Ethical Issues In Sports Essay

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).

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.”

·  What conclusions did the study reach? Are the conclusions appropriate? Why or why not?

What was the purpose of this study? (i.e., what question(s) did the authors want to answer?)

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 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.”

Athletics are a big attraction to many students when looking at colleges. When college sports programs have success, research done by Pope and Pope show that there is a boost in applications that the colleges receive from students. “Applications [after] a Championship add 7-8 percent, with a big effect in the immediate year and little effect after one year.” It was found that when colleges have winning athletic teams get more applications sent in from all levels of student and not just athletes. This is found true for basketball and football. Not only increase in applications is found but also found after success in football there is a growth in enrollment, this is not found true for basketball (Getz and Siegfried “What Does Intercollegiate Athletics Do…”). “David Schmidly the president of the University of New Mexico said “One of the most effective ways to market your university nationally is to have a really quality athletic program. It helps recruit faculty, students, and donors. It helps with the image of the whole university.” (qtd. in Getz and Siegfried “College Sports: The Mystery of the Zero-Sum Game.”)

For many students, the college experience is measured by the success of their NCAA-sanctioned athletic programs. Without the experience and athletic performance the student athlete brings, most colleges would not reap the benefit of these significant revenue-generating activities. At best, current NCAA regulations need to be revisited to ensure all avenues are addressed to enable the success of athletic students both in the classroom and on the field or court of play. As stated previously, even though students receive full and partial scholarships determined by their athletic performance, in both instances

Jolley, D. (2009). Academic Achievement Is Improving for College Athletes. In C. Watkins, Sports and Athletes (pp. 71-78). Detroit: Greenhaven Press.

College athletic programs should be kept as an important part of the athlete’s academic schedule, and student athletes are considered an important part the student body. Every university or community college’s admissions and scholastic excellence for student-athletes should be planned to encourage educational success and

Throughout these articles, the main ideas were athletics taking precedence over academics, transitions from high school to college, why athletes cheat, fairness of regulations, and reform of NCAA policy. While all of these are very different concepts, they come together to help audiences understand all facets of college athletics and the relationship with academics. Although these topics are common through all of the articles, not all authors shared the same views on issues, nor did they all regard them with the same level of

The literature review in this study mentioned four theories of why academic clustering is occurring in college athletics, while also mentioning the impact of the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) academic reform that has been executed over the years. One theory of why clustering occurs, is the simple concept that athletes feel more comfortable around other athletes, therefore they are attracted to classes that their fellow teammates attend. The second theory is academic advisors

2. Discuss the generalizability and validity of the study. For example, will findings of this study generalize to other people and/or situations, can we generalize from the study participants to the general population, and do the methods employed have validity?

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

-Why was the study conducted? –What was the margin of error? –What was the sample size? -What sampling design was used? –What was the response rate? –What was the frame that was used? -Who paid for the survey? –From the sample that was selected, what was the population?