Hopefully, now, college athletes will be treated the same way as us “normal” college students.
It took the NCAA long enough to figure out that athletes were getting unfair special privileges. They are investigating 20 schools for academic fraud accusing them of having student athletes earning credits and enrolled in classes they never attended.
I’ll be damned if someone that wears a number on their back only has to worry about being the best player that they can be, while meanwhile I’m stressing myself out trying to juggle all my classes.
College athletes already have it good. They have the best seats in the house, walk around in their top-notch athletic gear, and are treated like celebrities. The least they can do is their schoolwork.
Many schools that aren’t being investigated could be committing academic fraud on a smaller level. Many college athletes at other schools attend class, but they are still given unfair advantages. Some are assigned classes designed to earn then an easy “A” (a class so easy a 1st grader could past), their grades are “curved” (more like, “here’s an extra 20 points”), or they are receiving “extra help” (the teacher making 100% sure they know the answers).
The athletes aren’t completely to blame. The athletic directors shouldn’t allow this to happen, some athletes weren’t even made aware that they were enrolled in certain classes. No matter whether an athlete comes to college in order to make it to the league, to attend school on a scholarship, or both the purpose of college is to further your knowledge. So, athletic directors should be mindful of that. It doesn’t matter how great the player is (they could be the next Tom Brady) school should always be the first priority.
Many athletic directors are just worried about their teams ranking. The NCAA should do a thorough investigation of all “sport” schools.
Student athletes are just as much students as they are athletes (hence the word student). It’s great they are so talented at their sport, but they need to bring that talent to the books and get to studying. Equality is equality no matter the situation, so maybe soon we will see that all students earn a fair degree.
Student athletes shouldn’t get special treatment
By Clarke Perkins
January 29, 2015
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