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Pros And Cons Of College Athletes

2048 Words9 Pages

Chelsea Oliver
Professor LePrevost
ENG 131
November 30, 2014
Should Colleges Give Their Athletes Funds Beyond Their Scholarships?
Since the birth of collegiate sports by Ivy League schools the idea of paying college athletes has been upon debate [over one hundred years]. Before 1940 recruits from Ivy League schools were paid to play without being enrolled in the school. Because of this, the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletics Association) adopted a “Sanity Code” in 1948 that limited financial aid for athletes to tuition and fees, and required that aid otherwise be given based on need (qtd. in Johnson and Acquavira). In the early 1950’s, with the threat of several southern schools bolting from the NCAA, the code was revised to allow athletic …show more content…

Student athletes are not exploited. The exploitation of student athletes is essentially saying that collegiate athletics is comparable to a plantation. According to a journal written by Dennis A. Johnson, Ed.D., and John Acquaviva, Ph.D. “The coaches are the overseers who get work from the laborers (players) who provide riches for the masters (universities) while receiving little for their efforts.” They also mention how slaves weren’t free to leave the plantation and how it is comparable to an athlete not being able to excuse themselves from a letter of intent or transfer without the consequence of sitting out a year. However, these student athletes are made aware of the consequences of their actions and more than likely sit down with their coaches and discuss advantages and disadvantages before making big decisions like …show more content…

Student athletes shouldn’t be considered employees because they are students first then athletes. The NCAA is dedicated to insuring collegiate athletes remain amateurs; these athletes have forgotten playing is a privilege and not a right. With today’s society in demand to be paid for redundant tasks because of the current state of the economy, these athletes have found themselves getting washed into the idea of getting paid beyond their scholarship thinking it will solve some, if not all of their financial problems when this belief hasn’t been fully thought through. A free education is an acceptable form of payment for amateur athletes because knowledge is power, and education is

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