The Effects Of High-Performance Sports On Academic Performance

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).

The topic I chose to study for my report is inequality in college athletes regarding academics. The first article I read was, Class and Cleats: Community College Student Athletes and Academic Success by David Horton, which was published in New Directions for Community Colleges. The second article I read was, Are Athletes Also Students? The Educational Attainment of College Athletes by Dean Purdy, Stanly Eitzen, and Rick Hufnagel, which was published in Educational Researcher. I chose to study this topic because there is apparent inequality between student-athletes and non student-athletes in aid they are given academically.

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.

When participation in a sport in high school, it may interfere with class work, meaning an athlete may have to leave class early in order to participate in a game or tournament. With doing so, it is up to the student to get their work done. They have to make it up on their own time in order to make up what they missed in class. This teaches students time management and motivates students to try their best in order to make up work they missed. All coaches should take into consideration that if a student does not have the grades, then the athlete may not participate in competition or practice. Even this rule applies to the team’s best athlete, grade ineligibility applies to everyone. When it comes to high school, the sport itself generates motivation to keep the student on top of things and wanting to thrive for greatness in academics and athletics as well (“Merkel,”). All students should know that grades come before athletics. This will make student athletes aware of the minimum GPA that will be needed to be maintained in order to participate in athletics (“The Benefits of Participating in Sports”). Consequently, it forces students to learn

The Atlantic article, “High-School Sports Aren’t Killing Academics,” by Daniel H. Bowen and Colin Hitt make a statement on the sports programs in schools. They oppose the thought that participating in sports programs results in a student’s academics suffering, but instead believe sports programs provide academic benefits. Their article targets the article, “The Case Against High-School Sports”, by Amanda Ripley who argues that participation in sports at school cost students’ academic success. The duo constructs their argument around Ripley’s claims and counter her points to strengthen their own. Their argument has a mix of supporting information and points that weakened Bowen and Hitt’s claim. This is due to the methods and evidence they provided which didn’t appear as convincing when trying to persuade readers.

The impact of preserving sports in high schools has been surrounded by much controversy as people suspect that it is the reason behind the poor academic achievement of students. Opponents to high school sports feel that allowing athletics to be a part of schools sidetracks the focus of the student body, which goes completely against the main purpose of schools. Indeed, this assertion is completely true and based upon plentiful evidence. High school sports undoubtedly come at the expense of student academic achievement since they divert the attention of students away from academics and they come with far too many financial costs, both of which incur negative impacts on the academics within a school. The bottomline is that sports are harming the education of students, so a school must make the decision between composing quality sports teams or providing high level academics; both of these choices simply cannot occur simultaneously.

Also sports help kids with their grades.” According to a 2013 evaluation conducted by the Crime Lab at the University of Chicago, Becoming a Man--Sports Edition creates lasting improvements in the boys’ study habits and grade point averages. “ (“ Bowen & Hitt”). Sports are the number one reason for a kid who is thinking about dropping out to stay in school. Think about it if you need a 2.0 to stay in sports and you struggle in school but, you love sports and want to do it in college you will stay in school to achieve your dream. Also with sports that helps me is you don’t get time to procrastinate because if I know I have a game tomorrow and I have a big essay do the day after that I will do it tonight because I know I can’t do it after the game. Which is why most people who aren’t in sports struggle with procrastine. “Neish (1993) that found positive correlations between high, medium, or low levels of involvement in extracurricular activities and students’ GPAs and involved students attained higher GPAs than did students who were not involved.”(“ Lumpkin & Favor”). This proves again that sports truly do help are kids in school.

Claims are often made about the impact of high school athletics on academic achievement. We find that high school athletics do not appear to detract from academic success. In fact, based on the data we examined from Ohio high schools, an emphasis on athletic success and participation is associated with higher scores on standardized tests and higher graduation rates.

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

Athletics play an immense role in the lives of youth, whether they play with friends for fun or in team competition as student athletes. Regular physical activity helps build and maintain bone and muscle health, helps reduce the risk of developing obesity, and promotes psychological well-being (U.S. Dept.). Public health programs promote the benefits of physical activity, but those benefits are reduced by the possibility of injury (CDC, 2). The participation in athletic sports outweigh the potential of sustaining a concussion.

