The Game of Life (ebook)

Argumento de The Game of Life (ebook)

"[The Game of Life] does not assign a catalog of sins to sports-minded colleges and universities as does Professor Sperber's book. But it argues compellingly that the influence of intercollegiate sports has greatly intensified in recent years."--William H. Honan, The New York Times

"Makes a compelling case that athletics has utterly warped not only big colleges, but most of education, and in ways that go far beyond the usual allegations of diverting resources and spreading cynicism."--Marc Fisher, The Washington Post

"A fascinating and important new book about the divergence of college sports and educational values."--Jane Eisner, Philadelphia Enquirer

"Shulman and Bowen, both first-rate scholars, thoughtfully and methodically mine a rich database, providing an inside view of current practices and outcomes, and of how the system has evolved over half a century. . . . This volume . . . will attract a large audience; it should cause college trustees, administrators, faculty, alumni, state legislators, families, and sports fans everywhere to rethink their own values and decisions."--Choice

"What Shulman and Bowen add to the discussion is evidence that, with the quasi professionalization of college sports in recent years, student athletes belong more and more to an academic subculture in which superior intellectual performance is rare and not particularly valued. The old image of the athlete emerging from college intellectually as well as physically tested seems less and less a reality than a pleasant myth."--Andrew Delbanco, The New York Times Book Review

"A landmark study that should be welcomed by college presidents. . . These findings breathe new and potentially subversive life into old doubts about the role of highly competitive collegiate athletics. . ."--John Hoberman, The Wall Street Journal

"The conclusions are truly depressing and significant. . . . The Game of Life is the most important sports book written in years."--Frank Deford, Sports Illustrated

"It may be one of the most important books on higher education published in the last twenty years. It is certainly one of the most interesting."--Louis Menand, The New Yorker

"The Shulman-Bowen data show that recruited athletes not only enter selective colleges with weaker academic records than their classmates as a whole, but that, once in college, they consistently underperform academically. . . .Moreover, they say, the academic standing of athletes relative to their classmates has deteriorated markedly in recent years."--Edward B. Fiske, New York Times

"Perhaps the most surprising findings in The Game of Life are that elite colleges put more emphasis on athletics than most of us would have suspected."--Andrew Hacker, New York Review of Books

"A provocative and important new book."--Robert Lipsyte, New York Times

"College athletics have changed dramatically over the past fifty years. The authors present insightful research that is far more credible than the usual anecdotal commentaries on such topics. They document the increasing specialization by athletes, the effects of the relatively rapid evolution of women's participation, and the way that college sports are deeply intertwined with the ways that secondary and primary schools approach athletics. The Game of Life captures how these dynamics have had a profound effect on the current relevance of athletics to the academy and places these issues of significance squarely on the fifty yard line for college presidents and trustees. The question is will they be willing (or able) to accept the challenge?"--Richard W. Kazmaier, Jr., 1951 Heisman Trophy Winner, Member of the Knight Commission in Intercollegiate Athletics

"This is an excellent addition to the sports-education literature and will have a broad appeal. The set of issues Shulman and Bowen lay out are important and timely. That they base their conclusions on solid empirical work from an excellent database and provide both contemporary and longitudinal perspectives are added bonuses."--Allen Sanderson, University of Chicago

"This path-breaking study of intercollegiate athletics is rich in detail, long on perspective and enlightening in insights and conclusions. Shulman and Bowen have tested-and refuted-many of the popular assumptions concerning intercollegiate athletics with a pervasive body of empirical data spanning over twenty years. They document the increasing tensions, if not conflict, between athletics and the academic mission of institutions of higher education. Moreover, the study reveals that many of the same issues that bedeviled 'big time' intercollegiate athletics are now manifested in women's athletics and the programs of Ivy League and smaller, liberal arts institutions. No starry-eyed idealists, the authors recognize the complexity and sensitivity of the issues involved but offer a set of propositions to begin the task of restoring balance between academic values and the appetites of intercollegiate athletics. This book should command the attention of university presidents and trustees and all those fans and alumni who hope to cheer their teams to victory."--Arnold R. Weber, President Emeritus, Northwestern University

"Shulman and Bowen have done the world a great service by asking some difficult questions about some obvious issues and tenaciously digging out more reliable answers than anyone hitherto has come up with."--Alan Ryan, Times Higher Education Supplement

"The Game of Life will have a profound effect on the national debate about professionalized college sports."--William C. Dowling, Newark Star Ledger0List of Figures vii
List of Ta61es xiii
Prelude: Four Snapshots xv
Preface xxv
Chapter 1. The Institutionalization and Regulation of College Sports in Historical Perspective 1
Chapter 2. The Admissions Game: Recruiting Male Athletes and the Implications of Selection 29
Chapter 3. The College Game: Academic Outcomes for Men 59
Chapter 4. Men's Lives after College: Advanced Study, Jobs, Earnings 87
Chapter 5. The Development of Women's Athletic Programs 113
Chapter 6. New Players: The Recruitment and Admission of Women Athletes 126
Chapter 7. Women Athletes in College 141
Chapter 8. Women's Lives after College: Advanced Study, Family, Jobs, Earnings 157
Chapter 9. Leadership 182
Chapter 10. Giving Back 205
Chapter 11. The Financial Equation: Expenditures and Revenues 227
Chapter 12. Key Empirical Findings 258
Chapter 13. Taking Stock 268
Chapter 14. Thinking Ahead: Impediments to Change and Proposed Directions 289
Appendix A: Scorecards 311
Appendix B: Supplementary Data 355
Notes 375
References 423
Index 431