Hacker News Reader

Comment by aleph_minus_one | Hacker News Reader

Nobody doubts that atheletes often had to train hard.

But you actually posted the counterargument by yourself:

> Sure, college is about academics

Exactly: college is about academics and not sports, so athlets should only get a "VIP lane" for academic achievement/potential and not for athletic achievement/potential.

View on HN

I really disagree that Harvard is about academics. Harvard is about creating the next generation of American elite. They're looking for students who will have successful careers. I don't have data but reasonable to assume that athletes at the top of their game will find success in other areas. Same reason they don't just accept the students with the highest test scores.

I think the average accepted GPA at top business schools for MBAs is all the argument I need to see that academics has as much influence on career success as athletic achievement.

The CEOs are the future are more people skills related than anything else. If Harvard was all purely academically driven people, it would just create professors. Not exactly the college goal.

> If Harvard was all purely academically driven people, it would just create professors. Not exactly the college goal.

I am rather used to the German academic culture, but from this perspective I rather say: this is by the self-understanding of universities exactly the central purpose of colleges/universities (the rest is considered to be side gigs).

Reply on news.ycombinator.com