There are two primary schools of thought when considering professional athletes in the United States. It’s a polarizing topic with (as always) the loudest opinions being the most radical. Advocates for pros argue these “superhumans” provide an entertainment service they’ve worked hard for their entire lives, while their opponents love to point out that a measly third string benchwarmer gets paid more than a whole school of teachers combined.

No matter what side of the binary your views fall upon, it’s clear that athletes, particularly football players, are endowed with special privileges. Intense levels of media coverage and glorification in countless films and books have all undeniably crafted the American Football God. They eat steel shavings for breakfast and stomp on nerds in the hallway. Walking arm in arm with a cheerleader of their choice, they need only to mention the “big game on Friday” to head to the nurse’s office for a nap. While this dystopia may only really exist on MTV shows (and in the suburbs), we can see slight snapshots of the American Football God and his reflection of American society at Grady High School.

In 2004, the University of California reported 95 percent of football players in their recruited freshmen class were “special admits” compared to 2 percent of the general student body. Colleges are allowed a certain number of special admits in order to offer admission to students that might not meet their average standardized test score or GPA. It’s a policy that at one point was used to give students with potential from underprivileged backgrounds a chance at higher education. Now they’re just used to win games and make money.

In similar fashion at Grady High School, certain students were given the opportunity to play football on our team. Except these students were out of district and their attendance of Grady was illegal. In one “student’s” case, not a single class was attended, as stated in the recently released report of the findings in the address fraud investigation.

It’s easy to form an opinion on professional athletes, their salaries, and whether or not you believe they deserve the numerous special opportunities they are presented. It generally just comes down to whether you like watching sports or not. It’s a simple choice. But when we look to the actions taken by certain over-privileged athletes and the roots of their arrogance and occasional disregard for the law, the answer gets muddled. It becomes trickier to swallow.

Why do we stand for our “heroes” being arrested for robbery, DUI, murder, rape and then wear their jersey with pride a week later? Why do Ray Lewis and Ben Roethlisberger know that as long as they don’t come away with a guilty verdict, their name will be chanted come next Sunday? I believe in the power of forgiveness, second chances and redemption, but too many sports fans seem to have formed a psychological block when it comes to pro athletes. The faults in our gods are not acknowledged and discussed; they’re pushed to the back of our minds by cranial linebackers.

The precedent for these actions is set in schools like ours where we make the conscious decision to allow people to break the law. Though it is still unclear how high-up knowledge of the address fraud scandal extended, it is obvious that someone looked the other way. Maybe they did so in order for the students to receive scholarships or so they could reap the benefits of attending a school like Grady. Or maybe they just did it because we couldn’t win without them.

Either way, we have allowed our own educational institute to become like too many across the country: a breeding ground for spreading the notion that your prowess in a field (whether it be the football field, the field of chemistry, or the journalism field) places you above the law and above other people.