This point about the quaint American notion of scholar athletes is so spot on. Even with baseball and basketball, which have post HS amatuer drafts, we still make the player at least go through the motion of going to school, even if they learn very little. Soccer does not. There's no learning going on in those academies outside of soccer. I think most American's can not wrap their minds about how graft ridden, results oriented, and money driven international soccer is. We tend to view it through our lightly corrupt professional sports ("Oh, those Astros. Naughty, Naughty!!" No Coaches Challenges in the last two minutes!!! RIGGED!!). FIFA is just a different world. The players are used up and tossed out at a young age, bought and sold like property until they become truly international stars. And soccer oriented nations throw entire armies of young athletes into this system. The best analogy I can give is the Chinese and gymnastics. Basically, can you read and do basic addition and subtraction? You've had enough school. Go play soccer. If you fail, hit the fucking bricks.