Neil Petrie Athletes And Education Summary

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).

Although most student athletes never become professionals, they spend excessive amounts of time playing sports neglecting their education. There are many possible solutions to balance academics with athletics. One possible solution may be to screen perspective student athletes before accepting them into

Many people believe that the college athletes are just like the professionals because they train and work just as hard as hard as the pros. First of all college students are working and training so hard because they want to make it to the major-leagues some day. “Students are not professional athletes who are paid salaries and incentives for a career in sports. They are students receiving access to a college education through their participation in sports, for which they earn scholarships to pay tuition, fees, room and

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).

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

Although they are not on the professional level, being a college athlete is one of the most hardworking and time-consuming activities. These students are nearly working the same amount of hours as those who are in full-time careers. Today, as the athletics in college grow so do organizations and they receive all of the financial income. One of the biggest debates being argued among schools is if college athletes are receiving the right amount of credit they deserve for their hard work and dedication. The side who oppose paying college athletes argue that these sports are not jobs, the scholarships they receive are enough for their needs, and that income will affect the competition between teams and the player’s performance.

People claim that if these students have to work on their game all the time, then they deserve a reward. On average, college students spend 10 hours a week in class and 4 hours of studying for each class, so that means students spend 90 hours a week between class and sports(“Top 10 Reasons College Athletes Should Be Paid.”). If these kids work so much and take so much time to focus on their game, how are they going to finish their homework and study for tests. But that is what these kids signed up for when they committed themselves to a college to play a sport. During interviews when deciding to go to that college, coaches tell you that you will be doing that sport day in and day out and there will be little time for extracurricular activities.

Some athletes put more time in sports than college, and do so without any pay. In fact the author states that “Academic work for some athletes is secondary: top men’s basketball and football players spend 40 hours per week on their sports, easily. During

One of the main pressures these athletes face is academics. College athletes’ level of stress is extreme. They have to face double challenges everyday. Aside from having to perform well in their sport, they have to keep a decent grade point average (GPA). Although their classes might be less demanding, college athletes are recommended to choose an easier major so it’ll be manageable for them to balance out sports and school (Eitzen, page 56). Regardless of their majors not being

According to Horace Mitchell “collegiate athletes are students receiving access to a college education through their participation in sports.” Yes, but it’s not like they are VIP's. Most athletes still have to pay for some of their tuition and all athletes have to go to class. They do everything a non-athlete would do but, they have more stress upon them because they have to maintain a B average in order to play their sport. Athletes are under a tremendous amount of pressure not only from their sport but from keeping up with their studies also. All of that hard work deserves a

Athletes are sometimes overworked because coaches and colleges think they need to practice all the time. College athletes go through grueling practices, meaningful games and practice over 40 hours a week (Kahn). These athletes spend too much time practicing to work on actual college class work. Athletes are more of an employee than a student with the amount of practice they have. These players do not have enough time to do it all. “the schedule is akin to a full time job, with 40 to 50 hours a week devoted to football-related activities”(He). Football players, whether it is practice or not, spend way too much time doing football activities to get homework or other school related things done. Sports are a big part of these kid’s life but it should not be their entire life. Athletes will have nothing to fall back on if colleges work them so much with practices and not enough with school. Having all of this practice time may not help them prepare for the real life after college. All that colleges would have to do is have the sports teams focus a little bit less on practice time and maybe a little bit more on actual school. College students need to be prepared for life after college and practicing all the time does not

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.

There are numerous of myths that are going around in society about the comparison of athletes and non-athletes. Some say that non-athletes has a advantage over athletes, mainly because they may have a more less demanding schedule and are not entitled to spend many hours training rigorously or leaving almost every week to go away on sporting events. Also many say that athletes have an advantage because of pass researches that was done, with athletes and their performance in their academics; they mentioned that athletes are able to function well based on what they are taught as a sports person. Another disadvantage, they are claiming, is that athletes get their books and tuition fully covered. They also have a free support staff to make sure that they excel, which includes tutors, advisers for time management and also to make sure that you are put into the right classes so that you can graduate on time just as everyone else. Within this research we are going to explore

importance of academics cannot be ignored in the life of a student athlete. It is therefore