Jackson Goplen Mrs. Pfiefer

Mrs. Pfiefer

English 4- Set 4

13 May 2011

Student Athletes and Academics

The phrase dumb jock is often used to describe college student athletes but is this necessarily true? People who think this believe that student athletes should be able to take less courses in school because that way they can focus more on the sport. Athletes should not be allowed to take fewer courses because it gives them special treatment and doesn’t give them anything to fall back on if athletics doesn’t work.

` About three percent of college student athletes make it to play professional sports (From High School). This is scary because many college athletes don’t think farther down the road that most of them will not be playing professional sports. There are some athletes who do think ahead though and do well in school. Take the Minnesota Viking’s first round pick Christian Ponder as an example. He won the Jim Tatum award which is given to the top senior student athlete (News). It only took Ponder two and a half years to graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance and also maintained a 3.73 GPA in 2008. This May he just finished his MBA and is currently enrolled in Florida State’s graduate program in Sports Management (News). Ponder isn’t just some nerd though he was drafted in the first round of the NFL draft which is a pretty big accomplishment and he led the Florida State Seminoles to the ACC Atlantic division championship appearance since 2005. He also was a finalist for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm award (News). Christian Ponder isn’t the only successful student athlete such as Matt Birk, Bill Bradley, and Alan Page. So if Christian Ponder does not have a good football career he has a great education to fall back on. Many athletes just try to get by on their natural talent but sometimes that is not enough. Ryan Leaf was a great college quarterback with a cannon for an arm scouts were just drooling over how much talent this young kid had. The San Diego Chargers gladly took Leaf with the second overall pick in the draft. That day Leaf was quoted saying, “I’m looking forward to a 15-year career, a couple of trips to the Super Bowl and a parade through downtown San Diego.” (Qtd. Its Draft Day). Well it didn’t really work out the way that he planned it, he only played four years and the stats he put up were not impressive at all he threw 14 touchdowns, 36 interceptions, 3,666 yards passing, and his record for the Chargers was four wins and fourteen losses. So after his short career Leaf had to go back to college and earn a degree because he was unable to get a job. Some other athletes that this happen to don’t go back to school and it is even harder for them to get jobs and the job that they end up getting usually isn’t a very good job, only if they would have tried harder in school earlier. If student athletes are allowed to take fewer courses it would just be setting them up to fail if sports don’t work and studying does not negatively affect the performance.

If student athletes are required to take the same amount of classes as normal students it would negatively affect their performance on the field, court, or gym. Imagine the stress that these young kids are under. They have to go out and perform in front of thousands of people watching live and millions sitting in front of their television screens also they have full weeks of practice which can be up to about 40 hours a week (Goplen). That is a full work week and we expect these kids to be able to do that along with keeping up on their studies. If student athletes were allowed to take fewer classes it would relieve much stress from their lives and it would also make them better players.

In sports one unfortunate injury can derail a player’s entire career and if they do not have a good education they have nothing to fall back on (Goplen). About 400 division one athletes get injured every year and that is not counting the injuries that they just play through. When an athlete gets injured they might not have another chance to make it big so if they work hard on academics they can still make use of going to school for free.

There would be a higher student athlete graduation rate if they were allowed to take fewer courses. The University of Minnesota football team has a graduation rate of 54% this could be caused by the inability of the athletes to balance their sport and school.

Graduation rate is not affected by if you play a sport or take fewer classes. Scott Goplen who played college football said he played football with a guy who was six foot six, three hundred pounds, and could also run a four five forty. He would have been drafted in the NFL but there was one problem he could not keep up on his classes. He asked Scott how do you spell “skoo” he meant “school” (Goplen). This cannot be because he had too many classes; he needed more classes or needed to actually try. Also if an athlete is having trouble with a class they have tutors that travel with the team and will help them with anything that they need (Goplen). If college athletes were not required to take the normal amount of classes we would not be doing them a favor. It would actually negatively affect them for the rest of their life.

Athletes should not be allowed to take fewer classes because it will not benefit them in the end if anything it will have negative repercussions. There is a small number of college student athletes who make it pro, an injury can derail a player’s career, and graduation isn’t affected because it’s all about effort and they have resources for help on their studies. There are absolutely no reasons that student athletes should be allowed to take fewer courses in school.

Thesis: Athletes should not be allowed to take fewer courses because it gives them special privileges and doesn’t give them anything to fall back on if sports don’t work out.

1. 
   Introduction
   

1. 
   Dumb Jock
   
2. 
   They shouldn’t be allowed to take fewer courses
   
3. 
   Injury, More to life, Special privileges
   

II. Success not guaranteed

A. Not many go pro 3%

B. Ryan Leaf

C. Affects performance

D. Christian Ponder

A. Higher graduation

B. University of Minnesota

C. All about effort

D. Interview

IV. Conclusion

A. Shouldn’t be allowed to take fewer classes

B. Success isn’t guaranteed, academics not affected, fall back on

C. No reason athletes should be able to take fewer classes

Works Cited