UNC's Fake Classes for Athletes Has Broad Implications For All Students

Halfway through the first college football playoff season and on the eve of basketball, the top two college sports are well on their way to captivating audiences across the nation.

But is the amazing action on the court and on the field leading us to turn a blind eye to what our athletes do off of it?

Last year, a scandal broke at the University of North Carolina, wherein student-athletes were encouraged by their advisors to take "fake" African-American studies classes which required no attendance and only an essay at the end of the semester to pass the class – more often than not with an A or B.

The fact that these classes lasted from 1993-2011 is even more shocking.

While many in the media have blasted UNC under the notion that they allowed this system of easy classes to take place only to keep their athletes eligible, they have left out one important fact.

Most of these classes weren't even taken by student-athletes, but normal students.

Of the 3,100 students who took these sham classes, only 47 percent were actually athletes. More than half being football players, and 12 percent of which were basketball players.

But the rest of the 1,643 individuals were regular, average everyday students looking to make an easy A.

While the UNC athletic and academic departments may be blasted for this, the system of easy "gimme" classes for both athletes and students is evident across the nation.

This includes the UofA where you can take rigorous academic courses in jogging and recreational weightlifting. The final for the former class being to run a mile for an A.

Then there's the infamously easy survey of physics course where you're more likely to see a star football player than if you walked onto the field in Reynolds Stadium.

Oregon quarterback, Marcus Mariota, was put in headlines at the start of the fall semester for taking classes in both golf and yoga.

Most of these classes are packed with regular students who heard around the block that these types of courses were easy A’s.

Most "smart" students will look up easy courses on sites such as Rate My Professor for a good grade booster.

The hard fact is that every school has the same exact type of classes that UNC is currently under scrutiny for having.

Advisors across the nation, not just in North Carolina, are telling their student-athletes what are the easiest classes because their primary job is to keep them eligible, and if they learn something in the process that's all well and good.The athletic administrations know about them, and so does the academic side of the coin.

And if they don't know, it's because they don't want to.

As for the normal students taking these classes, many students are forced to take unnecessary electives that don't go toward their major, but are required in order to get their degrees. The most common argument from administrators is that these classes create a more "well-rounded student," which to most students just translates to "more tuition."

It makes no sense for a student to potentially sacrifice their GPA for a class that doesn't go toward their major and doesn't educate them in the subject they paid to go to school for.

It makes sense for them to take classes such as those that UNC offered in order to complete their elective requirements in the least painful way possible.

While UNC may have been caught for having sham classes, every university in America should also be added to that list.

Because who doesn't like an A on their report card?