Academic Success Among College Athletes

In the article, Class and Cleats: Community College Student Athletes and Academic Success, Horton first examines the statistics of evidence showing college athletes and their underachievement. There are many instances of concern about college athletes and their poor grades having an affect of their athletic responsibilities, though this belief is usually denied due to a student always being a student before anything else. This study researches the idea of the way that college students and college athletes view success. Many college athletes tend to state that success is passing all courses and being more successful in their sport, rather than academics coming first (Horton, 2009).

Multiple studies have shown that college athletes do not perform as well in the classroom as their nonathletic peers. For example, according to Michael Maloney in the article An Examination of the Role that Intercollegiate Athletic Participation Plays in Academic Achievement, he states that “SAT scores of athletes are, on average, 150 points below non- athletes. Similarly, athletes come to college with inferior high school preparation in academics. Their high school rank is 20 percentage points below nonathletes.”

In his article “The Shame of College Sports,” Taylor Branch (2011) describes how universities are focused on advancing and receiving money from major athletics and having star athletes, but how the universities are not caring for the “student athlete.” The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has made college sports into an unmerited business. However, as years progress more athletes are getting smart and are taking the NCAA to court. The more students that challenges the rules by the NCAA and take them to court, the secrets and undermining values of the NCAA come out and the closer the NCAA comes to an end.

Academic success is important for both high school and college athletes. To be eligible to participate, athletes must maintain a certain GPA. Student athletes that don’t make school a priority, not only miss out on playing time, but also fail to prepare themselves for the next step in their life. For high school athletes, that means prepare for college while for college athlete, it means preparing to enter the workforce. Although, both high school and

When looking at the topic of academic success of African American student athletes you need to look at all the factors involved. The problems that African American student athletes face are much the same that all African American students at higher education institutions face but the student athletes have other stressors that the normal students do not have. Such as In addition to the daily student routine (attending classes, going to the cafeteria, and participating in social events), student athletes also have their sport-related activities (practicing every day, visiting the athletic trainer for injury treatment, traveling for away games, studying team plays) (Watt, Moore 2001).

Literature surrounding athletic participation and its impact on the college experience is well documented (LaForge & Hodge, 2011). Many scholars purport that athletic participation enhances the academic experience, while others argue that it creates a divide between colleges’ missions and student-athletes lived campus experiences. To support this claim, Lawrence, Henedricks & Ott (2007) found in their study that nearly one-third of faculty who responded to their survey indicated that they believed that academic standards are lowered to achieve success in the sports of football and basketball. One question that is often posed by

The ugly truth behind the money machine that is college sports is that, every year, college athletes are deceived by the institutions the compete for into making them millions of dollars, with relatively little in return. Athletes are said to be given a chance to attend college and to attain a free college degree. However, research has shown that this is not completely true for two reasons. For one, the student athlete will spend most of their time in preparation for competition. Secondly, what education the student athlete does receive hardly serves them outside of maintaining eligibility just so

The NCAA believes “that a student-athlete is a student first and athlete second.” Student-athletes benefit more than from playing a sport that they love. The graduation rate is higher among the student athletes than the general student body. “NCAA studies show that student-athletes enjoy high levels of engagement in academics, athletics and community: have positive feeling about their overall athletics and academic experiences: attribute invaluable life skills to being a student-athlete: and are more likely to earn similar or higher wages after college than non-student athletes.”

In 2010, the United States Secretary of Education Mr. Arne Duncan demanded that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) clean-up their act due to the declining graduation rate for athletes, particularly African-American males. According to the Harper’s study, at 50 of the most prominent colleges, on the average, African-American males made-up approximately 2.8% of the undergraduate class overall (Harper 4). However, they made-up approximately 57.1% of the football players and approximately 64.3% of the basketball players (Harper 4) with an average completion rate of six-years (Harper 4). As a result, many college coaches and academic administrators started to encourage African-American male athlete-students to major in less demanding degree

There are these ongoing stereotypes that student athletes are “dumb,” “lazy,” and “privileged.” It’s understandable that people believe these stereotypes, news magazines and reports are always talking about how athletes are “coddled” and “cheat” their way to success. Though it is nowhere near true for the majority of student athletes, a select few situations encourage this negative categorization of us, thus putting student athletes under even more pressure to perform. Student athletes are constantly misjudged and the assumptions are affecting us.

Major collegiate athletics programs are able to generate millions of dollars for their institutions, but are not able to show any evidence of successfully graduating their black male athletes that contribute to their success in generating those millions of dollars. These universities in turn, are failing these student athletes whom were promised that they would nurture them intellectually as well as athletically. A four year report published by the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education presents statistics that shows that the six major sports conferences in the NCAA (ACC, Big Ten, Big East, Big 12, SEC, Pac 12) have weak graduation rates for male African American Student athletes. Jessica Anderson of the associated

There has been amplified debate on the treatment, education, training of the college athlete. To avoid exploitation of athletes, “The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), formed in 1905, set bylaws requiring college student-athletes to be amateurs in order to be eligible for intercollegiate athletics competition” (Schneider n.p.). Intercollegiate athletics have dramatically changed over the last several decades. Currently, intercollegiate athletics generate tremendous amounts of revenue, remarkably in football and basketball. College sports in America is a

In discussions of student athletes, one controversial issue has been eligibility. On one hand, people argue that grade point average standards for Division One athletes are appropriate for their demanding schedules. On the other hand, others claim that the standards are too low and unfair to academically advanced students. Throughout high school, every student, not just athletes, is faced with demanding and challenging workloads. But are student athletes demanding schedules an excuse to not meet academic excellence? In order to be eligible for Division One college athletic recruitment, the athlete must have at least a 2.0 grade point average depending on their standardized test scores. This grade point

Some people will continue to profess that our world should be a society geared towards entertainment. The primary focus of attending college is to obtain an education, and that is being lost along the way. There is no need to place such emphasis on college athletics. We need to take a moment to reflect on the decisions we make as a society. When the locker room is nicer than the entire medical department, or the head football coach is paid more than the governor of the state in which the university resides, it should be evident and clear that a major problem exists in the priorities of the university.

It is a common misconception that student athletes have it easy in college. More often than not, these alumni have to work rigorously and without rest; the setting of high expectations from the start make it a tough learning experience. Members from West Chester University,Jacqueline S. Hodes, Tammy James, Gerardina Martin, and Kellianne Milliner, made a report named “Go for the Win: A Collaborative Model for Supporting Student-Athletes,” and in it, they stated, “From their first day on campus, student-athletes at the Division II level are required to meet specific academic benchmarks in order to continue their participation in athletic competition. These academic benchmarks help to support the student-athlete in maintaining progress toward