Student Athlete Stereotypes

Competitive and professional sports is a cardinal fixture in the lives of billions all across the globe. Sport is cherished and idolized by many as it gives the viewers loads of entertainment as well as a sense of pride. Sport has the ability to unite entire nations as there is a mutual sentiment attached to the desire of wanting your team to outperform the rest, it is all based on the notion that an athlete or team is representing you as an individual and an entire country. Professional athletes often have a certain stigma attached to them - they make tons of money, drive exotic sports cars, live in fancy houses, travel all over the world, they have achieved this by doing what they love day in and day out – by playing sport.

Community college is an underrated option for many students. As Americans grow society has drilled into us that we need to continue our education after high school to become stars in this world. Addison writes about how going to a university was seen as a rite of passage and was a way to find ourselves. In today society not going to a university is seen as not being good enough to make it in to anywhere better. This is why many students will attend university when it would have been more feasible to attend a community college first.

In a personal interview with Ricardo Vasquez, a former high school football player for Madera High, was asked why do people get the idea of these stereotypes and he replied about how people get ideas from movies, television, and internet and if people keep hearing or reading about it then they’ll think it's actually true and use it in reality. He explains that many people believe these ideas of what the media portrays football players are true and categorize every football player as the jock that doesn't know a thing or two about their academics. Many people stereotyped football players as dunce because many of the athletes have very busy schedules and get overwhelmed which leads getting bad grades and test scores. In an interview conducted by SB Nation’s reporter Pete Volk quoted a statement from Richard Sherman saying that ” Show me how you're going to get all your work done when after you get out at 7:30 or so, you've got a test the next day, you're dead tired from practice and you still have to study just as hard as everybody else every day and get all the same work done”(2). Sherman argues that people think football players aren't lazy because the whole day football players have to do something and basically have no free time while the average college student finishes class at 3 in the afternoon and have the whole day to prepare for a test and maybe hang out with friends while athletes finish with everything almost by the end of the day and are expected to be prepared as much as the average student. According to the online article, Bullying Among Adolescent Football Players: Role of Masculinity and Moral Atmosphere, written by Jesse A. Steinfeldt, Ellen L. Vaughan, and Matthew C. Steinfeldt Julie R. LaFollette explained that “...the football players and cheerleaders enjoy social dominion over the high school, while the lowly “gleeks” (i.e., kids in the

I am a girl. I am blonde. I am a college student. I am an athlete. I am a girl, so I am only concerned with my physical appearance. I am blonde, so I am unintelligent and gullible. I am a college student, so I go out and party every weekend. I am an athlete, so I do not do well in school.

Basketball, football, and hockey are considered the most popular sports in America as of today. However, sports in the early 1950s were not as popular as they are now. According to “An Exercise in Subtleties and the Transmission of Racism: An Analysis of Sports Illustrated Covers” by Eric Primm, Summer DuBois, and Robert M. Regoli, they stated that American love their sport and that “each year they would spend billions of dollars on sports-related items and activities.” The media help promote the popularity of the sports in America. Consequently, sports media “plays a key role in perpetuating the types of racial stereotypes about minority athletes in sports” (Ismond, 115). The thesis of this writing project is with some racial stereotype reinforcement

Stereotype- a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing. Stereotypes show up everywhere, and the stories The Outsiders, a realistic fiction novel by S.E. Hinton, and the short story “The Athletic Snob” by Sam Barnes are no exceptions. In The Outsiders, the town Ponyboy Curtis lives in is divided in two: the rich, wild Socials, or Socs, and the quiet, tough Greasers. Throughout the course of the novel, Ponyboy, his brothers, and his friends start to realize that not all Socs and Greasers fit into people's ideas of who they are. The main character of “The Athletic Snob”, Joe Ricardo, also encounters false stereotypes when he meets an overweight boy named Piggy who doesn't play sports at

Cardale Jones, former Ohio State University football quarterback tweets; “Why should we have to go to class if we came here to play FOOTBALL, we ain’t come to play SCHOOL, classes are POINTLESS” . This tweet continues the stereotype that athletes are stupid and do not care about getting good grades. On average athletes have a higher grade point average than non athletes. In a recent study, it presents that college athletes had a high grade point average, averaging a 3.25, than college students, averaging a 3.01. Not all athletes fall under the dumb jock stereotype.

