The original idea was a good one: a healthy mind in a healthy body. With higher education for the former and sports for the latter. The point wasn't to make people fit for a particular job, it was just to make well educated and fit people for the elites of that time.

But things have become twisted along the way. Higher education is still there, and it has become a bit more practical, which is not bad. However the "sports" part became completely broken. Instead of giving students a good body (a noble goal), it shifted to competition, taking subpar students with great athletic skills just to beat the other college team, and overworking and ultimately breaking them. The complete opposite of the original idea.