Athletes busted in cheating scandal get off easy

From grade school all through college, there's 2 different sets of rules in the American education system. Simply put, student athletes don't have to follow as many rules as everyone else. This is a demonstrable fact, because I've seen it firsthand. I'd be shocked if there's anyone who's attended an American school in the past 20 years who doesn't know it.

Schools turn a blind eye to disciplinary and academic woes of athletes because they don't want a reason to have to kick the athlete out of the sports program and cost the school a valuable team member. When my high school told me my grades would improve if I joined the track team (which I didn't join), that didn't mean it would somehow cause me to work harder at my schoolwork. It meant that the grade deflation I suffered would "mysteriously" stop.

Now Florida State University is caught up in a cheating scandal that's nabbed nearly 25 student athletes. Florida State's football team is scheduled to play against Kentucky at the Music City Bowl (which I can't wait to miss), but now many of its players are about to be ruled ineligible for this event and for games next season because they were caught cheating on tests for classes they took. At least 2 football players have already had to miss some games.

Um, excuse me? How much do you want to bet that if they weren't athletes, they would find themselves in much deeper trouble than just having to miss some games? Granted, if you're not an athlete, you don't have games anyway, but I still don't see any evidence of the athletes receiving any punishment that has any long-term effect on their academic records. I went to a public university within recent memory, and I'm quite certain that students there who weren't athletes got in a heap of trouble if they cheated - probably to the point that their whole academic career was ruined. Though expulsions were rare for any offense, I heard that one student who cheated on a test got booted right out the door in a humiliating spectacle. I can almost guarantee you that at minimum he was given a failing grade for the whole course - and that if the school ever let him back in, they watched him like a hawk.

You know the footballers at Florida State didn't even get a flunking grade, because one of the players in the cheating scandal only had to miss 4 games - which means he was still on the team after this suspension was over, which in turn means he must have been allowed to pass the classes where he cheated.

An academic advisor and student tutor were fired for their involvement, so why shouldn't the athletes be expelled?

Other than the student tutor, I've seen no evidence any student who wasn't an athlete was involved. But - in fairness to the players - that doesn't mean athletes are inherently more inclined to cheat. Non-athletes simply knew the punishment would be much stricter if they cheated. The athletes were probably used to being coddled, so I bet they actually thought they wouldn't face any penalty at all. That's the same reason 2 Florida State football players thought they could get involved in a scuffle at a nightclub that resulted in one of them being charged with a felony. If you're not a jock, you're probably used to having to think twice before getting in fights like this.

I would shed no tears if separation of school and sports became a reality. America is one of very few countries where schools sponsor organized athletic programs (although other countries do have community sports programs that are independent of schools, which I'm not against). But hey, as long as the American education system insists on being so sports-crazy, let's try to make sure the rules apply to everyone fairly.

(Source: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h4mDHQgJYAmFA-DgDaiq8e-r1sIwD8TK9CCG0)