There has been a lot of discussion since Athens about foreign swimmers training in the United States. Most of them attend U.S. Universities, receive athletic scholarships, and compete at NCAA's. Some notable examples include Duje Draganja (Cal), Fred Bousquet and Kirsty Coventry (Auburn), Markus Rogan (Stanford), and the South African sprinters (Arizona). Some train in the U.S., but don't compete for a university (Inge de Bruijn). All of these athletes benefit from U.S. coaching, from training with U.S. swimmers, and in some cases, from financial support provided by U.S. entities (athletic scholarships). They all turn around and then win medals for other countries.
A couple questions: 1) What do you think about this arrangement generally? 2) Is it of benefit or detriment to U.S. swimming to have these foreign athletes training and competing here? 3) Should we be giving athletic scholarships, which are a scarce resource in swimming, to foreign athletes who will represent their own countries internationally instead of U.S.-born swimmers who will represent us internationally?
I'm sure there are other issues, but these come directly to mind.
Parents
Former Member
Originally posted by laineybug
"Maryyyyyyyy, and others, I certainly agree that foreign students bring a great diversity and promote greater understanding of different cultures and races on college and university campuses. I even picked an apartment in Athens because the children who lived there went to an elementary school where there was a very high enrollment of the children of foreign students. I wanted my daughter to have the experience of knowing children from other countries. But, campus diversity isn't the question really. The question is: are American institutes of higher education denying our students scholarships because they give them to foreign students? If so, is this right? In my opinion, campus diversity isn't worth the cost of an athletic scholarship going to a foreign student.
"There must be a payback for the universities, otherwise, I don't think they'd do it..."
anyway, the way most of you are going on about the issue, if I were a foreign student and read this, it would be enough to keep me away from the States...
Originally posted by laineybug
"Maryyyyyyyy, and others, I certainly agree that foreign students bring a great diversity and promote greater understanding of different cultures and races on college and university campuses. I even picked an apartment in Athens because the children who lived there went to an elementary school where there was a very high enrollment of the children of foreign students. I wanted my daughter to have the experience of knowing children from other countries. But, campus diversity isn't the question really. The question is: are American institutes of higher education denying our students scholarships because they give them to foreign students? If so, is this right? In my opinion, campus diversity isn't worth the cost of an athletic scholarship going to a foreign student.
"There must be a payback for the universities, otherwise, I don't think they'd do it..."
anyway, the way most of you are going on about the issue, if I were a foreign student and read this, it would be enough to keep me away from the States...