Deciding whether to attend a community college or university can be a difficult decision for students especially high school seniors and fresh high school graduates. After graduating from high school, the next step in the academic journey is to attend a college or a university. Before I got into college, I wanted to attend a university. I never considered attending a community college because I considered it irrelevant and less rewarding than a university. Now I have a different view about community colleges and I can clearly point out the major difference between a community college and a university. A community college is a two year college which offers two or three year courses and award associate degrees and certificates. Most community colleges are linked with certain universities which makes it easier for students to transfer. My decision to attend a community was strongly influenced by Cost, easy transition to university, and the need to balance school, work, and social life.

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.

In the article “The Good That Community Colleges Do, Part 1”, author Rob Jenkins discusses the benefits and values of Community College. Recent studies have shown that the value of two-year colleges were hard to predict. In fact, one report shows that the value of a two-year degree is less than that of a high school diploma, while another report shows that most students are receiving a financial return on their degree. While Rob Jenkins believes both reports have valid points and arguments, he states that “so many of the things that community colleges do for their students and communities are difficult to measure empirically” (“The Good That Community Colleges Do, Part 1”).

In her article, Magdalena Kay brings up the idea that students feel the need to go to college in order to obtain a job that makes enough money to support the lifestyle that they want (3). These students want to go to universities to earn their degree so that they can achieve their blissful little life with a gratifying job, but for students, it is not always possible to make it to a university right away as planned. Frequently universities cost too much, people are not mature enough, their grades are not satisfactory, or they need to work and do not have the time for classes; this is where community colleges come into play. They can be a great option for people who are unable to go straight to a four-year college and they allow students to get most of their general classes out of the way and help them work towards a bachelor 's degree. A majority of students transfer to a four-year college from community colleges by virtue of the benefits of it, but through the process over 50 percent of students lose some portion of their credits and this sets them back on their path to earning a degree. While transferring has copious benefits for students, there are not a multitude of options for paths between colleges to transfer.

Community college is an ideal sources for obtaining higher education for many reasons. First, local community colleges provide an affordable alternative to large public and private universities (Grimes, Rezek, Campbell, 2013). In addition to serving as a gateway for economically disadvantaged students, local community colleges serve as a gateway for less academically qualified students (Grimes, Rezek, Campbell, 2013). Many students who are unable to attend highly selective colleges can attend community colleges, obtain a degree and/or transfer to a school that offers or more diverse degree programs (J. Doe, personal communication, November 11, 2015).

The two major community colleges that kids choose to attend are Shoreline Community College and Bellevue Community College. While there are a large number of students who choose to attend four-year universities directly upon graduating high school, there are a number of others who elect to attend community colleges. The decision to attend community colleges is a very practical one that has many advantages and benefits. The first major reason for enrolling into a community college is the fact that enrollment is open to anyone who has the capacity to pay for classes. As one male classmate of mine commented, “I go to a Shoreline C.C. now because I knew that I needed to start a college career somewhere, it’s just that I didn’t have the grades in high school to get into a university. I hope to use Shoreline as a way to help me get in to a university later.” The idea that this student expresses is perhaps the leading factor that leads to community college enrollment. The nice thing about community college is that it gives students who did not perform well in high school the opportunity for a second chance. It ensures that nobody is completely shunned from higher education. The mission statement of Shoreline Community College is:

As young African American men are being recruited and placed into college life with academics and athletics stereotypes come with it, especially against their intelligence. The dumb-jock stereotype is self-explanatory; many peers associate the stereotype with African American athletes. The dumb-jock stereotype is traced back “to 500 B.C., when Greek athletes were criticized for the inordinate amount of time they used in preparations for competition and for neglecting their intellectual development” (Sailes 1993). The dumb-jock stereotypes are seen in the media through movies, television, and commercials.

Racial stereotypes that have affected the ways athletes behave and perform further reinforce these racial standards. Therefore, the stereotypes become more prevalent and with time they are further enhanced by the media. Thus, athletes themselves often believe these misconceptions and determine their own destiny with this in mind. While the stereotypes of African Americans have infiltrated their childhood lives unfortunately contributing to their own beliefs in these stereotypes, the Asian American desire to rid themselves of these stereotypes acts as a paradox because instead, it further enhances and reinforces the color line. While discussing professional level sports within the United States, Asian Americans are often left out of the picture