EDITORIAL: UNFAIR

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Athletes should be exempt from HPER 101 and 102

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Natural Sciences 101, English 103 -- take a test and these graduation requirements disappear. Students who pass exemption exams demonstrating that they have mastered the material covered in those courses are free to pursue more in-depth courses in English or even completely unrelated courses instead.

Unlike S/Es who can write well or academs who have a solid background in the sciences, athletes have no opportunity to "test out" or receive credit for Human Performances 101 and 102 through their hours of practice.

Think of the athletes at Rice. On average they practice about 25 hours a week. For instance, volleyball players tend to practice two-and-a-half to three hours a day; this does not include game time. During the spring, they work out every morning. This schedule is roughly representative of all team sports at Rice. If the HPER requirement is to ensure that Rice students participate in some sort of physical activity during their years here, athletes already satisfy this goal.

However, despite their evident dedication to physical fitness, Rice athletes are still required to take two semesters of HPER in order to graduate. Not only is the HPER requirement for athletes simply unfair, it also causes many hassles and difficulties in scheduling academic classes.

With strict practice schedules, most of them are unable to take classes on certain afternoons. The practice schedule already limits the academic choices that the student would normally have if he or she were not part of the team. In addition to this limit, the students also face the challenge of scheduling a HPER course which further constricts their times available for academic courses. The fact that athletes must choose their classes to accommodate HPER contradicts the idea of coming to college to obtain an academic degree.

Exempting athletes from HPER is an idea that makes perfect sense.

This item appeared in the Opinion section of the April 19, 1996 issue.

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