by bigerne

Created on: January 03, 2010

College athletics are a thrilling sight to experience. The ability for players to show talent is arguably when they are in their college years. However, college has more important functions than just a show of athletic ability. It’s a place were traditionally, the work of becoming a productive person who can contribute to society is undertaken. This work is not easy if one is not prepared from the very first day. Sadly, many top athletes have had their lives ruined or have had to return back to school to undertake what they have missed in their previous college experience. After years of successfully putting out a tremendous amount of academically bright, non-athletic students, the question must be asked: Is it ethical for students to get extra help in school while playing sports in college?  To answer this question an analysis of some situations must be done, a possible solution proposed, the theory behind the solution rational will be discussed and implications will be addressed.

The purpose of college is to train students to become functioning individual, of society; the opposite sometimes seems to be the case for college athletes. While students are studying to become future leaders and workers, athletes are training for a career that is full of possible career ending injuries, limited contracts, tremendous stress and short-term career expectancy.  In college athletes are trained on the basics of how their particular sport is played on a professional level. In addition to that, they are courted by professional teams and are encouraged to play for various organizations long before they graduate. Moreover, they sometimes are invited to leave school or not attend at all depending on how good they are. These things, combined with tremendous pressure from students, coaches, and ex-players of the school, can create challenges for learning.  Schools realized this and have resources that help the players complete their work and tutor them in places that they are weak in. In most cases, unlike the normal student tutors, athletes receive special attention and consideration from a specialized department that contains specialized tutors who can help them more.  Due to the frequency of missing class because of practice student athletes need these accommodations to learn.

The problem is that student athletes are not given an opportunity to learn well.  For example, at FSU several athletes were caught cheating on an online test. The tutors

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• Next Page >>