Are American colleges just part of the entertainment industry?

Dingo Warrior asked:


They pay kids with scholarships to entertain fans to make money, most of which gets reinvested in the sports programs to make more money.

All the while, they push kids into either athletic majors or sociology or something that requires little coursework. Many of them, like the University of Oklahoma, they are not even in with the rest of the students in their basic general education classes. They have sections of math English, history, and so on of just athletes.

Is this the business model of a serious learning institution or an entertainment company?

Kathryn