ABSTRACT
Athletes provide spectacles that many student spectators enjoy watching, whether or not they themselves play sports. It would be a stretch to accuse varsity athletes of "goofing off." To get back to the question of how many students take seriously the work of acquiring knowledge, bear in mind that education is not necessarily a college student's first priority. The balance between the pursuit of education and the pursuit of fun varies from college to college. By dint of numbers, the goof-off students may have more impact on the cultural atmosphere of most college campuses than serious students who are trying to learn as much as possible. The creature comforts help explain why attending college in the United States does not seem onerous to a majority of American high school graduates—except for the burden of occasional studying. Goof-off students involve changing the financial arrangements the United States Department of Education makes for financial aid to college students.
