Student Athletes Break Stereotypes in GSE Classes
The School of Education has developed courses about student athletes that break through biased
images of these students who are often in the spotlight. The inspiration behind the GSE offerings in this
area has come from Professor Herb Simons, who teaches in the Education in Language, Literacy, and Culture
area of study, and has been a lifelong sports fan.
Simons became interested in doing research on student athletes because of the powerful role that sports figures
play as role models in our culture: "Athletes are visible in our society and they have a great influence on
youth," Professor Simons said. He initiated the M.A. concentration in Athletes and Academic Excellence to
provide a graduate education for those who want to become coaches and/or teachers who encourage the academic
success of student athletes. "Coaches play an important role in the lives of student athletes," Simons noted.
"They can contribute to making them better students." The concentration on Athletes and Academic Excellence
allows graduate students to do in-depth work on the psychology and sociology of athletics at high schools and
universities, and to become aware of how literacy issues shape opportunities for youth who are drawn to athletics.
A number of the students who have finished the concentration have gone on to careers as teachers and coaches.
Several have gone on to professional sports careers and hope to become coaches, including JeRod Cherry, who now
plays football for the New Orleans Saints.
"There are tremendous misconceptions about the intersection of athletics and academics," adds Derek Van Rheenen,
the instructor for Education 75, Introduction to Sport in Higher Education, a course many student athletes take
in their freshman year at Cal. Van Rheenen is himself a case of how stereotypes mislead-contrary to the image of
the jock who cannot succeed academically, Van Rheenen has triumphed at both sports and scholarship. He was the
captain of Cal's soccer team during his undergraduate years, went on to a professional career as captain of the
national champion San Francisco Bay Blackhawks, and then came back to do his Ph.D. at Cal, where he was advised
by Professor Simons and by Professor Anne Dyson. Van Rheenen went on to win last year's Outstanding Dissertation
Award in the Graduate School of Education.
"Education 75 is important for athletes in their first year at Cal," Van Rheenen explained. "Freshman year is
pivotal in determining the identity athletes have on campus. We want to encourage their academic and intellectual
potential early on rather than let them think of themselves solely as athletes."
One student who took Van Rheenen's course this year, varsity women's basketball player Latifa Lewis, said that,
"Education 75 opened my eyes to how people see athletes now. It was an environment where I could express myself
in discussions." Lewis, who attended Berkeley High School and has won Cal's starting center role in her freshman
year, explained how Education 75 changed her attitude toward academics: "The course made me really want to go to
class. I liked the way the course dealt with topics like gender equality and male dominance in sports."
Another way that the Graduate School of Education contributes to the academic success of student athletes is
through a section of Education 98 on Language and Society, taught by Professor Simons, where ten selected athletes
study the functions of language in society, and work closely with tutors (who are graduate students in Education)
on study and time management skills. "This particular group of athletes includes some of the most underprepared
students on the whole campus," according to Professor Simons. One student in this section, for instance, was an
Olympic Bronze Medalist in gymnastics from the Ukraine, but was unfamiliar with the Roman alphabet when he came
to this country. Thanks in part to the tutoring he received in Education 98, he is now making passing grades.
Tutoring these athletes also provides a valuable experience for School of Education doctoral students. "The
one-on-one experience with the learning process is great for graduate students," Professor Simons remarked.
"It's intensive and the students confide things in their tutors they wouldn't tell most instructors."
One Ph.D. student who has been tutoring student athletes is Bruce Smith in the Education in Language, Literacy,
and Culture area of study. Smith is another example of someone who combines strengths in sports and academics.
As an undergraduate he played varsity football at Brown University. "For me," he observed, "college football was
the way to get into the best school I could. But the academics were always more important." After college he taught
special education for five years in Providence and Los Angeles, and is now working on his doctoral degree at the
GSE. "I want to study how to motivate student athletes to be more successful both on the field and in the classroom."
In recognition of the significance of Professor Simons' work with student athletes, the Athletic Department provides
more than $75,000 annually to support the Education 98 tutors and Van Rheenen's ED 75 class.
Professor Simons and Van Rheenen are also researching the academic experiences of student athletes. "There are very few
freshman who come to Cal with such a well-developed group identity. The task for student athletes is to strengthen their
academic identity to complement their well-developed athletic identity," Simons observed. He and Van Rheenen, along with
Professor Martin Covington in Psychology, have completed a study of student athletes entitled "Academic Motivation in
Student Athletes," to appear in the Journal of College Student Development.
Professor Simons expressed concern about the negative way that athletes are viewed by some faculty, staff, and students,
who see them as intellectually weak, as well as specially privileged. This undeserved negative image makes it harder for
student athletes to succeed academically. Van Rheenen pointed out, "The negative stereotype of the student athlete harks
back to the mind/body dualism. Actually, Plato and Socrates were accomplished wrestlers."
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 Herb Simons
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