College Athletes Are Banned For Playing A Sport

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).

Collegiate sports have turned into a billion dollar industry and are probably just as popular, if not more popular than professional sports. College athletes put their bodies on the line to play a sport they love, many with hopes and dreams to one day make it to the professional leagues. Athletic facilities are the major money makers for all universities. Colleges bring in billions of dollars in revenue annually, yet athletes do not get paid. Some fans believe athletes should not get paid due to their sports level being “amateurish.”; however, this is far from the truth. There is much more to being a college athlete than just practicing and playing games. These student-athletes must practice, weight lift, go to meetings, travel, go to tutoring and study groups, all the while maintaining sufficient grades. This is very tedious work and is very time consuming. College athletes have a high standard to live up to (Frederick Web; Huma Web; Patterson Web ).

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

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.”

During the summer of 2013 one of the biggest outrages in all sports, not just the collegiate division, was the story of Texas A&M’s golden boy Johnny Manziel. At the beginning of the football season Manziel shocked fans around the country with his remarkable abilities; abilities that would later make him the youngest Heisman winner at the time. However, a couple of months later no one would be talking about his talent or his Heisman, but the allegations surrounded around Manziel selling his signature on eBay for money. The NCAA strictly bans collegiate athletes to benefit in any way when it comes to their name and the revenue that comes with it. This shined light on one of the major controversies in college sports; the dispute of whether it is right to allow student athletes to benefit off their names. The NCAA ought to allow collegiate athletes the ability to profit off the use of their name because by allowing players to receive revenues it would ease the negative effects of playing collegiate sports for the student athletes.

College Athletes Imagine being on the field and putting forth all effort while receiving nothing in return. College athletes dedicate all their hard work on the field to represent their college with dignity and they are not compensated as they should be. These students who are involved in sports for their college should be paid. They should be compensated some money because of all of their time spent, the dangers they are exposed to, their financial necessities, and the amount of energy that is required.

The multibillion-dollar industry that college sports has become has richly rewarded the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), university athletic programs and top football and basketball coaches. Athletes, however, continue to play under a decades-old system in which scholarships pay for tuition and room and board but fall short of covering the full cost of attending school. In return, players are expected to maintain a rigorous training and playing schedule while keeping up their studies. This falls very short to being fair for the student athletes, who are the ones putting their sweat, hearts, bodies and health on the line, day in and day out.

Participating in athletics is essentially a job for college athletes. These athletes spend countless hours on the practice field, studying film, working out, as well as traveling for games. Robert McCormick who was an attorney for the National Labor Relations Board said “There are more demands put on these young men than any employee of the university.” The athletes are under complete control by the coaches and must follow what they demand from them. The physical demands that are placed upon the athletes should also make what they do be considered a job. The athletes must work out and practice to become better players as well as perform well in games. Those athletes who earn a scholarship can lose them at any point in time. Scholarships are given on a yearly basis so athletes must work to keep their scholarship

College athletes are known more because of their sports rather than what they are actually majoring in. College athletes put in immense effort and time towards the sport. They make the sport their main priority and manage their lives primarily around the team and sport they are playing. Many college athletes, especially basketball and football players are recruited to become a part of college level team. The athletes decide what college to go to by evaluating the prestige of the sports programs rather than the college itself. For many college athletes is a platform to play the sport they are passionate about. In addition to their passion for the sport, college athletes also put in effort and time towards their respective sports.

The first time that I had any type of knowledge about the possibility of college sports being banned was just a few weeks ago inside of my English 101 class. I cannot express how surprise I was when I found this out. Not in a million years I ever would of thought a activity that most athletes live by every day can just go away in a snap of a finger. How could somebody even turn professional if they have not been in the college phase yet? Questions just arise in my head when I hear about this topic. How could a promising talented basketball player leave their high school and just go to the NBA without college guidance? How could a promising football player leave their high school and just go to the NFL without any college guidance. This whole topic has to be the most stupid thing I ever heard of and does not even deserve an piece of argument. I understand that more and more people are being hurt and seriously damaged, but let's be real, it's not like they don't know their risk. Everybody who play's an sports knows what their getting themselves into and the possibilities that can happen. In one article I read that a lot of brain damage incidents are happening prior to college sports, resulting in a ban on all college programs. I just don't get why all of the blame has to be on college sports. What about high school and junior high football, and youth programs like Pop Warner? If brain damage can be found in college players, shouldn't youth programs of sports and high school

Despite the many stereotypes that are connected with being a student athlete, student athletes in general are held to much higher standards by their institutions. Before a prospective student athlete even enters college, they are made fully aware of the academic standings and requirements of the college they choose. Although the academic requirements vary from college to college, the standards are still held high for all student athletes. The transition into college can be exceptionally difficult especially for the

Most of us do not know what it’s like to be a Division I athlete, other than the simple observations of insane amounts of athleticism and countless hours of entertainment. Maintaining a certain grade point average (usually honor roll), two-a-days, studying, devoting 40+ hours to the sport, and maintaining a very high level of training, sums up the life of a college athlete. A busy