Paying College Athletes, Good or Bad - Essay Example

Should College Athletes be paid? In most of the countries across the globe the concept athlete is of least importance, but when we go through the American history; its significance can be seen as constantly on a rise and it has now reached a point of actually becoming a commercial business. College athletics are getting wider significance in terms of fame, a lot of media coverage and money. There are athletic organizations organizing events like championships and tournaments with a lot of media coverage; in fact turning college athletics into a monetary business. These so called big events have made legends like Michael Jordan, Bill Russell and many more; but not everyone is lucky like them. The legendary sportsmen emerging out of college athletics are getting so much fame that as a result people have started running for the athletics bandwagon for fame alone. There have been many debates concerning this issue; whether the students should be paid or not, when everybody else is earning through their games, competitions and tournaments etc. Whatever the answer is, the main objective remains to establish a successful future of the students and what else is better than studies to make one’s future? If the sports are of that much significance, they should better separate this system from an academic institution. College athletes should not be paid; there are so many reasons, they can always be facilitated with other incentives. Moreover not all athletes are professional and expert enough to deserve a pay. Plus, cash incentives may lead to misuse of money due to their young age, secondly if they don’t focus on education and focus on the physical activity because of their cash incentive they will not be able to advance towards better education. Thirdly, if during that time, they sustain a serious physical injury they will be left high and dry; without a college degree and a future in sports. Other incentives, in the other hand like paying for their education, tuitions, books, hostel, and library fees etc. can be helpful in lifting up the burden of their parents and guardians. People in favor of paying college athletes should rather be asking for separate athletic schools, where students can be proper professional future sportsmen; they better not be making students incline towards something other than education. Smith (p.3) advocates the same idea by saying "Athletics has nothing to do with academics". However if organizations are earning through college athletics, there is nothing wrong with this because they cover so many other areas and they can spend it in education as well, so an issue of where they spend can be raised, and one can raise an issue to increase the size of scholarship for the student-athlete. Excess of everything is bad and when it comes to cash; its excess always leads to bad habits. Moreover children don’t need to be paid for an extracurricular activity because when they will have huge amounts in hand they will definitely end up misusing it. It is common among young people to buy junk food, adult CDs/DVDs/magazines, branded products and other frivolous items; paying them is simply giving them an opportunity to do so. However it is only putting a germ of greed in them, as Kindred (p.1) says, “Pay them, and it won’t be enough. It never is”. It is evident that most of universities in America are giving scholarships to their athletes; some of them have already increased the size of the scholarships as well, so it is better to shun the topic of paid sports, it is not even worth discussing. Education is one of the basic needs of human being like shelter, food and clothes. Moreover education leads towards better future. When a person goes to school for study then it should remain the first priority for them; giving them cash to play which automatically motivates them to give second priority to the studies is not good. Cash incentive is to enhance commitment in work performance and when commitment comes, all other options impulsively set aside; but when education gets set aside; future cannot be bright. Athletes dont have free choice of what major they take if the classes conflict with practice schedules, says McCormick (p. 1). Though, if they don’t focus on education and focus on the physical activity because of their cash incentive they will not be able to advance towards better education. “Education is the best provision for old age”, says Aristotle (n.p). If education will not be the first priority they will end up having nothing in hand. A student athlete Tignor (n.p) says, “I think that life for student-athletes at any school is intense; the time commitment involved with your sport eats up most of the time that other students have to do things like socialize, sleep, watch TV, be involved with campus clubs, etc. There is also a constant pressure to stay on top of your school work”. Sports are always healthy for people but young minds need to maintain a balance of mental and physical activity. Moreover if they sustain major physical injury in sports as a result of their inclination towards cash incentive, they will be left without any future in sports and education. In case of American college athletes it is becoming a game of life and death to the young people, they are competing on higher level, working hard but still "The right of control is the biggest one," McCormick (p.3) says. "They (coaches) have such control over the lives of the young men and at the end of the season or sometimes even during the season, they can say, Youre fired." Which is not healthy for young minds rather injustice to them. There are so many other monetary and non-monetary incentives to be offered to the students rather than exploiting them by paying for a sport. "Student athletes get clothes, dental work, and access to tutors, computers and transportation," says McClelland (p.4) "It is not a pay for play. The NCAA (National Counsel of Athlete Association) sees this as an investment for our student athletes in a college education”. In fact most of the colleges are already giving the incentives to the students. “An athletic scholarship at Wake Forest University includes books, tuition and thousands of dollars per semester to rent an apartment, pay utilities and purchase food and other personal items”. (Ford, p.1) People in favor of paying college athletes should rather be asking for separate athletic schools, where students can be future sportsmen; they better not be making them incline towards sports when they have a degree to do. McCormick (p.3) proves, “Young men playing major football and basketball are not there primarily for an education. Theyre primarily there to win football games and basketball games and perform well”. This clearly proves how young students are trying to get the fame in the game, by working hard to win the competitions; it rather shows that education is of least importance to them. Building separate athletic school is a better option instead of making the entire nation’s young generation going away from studies. In case of America there are student athletic organizations, who are now earning billions through the student athletics, in fact there is nothing wrong in doing so. Long debate against them should be focusing on asking them to spend their income on education rather than paid sports. There must be a question to increase the size of scholarship which will resultantly benefit the students and their parents instead of exploiting them. In the entire world there are so many people not even getting an opportunity for studies, so the one who do have it should never waste it. Let’s face it, a man’s physical capacity starts deteriorating long before his mental capacity. Man was made to think, that’s what separates us from the rest of God’s creation. We did not put a man on the moon by running fast or jumping high, we did that by reaching high with our brains. Therein lies the future of our children, physical activity like sports is healthy for them but it will never bring in what education will; a bright future and hope for them as well as our world, knowledge and confidence in themselves and a long term security and stability. Works cited Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC), quotes on Education from Quotations Book. http://quotationsbook.com/quote/11844/ Ford, William (2011), in “Even Playing Field”, Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, Vol. 28, Issue 6. McCormick, Robert in Cooper, Kenneth J. (2011) “Should College Athletes be paid to play? Diverse: Issues in Higher Education Vol. 28, Issue 10. Kindred, Randy (2011) “Pay for play not a cure for college sports”, Sports, pg.B1. Smith, Earl in in Ford, William (2011) “Even Playing Field?” Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, Vol. 28, Issue 6 Tignor, Hampton (2010) in an interview to Shelby in “Eat, Pray, and Watch College Sports” http://www.seventeen.com/college/freshman-15/life-of-a-college-athlete McClelland, Charles in Ford, William (2011) “Even Playing Field?” Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, Vol. 28, Issue 6 Read More