Good Essay About Should Athletics Be A Part Of College? At What Cost?

Over the years, athlete students especially those who nurtured their talents during college years have faced a lot of differing opinions pertaining their “career” as well as their education. Much controversy on this issue is well evident while some colleges support their athlete students for the sake of their “names” other colleges support the respective athletes genuinely (Stevens, et al. 48). Notably, some athlete students are taken in some colleges for the purpose of games, which is used as a bargaining tool and a reason for the educational existence of these students. On the other hand, established college athletes have various reasons for participating in college, which can be voluntary action whereas some are forced for the purpose of formality. Thus, the question remains, should these athletes be part of colleges? And if they are part of it, should they be paid a price? At what cost?
Athletic students, just like regular students, should be part of colleges for many reasons. To begin with, these students require skills to help them maneuver their way through life under different circumstances. One could easily argue that athletic students have career, thus, no need for them to take education on a higher level. Well, this might not be the case. Education serves as an extensive knowledge given to an individual, which sharpens and prepares an individual in real life (Dunn 45). Athletic students might have a promising career on one side; however, extensive education will always give them another plan whenever athletics fails to go through. Secondly, athletics students always serve a greater percentage of revenue for the colleges. This is through competitions they participate in that earns the institutions not only money, but prestige as well. Prestige is money, well, these institutions earn it. From a research carried out, most colleges rely on 75% finance from sports (Stevens, et al. 85). This aspect serves one reason athletics should be upheld, of course with the focus on academics as well. Finally, athletics at the college level serves as a way of nurturing the sports talents that these students portray as well as expose these students on larger grounds to shape their careers. Not all athletic students end up athletes in the real world once they are out of colleges since some realize a different line of interest following the exposure. Whereas some take part in sports for the sake of scholarship; others participate in it for the sake of being good at it but not passion.
On the other hand, athlete students being part of the college are expected to participate at a certain level when it comes to sports. If anything, most athletic students would focus more on sports leaving aside the academic part, as long as they achieve the minimum GPA stipulated by the NCCA. To some extent, these athlete students will create an attitude towards academics with less participation when it comes to it. Often, they are always pushed by their sponsors or the school while other schools would keep them for the sake of sports reputation. These athletes end up being used for the schools’ “selfish” purposes. In as much as there are costs and revenues associated with sports, still, their reason for existence in colleges would undermine their ability in different fields as well as give them less chance in decision making process as explained in the paper.
What, then, should be their revenue? Evidently, college athletes benefit a lot in terms of revenues they gain from television shows, tickets, and corporate sponsors. Many athletics programs that are set by colleges end up being offered to the students in the athletic department for free, whereas regular students might end up being charged. Arguably, these students end up benefiting from the sports department of the college, which is reflected in their performance in sports during any contest. According to (Jordan, et al. 65), college athletes should be present in every college; however, they should pocket the same amount as a school to avoid exploitation. Woods further argues that these athletes are made to avoid any part time work, unlike every other normal college students who are free to work during part times. As a result, this restriction forces them to practice during free time as well as shape their skills during leisure hours. To conquer with this, these students should be treated just like the other students when it comes to leisure times, and as long as they deliver the expected grades in school then their purpose in school should not only be tied to athletics.
In a research conducted on the nature of academic performance of the athletic students, non-revenue students performed quite well in academics as compared to revenue athletic students (Sanderson, et al. 119). This explains a clear line of what the athletic students would do to gain that revenue, which involves skipping or foregoing classes for the sake of perfecting their act. This trait is often seen with basketball and football players, which always result in inverse relationship between academic performance and sports performance. Just like Woods, Benjamin argues that athletic students are more or less the same as the regular students. Their participation in sports could rely more on the institution. However, their level of academic performance could as well be determined by the effort the facility puts in them.
All in all, in college sports, money matters and anything that represents the ramifications of the business part of the college. Often, the athletic students are given offers sometimes, which will give the coach the strength to take an action depending on the acceptance or decline of the offer. This suppresses the need of the student to make decisions on professional matters, following the limitations stipulated especially when they decline the offer. As (Jordan, et al. 12) would put, this would only happen in the world of college sports. The existence of athletes in colleges are often more beneficial to the college than to them, which makes their personal existence in college almost invalid. Their decisions would mostly lie in the college’s administration, which explains why they would benefit less as compared to the college. Revenue earning athletes have shown a fluctuating performance in their academics. Colleges seek to exploit the academic potential of students, which then, fails to show, in this case (Sanderson, et al. 120). Once the cost is introduced, the purpose of the student in college would almost be “meaningless”, given that they have a low record when it comes to academics. If anything, sports can always be improved through practice and proper coaching, which does not necessarily imply that these students should be part of the college system.

Counterargument

On the flip side, athletics should not be part of the college for many apparent reasons. To begin with, making athletics part of the college diverts the minds of athletic students owing the fact that these students tend to follow their passion rather than focus on what brought them to college particularly. Owing their love for athletics, these students end up spending much of their time concentrating on athletics and devoting less time for their studies. For this reason, athletics should not be part of the college. Secondly athletics should not be part of the college because there exist athletic camps and academies that can nurture their talent, rather than struggling with academics, they can go nurture their talents in these camps and training institutions. At a college level, it is imperative for athletes to make a credible choice regarding their future career by choosing to go with either academics or athletics. Academics and athletics should not be mixed at all.
In regards to whether these athletes should be compensated or not, I think these athletes deserve monetary compensation owing the fact that they not only build a good reputation of the college but also attract sponsors to these schools that essentially offer financial support. Additionally, they ought to be compensated because they have bills to settle and also build their future life by establishing themselves early enough.

Conclusion

In conclusion, athletics should be part of the college because many students have talents they ought to nurture. Apparently, an athlete ought to have the necessary skills and educational background that he or she cannot acquire anywhere else apart from college, for this reason athletics should be part of the college. Though athletics should be incorporated into the college system, athlete students should not receive any compensation because money will technically divert their minds away from studies.

Works Cited

Dunn, John M. "Should the playing field be leveled? Funding inequities among Division I
Athletic programs." Journal of Intercollegiate Sport 6.1 (2013): 44-51.
Jordan, Lanetta B., et al. "Screening US college athletes for their sickle cell disease carrier
Status." American journal of preventive medicine 41.6 (2011): S406-S412.
Sanderson, Allen R., and John J. Siegfried. "The Case for Paying College Athletes." The Journal
Of Economic Perspectives 29.1 (2015): 115-137.
Stevens, Robert E., et al. Stress in college athletics: Causes, consequences, coping. Routledge,
2013.