response 79 of 232:

Jan 21 05:10 UTC 2003

I've taught a couple football players.  Failed one.  One struck me as being
in over his head, the other struck me as quite smart, but short of time to
study adequately.  I'm inclined to think that football players don't, as a
rule, get much in the way of an effective education in their classes.  I don't
particularly get upset about this, because presumably they are getting a
chance to excell at football and open up some pretty good opportunities.
They are getting something out of the college experience - just not what most
other students are getting.

Note also that stereotypes about dumb football players abound on campuses.
This is not particularly accurate, but if you encounter a football player in
the classroom, you might easily get that impression.  I think some of the
same artificial factors that encourage stereotypes about dumb football
players can function to encourage stereotypes about dumb blacks.  I consider
the latter much more socially harmful.

You don't particularly see stereotypes developing about "dumb students whose
parents attended this college".  I think that's because unlike blacks and
football players, legacy students aren't easily identifiable to other students.
So whatever problems are being caused to individuals, the social group is
not being much harmed.