College Athletes Must be Held to the Same Standards as Full-Time Students

College is a time for young people to develop and grow not only in their education, but social aspects as well. One of the biggest social scenes found around college campuses are athletic events, but where would these college sports be without their dedicated athletes? Student athletes get a lot of praise for their achievements on the field, but tend to disregard the work they accomplish in the classroom. Living in a college environment as a student athlete has a great deal of advantages as well as disadvantages that affect education and anti-intellectualism.

They will also realize that student-athletes are responsible for taking care of their business on and off the field. There was a study that found that almost half of the male athletes and slightly more than half of the female athletes, who were involved in the study, implied that stresses like pressure to win, excessive anxiety, frustration conflict, irritation, and fear affected their mental and emotional health (Humphrey et al., 2000). This is important to know because this can later or even immediately affect a person’s confidence and self worth. Freshmen are not the only class that deals with stress, which will affect their performance. Although these stress factors are brought to their attention early in their careers, most do not seek help nor do they find a solution to their problem. It is important that coaches have sport counselors that sit in and talk with these often to insure they are doing ok. These athletes are psychologically and physiologically hurting and need

It is the NCAA’s policy that no student athlete shall receive any special benefits or compensation in regard to their status as an athlete of a university. This basically means that no player can accept gifts or services with any special benefits from school or athletic personnel, or receive any benefits for outside entrepreneurship for reasons regarding their play. For example, a student athlete cannot sign a jersey with their number on it and exchange it for any type of compensation. However, over the past few years, many scandalous conspiracies of soliciting services to athletes for their commitment and play have surfaced. Due to the NCAA’s stance on this issue many of these violations have left athletics programs with sanctions that in reality are very unnecessary and hardly ever punish those who initially violated the rules. The fact is that the college athletics generates on average 10.5 billion dollars of revenue annually, and the NCAA organization alone, about 720 million annually. Of that 720 million that the NCAA accounts for, only 60 percent of that is returned to the Division I universities whose athletics accounted for almost all of it. The rest is dispersed into other funds such as championship games and the national office services, with a small amount being paid to division II and III schools. However, of that 60 percent paid back to the Division I schools, which amounts to approximately 430 million dollars, the majority is spent by the University on

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

“College Athletes for Hire, The Evolution and Legacy of the NCAA’s Amateur Myth” written by Allen L. Sack and Ellen J. Staurowsky. In their book, the authors enlighten the reader on such issues as athletic scholarships, professionalism in college sports, and favoritism for athletes as well as many more important legal, and ethical issues that we as a country need to address. In this paper I will not do a standard book report by simply regurgitating the information I read in their book.

Robert and Amy McCormick, law professors at Michigan State University, believe that some student-athletes attend college to play sports and that due to scheduling conflicts between class and practices they do not have full choice as to what major they would like to take (Cooper, 12 – 13). “The way football and basketball players in Division I programs manage juggling sport and school, the McCormicks maintain, undermines the NCAA’s contention they are student-athletes.” (Cooper, 12-13).

Student athletes entertain fans at their local resident arena, which generated five million and six hundred thousand dollars in ticket sell in 2012 (National College Athletic Association). This is not fair to student athletes that are solely responsibility for contributing to these financial statistics. Student athletes are leaders in the classrooms and on the field. Student athletes uphold the standards requirement by the NCAA to maintain their eligible to play sports. As leader on the field and the classroom, they possess a high standard of moral and behavior by not cheating, obeying the rules and regulations of their college and university. Student athletes are held to a higher standard than regular students. A regular student can

Class sizes can be very important once you get to college. It is a drastic change going from a room with a few rows of desks accompanied with many classmates that have been in the rooms with you over the past few years. You were able to raise your hand and have a question answer usually within a few minutes. Large classes do not present you with that simple luxury. Most of the time, you sign the role and the professor does not know which name belongs to which face, making it harder for means of communication. Community colleges are focused on having strong teacher/student relations. They allow students to ask questions and are there to visualize the problem a

The NCAA has relied heavily on the age-old characterization of college athletes as “amateurs” who are first and foremost “student-athletes” (Sanderson and Siegfried). Because they are considered students and

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) governs all laws regarding college sports under the Division I, Division II, and Division III conferences. Its sole purpose is to protect student-athletes on and off the field, and regulate all games and scholarships affiliated with the students. Right now there are 1,121 colleges and universities under the NCAA (NCAA, n.d.), leaving a chunk of schools out—those who do not participate in Division I, II, or III conferences. Since an immense amount of colleges and universities are associated with the NCAA, this organization plays a significant role in regulating college sports. Within these regulations, there is a common issue that lingers around student-athletes and their coaches. This issue has to do with the role that a student-athlete holds, and if he or she should be paid for it. It is an ethical decision that poses problems regarding the education institutions and their members.

“Giving star athletes preferential treatment doesn’t begin in college. It starts much younger. The coddling, the entourages, the brushing aside of academic requirements (OK – we’ll say it: cheating) …But we sure do master it by the time those athletes get through the

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

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

Coach & Athletic Director “As more eyes open to the athlete’s challenges and struggles, more

The ability for high school sports to give athletes a break from the classroom allows them to clear their minds. Students have the chance to forget about the things that may be bothering them as well as allowing them to have fun for a bit. Research shows that the movement of the brain’s physiology has an effect on the way that a person does things throughout their life. In fact, a study shows that people who have been physically activity or have participated in sports when they were younger are happier because they have been releasing endorphins which releases stress. Stress is the leading cause of depression in the United States and by exercising, the rate of stress in which a person has can be lowered. High school sports does not just benefit a person's mental health but also a person's physical health.