Understood, bill -- I wasn't criticizing it as a less-than-perfect effort. As it happens, I get to see a lot of high school sports, and I know a lot of high school athletes who play for a school that has very little money. Their coaches would love to have a college-grade weight room, too -- but they're a pretty wise bunch, and I think they might feel some qualms at the same time. A tutoring program can be great, but only if it enables a kid to start succeeding academically on his/her own. If it's a crutch that an athlete will need on an ongong basis, just to achieve a passing grade, it's perpetuated rather than solved the problem. If it were my school, I'd want to take a real hard look at this tutoring program to see if it's really accomplishing anything.
Many schools need these kind of donations. We're really not interested in higher taxes are we? Well, he gets to spend his money how he sees fit and I can think of a lot worse places than this. That said, people who make millions through telemarketing are a pretty low form of life; somewhere between a remora and that special bacteria that breaks down shit. I suggest he give all his money away. Aside: I do think though that investing in sports is a great contributor to anyone's education. The things learnt on teams and in pursuit of the physical are things we are sorely lacking in early education. That and we're a bunch of crazy fat-asses. Have you been to your local state fair grounds? Sometime, not long ago, we went from cherubic to super-fat. People have to live in warm climates because they can't get their arms into a shirt-sleeve. Bring back mandatory physical activity!
I think investing in sports is great too, but I think it can backfire if it's an individual selectively donating his or her largesse to certain pet projects. It kind of puts a school on the spot when someone says, "I'll give you x dollars to build a new [insert facility of choice]." Maybe a donor would love to see a new spiffy all-weather track, but maybe the school has a more pressing need for a new baseball field. Obviously it's a would-be donor's right to attach any strings he or she wants, and it's the school's right to say no thanks, but I think there's a better way to donate. The school I mentioned above is lucky enough (although it's not really luck) to have a great athletic association, which raises funds for athletic programs. Coaches and administrators can write grant applications for projects and present them to the athletic association, whenever they need funds for something that's not covered by the school budget. It has a good effect of evening out any inequities or problems that occur when teams with small numbers don't get as much funding, and it's also a mainstay when it comes to funding really big projects (like, for example, a spiffy new all-weather track). I think it works well because it's driven by concerned individuals expressing a need, rather than an outsider's preception of what the need is. The association also has completely open membership, so it's not a few cronies channeling money to their favorite sports, either. I recommend it highly as a very good working model.
