Speaking of March Madness
And who isn’t, right?
A study released this week reports that the graduation rates for women’s teams competing for the NCAA title exceed the rates for men’s teams:
There were 19 women’s teams that had a 100 percent graduation rate compared to six men’s teams. And 51 women’s teams graduated at least 70 percent of their players compared to 29 men’s teams.
Richard Lapchick, director of [The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida], said overall graduation rates for men and women have continued to increase at a similar pace, so the disparity is not that alarming.
And Secretary of Education Arne Duncan points out:
It doesn’t take an elite university like a Duke, Georgetown, or Notre Dame to have a high graduation rate. Ohio, Oakland, Oklahoma State, Siena, and Xavier all graduate more than 80 percent of their men’s players.
One stumbling block: the NBA, which drafts 60 players every year, maybe a dozen of them actual graduates. The Association no longer drafts 18-year-olds, and requires players from the States to be at least one year beyond high-school graduation, but the siren in charge of fame and fortune calls very loudly indeed, even though there are more than four thousand players in Division I and there are only a handful of open roster spots in the NBA.
Says Duncan:
Institute a minimum of a 40 percent graduation rate for post-season play and I predict you will see men’s basketball teams suddenly improve their academic outcomes.
He might even be right about that.
