An Analysis Of Mary Willingham's Failure Of Student Athletes

Do student athletes make the most of their opportunity to obtain a post-secondary education? Do they have the same academic success as those students that are not athletes? Are student athletes just “dumb jocks?” The answers to these questions might surprise you. Much research has been done to dispel the myth that athletes going to college are only there to play sports with little regard to their education. Programs have been created to assure that colleges and universities hold athletes to the same standards as the everyday student. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has decided that the “magic number” to put the “student” back into “student-athlete” is 925 (Hamilton).

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).

Harker said, “On some campuses the pursuit of athletic dominance has eroded the ideal of the student athlete.” The Delaware coach explains how those student athletes already face problems being students before athletes and he believes that if athletes were to be paid it would distract the students even more. In sum, Harker is stating that athletes do not have to sacrifice their free education to reach their full potential as college athletes. College is a time where young adults learn the values of responsibility and realize that education will have a more positive impact on their future than sports.

In the article Athletes and Education, Neil Petrie argues, that some colleges let student athletes get little to some amount of homework or projects in classes, while other students have to

Black student-athletes are taught to value sports over academics at a young age because it is seen as the “only way out”. Black student-athletes are heralded for their athletic prowess from middle school up, so they begin to focus less on their education and more on their sport. Unfortunately, so do the teachers. Black student-athletes are more often than not just given passes, as schools value what their athletic abilities could do for them over the academic success of the athlete. Even normal black students can be seen the same way just because of the perception that they might be an athlete. The sad truth is that the athletes that don’t make it to the professional level are left without the education needed to be successful.

With Warren Hartenstine’s article in The Baltimore Sun, he is responding to Paul Marx article “Athletes New Day,” with stating the disagreement of facts that Mr. Marx represents about the graduating student athletes. The explanation of the article explains all of the resources student athletes have to succeed while playing the sport. The graduation rate in 2011 was up by 59 percent, 61 percent were women and 56 percent were men (The Baltimore Sun). With these facts there is an explanation that some student are enrolled as “exceptional admits” but there are tutoring programs and the success rate shows that it is working. While in school Hartenstine has the insight to this topic just because he did play Division I football and had the inside look to graduation and success rates as a assistant dean. With more explanations of how the NCAA has scholarships that pay for rooms, tuition, books, and even money for laundry every month. Warren Hartenstine wants players to have discipline and success while being college athletes and within this article he tries showing this explanation.

Amanda Ripley, in an article for The Atlantic, “The Case Against High-School Sports” (2013 by The Atlantic Monthly Group), claims that high-school athletics are encroaching upon students’ education, questions the effect that the sports have on academic progress in the United States, and “wonder[s] about the trade-offs we make.” Ripley supports her thesis with multiple points of argument, including international academic ranking statistics that reveal the United States’ inadequacies, relevant stories and history illustrating athletics’ effect on students, and a paragraph in which she implores the reader to “[i]magine, for a moment, if Americans transferred our obsessive intensity about high-school sports...to high school academics.” The author’s

Its no secret that college sports brings in the big bucks, and without the athletes preforming day in or day out universities would lack the funds to support a school needs. The college sports industry makes 11 billion in annual revenues (Mitchell, Horace, U.S. News Digital Weekly). 11 billion dollars made off of college sports alone is enough its self to pay these student-athletes for their contribution to a school’s success because without them there wouldn’t be this much income. They need these athletes and the NCAA should quit exploiting them for their talents and compensate them. Student-athletes are amateurs who choose to participate in intercollegiate athletics (Mitchell, Horace, U.S. News Digital Weekly). Indeed, they are amateur but in sports the word professional has a different meaning since in all sports there is a 1-2-year stint before an athlete can go from the college level to a professional standpoint. Meaning it only takes a year or two

These days, teachers pass school athletes in order for them to continue playing. They don’t care whether or not if they do the homework or actually understand what is being taught, as long as they keep the school wining in that certain sport then they will pass. Henry Gates stated, “The failure of our public schools to educate athletes is part and parcel of the schools’ failure to educate almost everyone”. Most young black athletes can’t read or write but they still get passed year to year. It’s know that 26.6% of black athletes at the college level earn their degree, which means that they didn’t have enough pass knowledge to continue to excel in higher education and they still didn’t make that goal of being a professional athlete.

Moreover, college athletes have shown a poor academic success rate in past few years, in brief. Their academic performances were significantly low due to the distraction caused by athletic programs. Athletics are not only a distraction for athletes, but also for institutions which are holding these athletic programs. “The low graduation rates among athletics, particularly in sports like football and basketball, are alarming, although there is strong evidence that this problem is endemic to the entire academic enterprise” (“College”). Average outcome GPA of an athlete is way lower than that of a normal student in general. Missing classes regularly, missing assignments, and missing exams have been the reasons for these poor academic performance rates. Daily practices and tournaments are the reason for them to miss their academics. Another side of this argument is that athletes are given unfair advantages in academics unlike other students. They were given excessive grade changes and extra points to maintain their athletic eligibility. This situation degrades the quality of academic programs and it debases

As a student enters the gym doors of Smith-Cotton they can see various trophies from our athletic teams, along with our JROTC National Championship banners that hang up from the walls. One can see by the quality of our gym that our sports are a main part of our school, but as one wonders on into the hallways of our school, they can see how dull they are. By the plainness of the walls, there seems to be no life, in the JROTC hallway you see the trophy cabinet full of multiple national trophies and as you venture on you get to see images of what these teams do, along with the bulletin board that shows newspaper articles of the success of the program. But as you continue to walk toward the other side of the classroom, one can only see some bulletin boards that do not have many things on them except for some advertising. Just by observing this, a new student can see that our school has a great deal to do with sports, but what they cannot see is how well this school performs academically. As we walk down the halls you rarely see a student’s work displayed. So one can assume what James Coleman thinks to be correct, that “altogether, the trophy case would suggest to the innocent visitor that he was entering an athletic club, not an educational institution." This is a dilemma among many schools that is sometime not dealt with adequately.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association is charged with the regulation of athletes, and all athletic programs in affiliated universities and colleges across the United States. The N.C.A.A. is the association charged with developing and implementing policies regarding athletics in colleges and universities. With such a role, the association is mandated to specify the minimum academic requirements for a student to participate in any sporting activity. The association claims that it aims at creating a balance between sport and education. The heart of the association 's mission is student-athlete success in classroom and on the field. N.C.A.A. comes up with policies that provide a student-athlete with the opportunity to learn through sporting activities. This is a noble endeavor, but some institutions as presented in the article by Sarah Lyall (1) have misused it. In the article, one can see that the University of North Carolina denied some of its student-athletes the learning opportunity envisioned by the N.C.A.A. Sarah Lyall (1). By offering the students free grades, U.N.C. was doing the students a great disservice, which only served the interests of the university.

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.

A coach can make the practice days reasonable for students to focus on education. There is never an excuse of not getting something done because you had practice for a sport. David Sedaris got his education at forty-one and did not have excuses. Sherman Alexie taught himself to read at a young age and compared himself to superman. Most people will not agree with this essay; however, they will understand that the truth is being told. As a parent I want my son/daughter to focus on education and not

Taking the counselor’s advice, my subject tried out for football, which led him into the educational world of the black athlete. “I became somewhat of an ‘untouchable’ as far as the teachers were concerned. My coaches got tutors for me, but instead of helping me with my homework they sort of did it for me.” The fact that my subject was a good student, an intelligent student, became overshadowed by the idea that the only way he would be able to go to college was through sports.