Though LeBron James skipped college entirely to play in the NBA back in 2003, no one would ever accuse him of being a dumb athlete. Not only does he think at a higher level than most other humans on the basketball court, he’s become as thoughtful and insightful a player on social issues as exists in the NBA. What we’re trying to say is, a college education is no measure of intelligence, but it’s still a useful thing to have, and LeBron plans on getting one.
Having already established the I Promise program to give college scholarships to Akron-area children, LeBron has added to that initiative the I Promise Institute, which will provide tutoring services and assistance for those kids once they go to college.
“We’re putting these kids in college and getting them education, but also the success rate of graduating college is very low as well even once you get to college,” James said Thursday. “We wanted to figure out a way where we could help these kids graduate college and that’s where the Institute came from.”
Very, very few athletes go into this sort of detail in their charity work — it reflects an understanding of the multifaceted problems of educating low-income children that you can’t come by cheaply. As for his own higher education, LeBron will get there — eventually.
“I’m signed up at the University of Akron for whenever I’m able to get a little bit of down time. That’s always been a conversation that took place to take some college courses, take some classes,” he said. “So right now I just do a lot of reading, book reading, and obviously I’m around some really good people that I kind of take their knowledge and sort it into my mind.”
With the sort of maniacal preparation LeBron puts into every offseason, that down time may not come until he’s retired.
(Via Akron Beacon-Journal)