Читать реферат по английскому: "Exploitation Of College Athletes Essay Research Paper" Страница 1

(Назад) (Cкачать работу)

Exploitation Of College Athletes Essay, Research Paper

Exploitation of College Athletes

John Paye was a star quarterback at Stanford University in the 1980s. In his senior season at Stanford, the football team had a record of eight wins and three losses. The year after Paye graduated, the Cardinal s record fell to four wins and seven losses. Economist Roger Noll of Stanford University estimates that Stanford s net operating revenues declined by $400,000 the year after Paye departed, yet Paye only received a scholarship valued at $17,000 (Shropshire 72). Through his athletic talents at Stanford, he generated an enormous amount of money for the school, yet he was not given anything besides a scholarship in return. Throughout his career he was forced to perform so that his team would have a winning record. Pressures were put on him not only from his college, but also through the media. Because of contracts between college institutions and media personelle, college athletes are expected to perform well to obtain high ratings for the media. The NCAA has a current seven year $1.7 billion television contract with CBS for the rights to televise its men s basketball tournament (Gerdy 114). CBS pays this enormous amount of money in hopes that the basketball games will draw high ratings, thus increasing its profit from corporations commercialism. Given that both media and colleges benefit financially from their student-athletes, it seems only fair that the athletes be monetarily compensated for their athletic performances.

It is clear that college athletes are being exploited through the universities to which they belong. Many colleges only look at the athletic potential of a high school student and not at the student s academic achievement. A study done in 1996 showed that the average athlete on a top college football or men s basketball team enters college in the bottom quarter of his class (Sack and Staurowsky 96). Included are athletes who cannot read or complete simple mathematical problems. They then exploit these students until they are injured or use up their four years of eligibility (Student-athletes ). Many colleges do not adequately prepare their athletes for the

future. They are only concerned with the present, and how the athletes are performing on the athletic field.

Walter Byers, the executive director of the NCAA from 1952 to 1987, says that college admissions offices and faculty exploit athletes by taking on board poorly prepared students and providing them with low quality course work so that athletes can meet minimum eligibility standards (299). The athletic department s main priority is to keep their athletes eligible for their athletic season rather than pushing them to succeed academically. In 1994, Clifford Adelman, a Senior Research Associate for the U.S. Department of Education, compared the academic performances of varsity athletes to the rest of the student body. He concluded that varsity football and basketball players took longer to graduate, earned lower grades, and pursued less demanding

courses (Byers 301). By providing them with lower level course work, colleges are really not perceiving these athletes as students. The primary focus of these colleges seems to be the revenue generated by the student-athletes.

There are many examples of athletes who have been pushed through college without receiving a proper education from their chosen college. Dexter Manley, a football player from Oklahoma State University, and Kevin Ross, a basketball player from Creighton University, both graduated without learning how to read (Byers 298-299). Both of these men are examples of poor, academically unqualified students who were used and victimized by their athletic

departments. The daily actions of universities should show clearly that educating student-athletes is the primary purpose of their athletic departments, and that the true measure of success hinges upon athletes obtaining degrees (Gerdy 137). In reality, this is not how many universities operate. Brian Rahilly, a basketball player for the University of Tulsa, aimed at playing in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and then becoming a sportscaster. He left school without a degree, and was quoted as saying; I was shortchanged. There are times I feel that I was nothing more than a piece of equipment, like a football or a practice jersey that the Tulsa Athletic Department owned (Byers 298). Numerous athletes share Rahilly s ideas about the idea of becoming a professional athlete, and the elite ones do become professionals. Many of these athletes are leaving school before their eligibility is up and before they earn their degree. This is one reason why the NCAA is looking into giving intercollegiate athletes some financial relief beyond scholarships (Wulf). This financial relief would at least show that universities appreciate the efforts put forth by their athletes. Along with the idea of becoming a professional, various student athletes feel like they were merely property of the athletic department, used to financially aid their

college.

College athletes are clearly not treated as normal college students. John Gerdy, a member of the college athletic community for many years, states that athletic departments view scholarship student athletes as property, bought and paid for with an athletic scholarship (139). Because they are paying for the athlete s education, they feel they have the right to control his or her activities. The athletic scholarship also contributes to the alienation of student-athletes from the general student body (Gerdy 139). The general student body views student athletes with scholarships like paid employees brought to the college to increase their school s visibility. Coaches also look at student-athletes as their employees whom they can control. They feel like they can limit their athletes activities to only

Похожие работы