Much has been made about Vince Young's test results but the real source of news stems much deeper down the academic chain. (Source: Reuters)

Typically the results of the Wonderlic test have limited impact on whether a player is selected and limited foresight into predicting the performance of a player.  Ex-Harvard QB Ryan Fitzpatrick scored a perfect 50 and was subsequently selected 250^th overall by the Rams. Alex Smith (40), Drew Henson (42), and Joey Harrington (32) outscored Dan Marino (14), Steve McNair (15), Ben Roethlisberger (25) and Brett Favre (22) on the Wonderlic but you wouldn’t find a single NFL GM that would rather have a QB that knows September is the 9^th month of the year over a QB that can read the all-out blitz and heave a TD downfield.

For what it’s worth I took a modified version of the Wonderlic and scored a 13/15.  Does my score mean anything? Not really. If anything it just gives a humble sportswriter some ammunition to defend his work when he’s labeled a moron.

At its core, the debate about the importance of Vince Young’s test results is really all about the level of education student athletes are getting in university. Even calling them student athletes is a bit of a misnomer. Take QB Matt Leinart for instance; he’s graduating from USC with a sociology degree but he also took ballroom dancing as his only class in senior season.  It may be great preparation for a Jerry Rice ‘Dancing with Stars’ future but hardly what you can call an academic challenge.

Lax education standards for athletes are nothing new but until recent investigations it was unclear how deep-seeded these double-standards for student athletes actually were.

Last week the NCAA released results of their Academic Progress Rate (APR) program, which determines how well NCAA sports programs are adhering to academic regulations. The APR is an academic standard that each NCAA sports team needs to meet or risk the loss of scholarships.  The inaugural APR investigation found that 99 Division I sports teams at 65 colleges and universities failed to meet these standards and have thus lost those scholarships. What the APR investigation means is that there is now some accountability on these schools to ensure athletes are leading a balanced school life with a fair mix of academics and sports. Let me also state that believing that there will be a true equal balance for student athletes is more naïve than believing that Isaiah Thomas doesn’t salivate over every over-priced shoot-first guard in the NBA.

The introduction of the APR program by the NCAA is a positive measure but the real problem doesn’t start at the university or college level. In fact, the NCAA is an enabler to the problem that resides at the high school level.  

An investigation by the New York Times revealed a large number of high school institutions across North America labeled as “prep schools” and “learning centres” that are providing alternative forms of testing and grading to allow basketball players to meet NCAA entry standards. Some of the academic curriculum of these schools includes players filling out work books, doing spelling tests and some programs are even more obvious by awarding grades to players purely on their on-court performance. The schools attract the top basketball players who have struggled with their SATs and need to boost their GPAs in an easy manner. The NCAA enables this crooked process by accepting transcripts from these “schools” without examining their background or questioning their curriculum.  Of course when these students move onto the post-secondary level it’s no wonder that they’ll struggle academically.

This whole education process for athletes is linked. Phony high schools give struggling students the necessary grades to move on. Universities and colleges allow students to focus purely on athletics and breeze by their academic obligations so  when they arrive at the pro level it’s no wonder that their aptitude tests are bound to be lower.