staff don't admit that it was wrong.  Perhaps being a Christian means absolutely nothing when it comes to being honest?

 

[Gryphon]

Originally posted by Starscream
Perhaps being a Christian means absolutely nothing when it comes to being honest?

 

Be careful of such blanket statements.  Saying such things is very dangerous.  You know the truth, yet you state something entirely different.


One hypocrite does not make an entire body of believers.

 

[LouisBooth]

"Perhaps being a Christian means absolutely nothing when it comes to being honest?"

LOL now that is a pretty blanket thing to say. So by the same logic we can say that I guess being german means hating jews? Come on now star.

 

[MSBS]

Originally posted by strathyboy
Are you serious? I would imagine they have religion classes in most secular schools. You can even major in religion at my university (The University of Waterloo), which is a very secular school.

Classes such as Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, etc. would likely receive a large amount of enrollment even at a secular university.

 

oops...I thought this was about high schools.  Never mind.

 

[Warrior4Jah]

Such hypocritical statements throughout this thread, you act as if Canadians are perfect Oh its only in AMERICAN schools where such things happen, we canadians dont do taht at our schools. Youve got to be kidding me. Thats the biggest load of.... cheese muffins(for lack of a better word) Ive ever heard of. To generalize like that is only a large display of ignorance. This kind of thing happens in all countries, yes, even the great canadians.

Something else I happen to notice, this was picked out particularly? These things happen all the time, in christian and secualr schools. You cant point out Christian schools in particular, because that gives people a general image of what christians are like based on the stupidity of a select few. That bothers me.

 

[strathyboy]

Originally posted by Warrior4Jah
Such hypocritical statements throughout this thread, you act as if Canadians are perfect Oh its only in AMERICAN schools where such things happen, we canadians dont do taht at our schools. Youve got to be kidding me. Thats the biggest load of.... cheese muffins(for lack of a better word) Ive ever heard of. To generalize like that is only a large display of ignorance. This kind of thing happens in all countries, yes, even the great canadians.

No, it really doesn't happen very often in Canada. How many Canadian universities can you name that have 50,000 capacity stadiums to watch their football teams? How many Canadian universities have their sports games televised?
In the US, college sports, especially football and basketball, are a big big deal, and for a school to have a star athlete or a winning team is a huge boon for the school. In Canada, having a star athlete means very little.

 

[Starscream]

You cant point out Christian schools in particular, because that gives people a general image of what christians are like based on the stupidity of a select few.

I point out Christian schools here because this is a Christian board and I'm trying to determine if a Christian school should be expected to be any better than a secular one.

My point is that it really doesn't matter what religion a person as allied themselves with.  Here we have the leader of a Baptist school lying about an athlete's GPA.  I think it's wrong, and when I point that out I just hear a bunch of "well, everyone else is doing it!".

I find that to be an odd defense for Christians.

Also, having read my posts, you'll find that I also congradulate the Christian students who are standing up for what the believe in.

That bothers me.

And it should.  It shouldn't be so easy to find Christians who misbehave as poorly as secularists.

BTW, on a recent update, I've learned that the school President has just resigned.  He still doesn't admit to doing any wrong though....

Do you think it was wrong?

 

[Starscream]

you act as if Canadians are perfect Oh its only in AMERICAN schools where such things happen, we canadians dont do taht at our schools.

(BTW, I'm an American by birth and a Canadian by naturalization - I live in the U.S. now and I'm just as much an American as anyone)

I certainly never said that Canadians and their schools were perfect, I just said they don't dilute the importance of education over sports.  Meatheads don't get any special privilages - or big fat scholarships.  If you want to succeed in University then you need to study.

 Youve got to be kidding me. Thats the biggest load of.... cheese muffins(for lack of a better word) Ive ever heard of.

I suppose you'd be able to find plenty of sources where Canadian schools purposely cook the books for their athletes?

 

[Warrior4Jah]

Most certainly, this is not an american tradition of scandalsfolks, this happns in the great canada as well. You cant generalize all canadian schools, it DOES happen in Canda, dont kid yourself. Ill admit you can probably find more cases in america because we are bigger on sports and have a bigger country(population wise) and a larger amount of Universities. But that does not mean it doesnt happen in Canada.

"Meatheads dont get any special privilages- or big fat scholarships."

Someone who excels in sports deserve a scholarship just as much as one who excels in academics. I went to college on a sports sholarship and academic excellance scholarship. I happen to be a very good wrestler and a straight A student, please do not generalize so much.

"I point out Christian schools here because this is a Christian board and I'm trying to determine if a Christian school should be expected to be any better than a secular one."

One would expect differently considering your previous comment about how being a christian has nothing to do with honesty. You havent tried to determine differences in schools, youve tried to paint a general picture christians being dishonest.



"My point is that it really doesn't matter what religion a person as allied themselves with. Here we have the leader of a Baptist school lying about an athlete's GPA. I think it's wrong, and when I point that out I just hear a bunch of 'well, everyone else is doing it' "

I never said any such thing, I said it happens in all schools and that to point out a christian school paints a general picture of christians being dishonest which is wrong. A secular school also underwent in an identical scandal, I suppose all atheists are dishonest people who never tell the truth.

 

[strathyboy]

Originally posted by Warrior4Jah
Most certainly, this is not an american tradition of scandalsfolks, this happns in the great canada as well. You cant generalize all canadian schools, it DOES happen in Canda, dont kid yourself. Ill admit you can probably find more cases in america because we are bigger on sports and have a bigger country(population wise) and a larger amount of Universities. But that does not mean it doesnt happen in Canada.

Proof? Evidence?
I'm sure it might happen on occasion, but looking at things on a per capita basis, it will still happen far far less than in the US.

 

[SunnyLin]

much more comes into play when youthink about these kind of statistics. the scandilitiy of schools depends on much more than the morals of a country. population, percentage of higher education, wealth, the quaility of school, the # of schools, it all needs to be taken into acount before nayone can make a generalized statement.