While reading a recent USA Today article, I was disappointed to learn that individuals in influential positions continue down a path way that indicates they have forgotten what amateur sports are all about.

Sen. Ernie Chambers' proposal to pay the University of Nebraska's football players will soon go before the Nebraska state legislature, and Gov. Mike Johanns said he would sign the bill into law if passed by the legislature. Chambers introduced the bill because he thinks that universities exploit players by withholding financial benefits from work that generates millions of dollars, according to USA Today.

What a shame that the governor and the state senator place such low value on a college education earned at the University of Nebraska.

Chambers, Johanns and the legislature need to understand that the opportunity to attend college and gain a higher education is a privilege, not a right. Competing in college athletics -- at all three levels -- is even more of a privilege; only a small percentage of high-school athletes actually go on to compete in the NCAA.

These players are fortunate enough to attend college, gain a solid education and academic foundation and compete in a sport they love. Furthermore, numerous players get these opportunities for little or no charge because of athletics scholarships.

The article states that in the past 10 years, the University of Nebraska generated approximately $155 million from football alone. During those years, perhaps 300 athletes played on scholarship. Not only are many college student-athletes gaining the ability to increase their personal financial earning power, but they also are enhancing their personal and professional skills while earning a degree that might not have been attainable had the scholarship not been available. Surely those hundreds of student-athletes will earn for themselves and create for others through successful business ventures wealth that will far surpass the $155 million during their lifetime.

Why doesn't that count anymore?

This is not an exploitative situation, as Chambers suggests, but some do exist. Unfortunately, some student-athletes are rewarded "under-the-table." However, administrators do not approve these payments, and making them legal is not the appropriate solution.

I fear for what collegiate educational athletics will become if this idea becomes the norm since it violates every principle that amateur athletics stands for. One concern is for the student-athletes who would not receive a stipend. In this particular instance, the non-football players presumably would not qualify. Understandably, those student-athletes would most likely question why they didn't also deserve to be paid. Who would make this decision, and where would the NCAA draw the line? Granting stipends to one segment of student-athletes would undoubtedly ignite controversy among all other student-athletes.

Instead of focusing on the mission and purpose of college athletics, the proposed bill seems to exploit college athletics and compromise the educational value of amateur sports and the integrity of its athletes and administrators. The governor and state senator have missed the whole point of college athletics.

One might ask, why do I, with a job in high-school athletics, care about what happens at the college level? Fair question. The answer is that the two levels of education-based athletics are symbiotically intertwined. High schools provide student-athletes to colleges, and colleges provide role models to high-school students. Young people emulate, for better or worse, the actions and mindsets of their slightly older peers.

But, one might say, professional athletes are role models, too. True, but the pros are, first and foremost, employees working at jobs. Student-athletes at the high-school levels are, first and foremost, students. The difference is profound, and it should stay that way.

Robert F. Kanaby is the executive director of the National Federation of State High School Associations.