- Rep. Burgess Owens advocated for merit-based practices in areas like college athletics and education.
- Owens, a former athlete himself, discussed the need for parameters around paying college athletes.
- Recognizing the need for educational innovation, Owens spoke about Learning Employment Records.
“The best thing that I’ve truly learned out of athletics ... is called merit,” said Utah Rep. Burgess Owens while speaking to a group of University of Utah students on Thursday.
As a part of the Sutherland Institute’s 2025 Congressional Series, Owens spoke at the university’s Hinckley Institute of Politics. During the event, Owens spoke about this principle of merit, applying it to the current debate over paying college athletes and the need for more innovation in education.
“Merit is that desire to become better tomorrow, better than you were today. Merit is that concept of if I’m the best person, I’ve worked the hardest, somebody’s gonna see it, and I’ll be chosen for that opportunity,” the congressman said.
Owens says that parameters need to be set around paying college athletes
As a former athlete whose focus in politics is primarily education, Owens spent time speaking about NIL and paying college athletes, saying that there needs to be parameters set and things need to be controlled.
“Athletics has been a real foundation for our country,” the congressman said.
He added that he is concerned about what type of people these athletes will be if they’re being paid all this money at such a young age.
“We’re going to produce a generation of very self-centered, narcissistic young men,” Owens said.
He continued: “You put a million, $2 million every six months into these young guys, at the age of 18, 19, they have no idea what character is about, they’re not learning it. They don’t have an idea what it is to be committed to a team, loyalty, the things that make us who we are is based on how we act when times get tough.”
He spoke more on this concept of loyalty, pointing out that these athletes tend to jump into the transfer portal at the first sign of issues.
“And think about what that does to your psyche,” Owens said. “If you think you’re that valuable, you can treat people however you want to treat people and you can just leave when you want to leave.”
He added that these student-athletes need to be students, not employees, and they need to be amateurs. The congressman shared that he thinks, with the amount of money in college sports these days, they deserve to be paid but that needs to be controlled and contained.
The need for innovation in education
One point Owens spoke on repeatedly was the need for more innovation in education.
“Education is my wheelhouse. It’s my pure love,” the congressman said. “What education has been missing out on for decades is innovation.”
To make his point he compared how far the technology with phones has come in the last hundred years, from the first ever phone to the smartphones people have today. But in this same time frame, education has not changed much.
“Our education is still back in that same era. So what we have to do is make sure we’re bringing to the plate the greatest innovation,” the congressman said.
Owens introduces the concept of Learning Employment Records
While speaking about innovation in education, Owens brought up Learning Employment Records, or LERs, which are something he is trying to get implemented around the country.
LERs would essentially be a personal digital record that students and others can have to record their skills, education, employment history and other things that show what they can do and what they’re passionate about. This digital record could be sent out to industries so they can see what this person has done and also give feedback on the LER.
“It’s your personal record. You have security with it, and you can share it with anybody you want to. But on that you’ll have everything you’ve done, your skill set, your certification, your degrees, and your work skills, your work ethic, there’s certain things you’ll be able to do that’s not gonna be a degree,” Owens said.
Owens emphasized that this is not just about earning degrees, but about all skills and education that a person may acquire.
“If you apply grit and merit to your work from this point, moving forward, you will be rewarded, because we’re gonna have a system now that can see and understand that,” the congressman said.
Owens shares his thoughts on school choice
“I think choice is the greatest gift in our country, period,” Owens said.
The congressman continued that the choices that people have give them more opportunities to be what they want to be and accomplish what they want to accomplish. He also emphasized the fact that Utah does have and supports school choice.
“We have probably, I would say, the best teaching environment as possible,” Owens said as he praised the teachers and education system in the state.
Owens also spoke about the Educational Choice for Children Act, which helps promote school choice by offering tax credits to individuals and companies that donate to support students attending private schools or who are receiving other educational support. The bill was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this year.
“And guess what happens when we have choice? Everything improves. We’re finding out that when they have choice in the state, public school systems change. Why? Because whoever’s running it wants to keep these kids,” Owens said.
“I think it’s important to realize everything that works in this country is based on merit,” he added.