Scholarship@WashULaw

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2008

Publication Title

Thurgood Marshall Law Review

Abstract

This Article focuses on the educational hurdles facing many Black male student athletes in urban high schools. Academic rigor is rarely expected of these students. They are part of an active form of dis-education. By dis-education, I mean the active failure to educate. Our learning institutions have become so accustomed to excusing these students from academic rigor that doing so simply does not spark a sense of outrage or any notion that we are doing something wrong when it comes to our expectations of these students. No one really questions them when they do poorly on class work and tests. They are excused from absences when late night games interfere with their ability to attend school and they are even allowed to leave classes early so that they can practice for a game. They are held on a pedestal because of the accolades they bring to their school. And they are passed on to college where they are again pushed along, with classes like basket weaving and/or others actually taking exams for them. And this charade continues as long as the student can play ball (or until eligibility runs out). The vast majority of these students will not go on to play in the professional leagues. And even if they do, uneducated players often end up in bankruptcy. This Article demonstrates the shocking adult complicity in the dis-education of these young men.

Keywords

Black Male, Athletes, Education, Sports, NCAA, Athletic Association

Publication Citation

Kimberly Jade Norwood, Adult Complicity in the Dis-Education of the Black Male High School Athlete & Societal Failures to Remedy His Plight, 34 T. Marshall L. Rev. 21 (2008)

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