High school sports make student athletes strive for better success in their education. Sure some Schools have a minimum G.P.A requirement of 2.0, and to get that all your classes have to be “C” or better. Well that’s better than letting them have a 1.0 and letting them play. It makes them have something worth studying for, For example my friend Bryan Garcia does not like school or work but he is always looking for ways to make his grades better so that he may play with the John F. Kennedy soccer team. Also not all the states in the United States of America have a G.P.A requirement to play in a sport activity, twelve out of the fifty states in the USA require a G.P.A to play."A High School Athlete 's GPA Vs. Average High School Student 's GPA." Everyday Life. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Feb. 2016.”Sports participation is associated with higher GPAs, lower dropout rates and stronger commitments to school compared to the average,non-athlete high school student”. Also they made a study for Kansas in 2008-2009 between athletes and non-athletes,Academic Performance Of Athletes And Non‐Athletes, and Page 41. COMPARING THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETES AND NON-ATHLETES IN KANSAS IN 2008-2009 (n.d.): n. pag. Web.”high school athletes earned higher grades,graduated at a higher rate, dropped out of school less frequently, and scored higher on state assessments than did non-athletes”. Student athletes have a greater chance of graduating with a 3.0 or more. They are more

The bang of the head, the crack of the bone, the tear of a muscle, are all things that high school athletes put themselves at risks for. Every time a high school athlete steps foot on a field, rink, or court they put themself in a risky situation. Although the risk may be there, athletes achieve many valuable lessons throughout high school sports. The valuable lessons promote self-confidence, socialization and team spirit, as well as decreases stress. While playing sports, athletes are at excessive risks of being injured. Although high school athletes have a risk of being injured, the benefits of high school sports programs outweighs the physical risk because of its benefits to teenagers mental health, benefits to teenagers physical health,

Sports programs have been an integral part of all schools. They support the academics of the school and therefore foster success in life. These programs are educational and help produce productive citizenship. They help students experience and build skills that may help them in their future, like interpersonal and time management skills. Education may kindle the light of knowledge, but sports help to maintain the proper physique. Sports are also an important means of entertainment and a use for energy after long hours of study. Sports increase a student’s performance not only in the classroom but also in their life.

Sports and the general physical activities have been associated with a plethora of benefits. Not so much in correlation with education though. The debate on sports and academic performance relates as to whether sports affect academic performance positively or negatively. Mostly, academics, especially in high school and colleges, require an enormous time commitment. In the same way, sports demand time commitment. Apparently, academics and sports run linearly and either would consume the time of the other. Such would be the argument put forth by the claimants of the negative effects of sports on academic performance. The opponents to the positive correlation of sports and academic performance ground their arguments largely on the time commitment that the two require claiming that sports would consume a student’s time for study hence affecting their academic performance. Proponents of a positive correlation between sports and academic performance summon an extensive range of evidence showing that students who participate in sports perform well in academics. The proponents’ arguments are fetched from the proven benefits of exercise which improve a student’s overall well-being and motivate their academic performance. Opponents would, however, argue that the studies that find athletes and sports persons good at academics do not show how such correlations occur in that other factors could be the actual causes of the correlation and not sports in themselves. Regardless, opponents to the claim that sports affect academic performance positively cannot deny that sports affect the overall well being of any human being. As such, there is no denying that sports affect academic performance positively where a balance among the two is maintained.

The second article was tested with a whole middle school which tests all of the students. The problem was exact to the first article, that students in school were not receiving their full physical activity experience. Determining whether the sports can help will aid athletes in not having to think the sport is bringing their grade down. The method was a simple survey, asking the student how much physical activity they have in a normal day and was compared to what their grades were at the time of the study. The results in the study showed that the student’s athletic activity had little effect on the grades of the students, which disproves stereotypes. Limitations in the study are that ninety eight surveys were administered but only fifty eight were given back to the researchers. Further research may be that elementary, middle, and high school students can all be tested to see if the age of the student determines their success or failure with participating in physical activity.