Does the Pilot know that athletes sometimes do better than regular students because it takes a team to get all the science work done? Teammates aren’t motivating each other to do better, they are often cheating to help each other do better!

I agree, a D may be enough to graduate, but we should expect better grades from athletes, and expecting an athlete to have an average grade–isn’t that what a C is?–is not expecting too much.

Education is about the classroom, remember?

Or are you going to say we should punish people for meeting minimum standards? Ooops, that IS what you have been saying isn’t it? Why then even have minimum standards if we are going to punish kids for meeting them? If the minimum standards are not good enough, then raise the minimum standards.

I am not in favor of “lowering standards” but a D is a passing grade. As long as the kid is passing, why shouldn’t he/she be allowed to play sports? Perhaps this is complicated by the fact that most students with a D average are failing at least a couple classes and not progressing towards graduation. However as long as the student is progressing towards graduation, and at the end can pass the Standards of Learning test to earn his Diploma (even by the skin of his teeth) I see nothing wrong with him/her participating in athletics while in school.