SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT

 

 

 

In order to understand the whole debate, It's important that I show you the two sides with an in an depth analysis of what they beleive, why they have these viewpoints, and the implications of their beliefs.

One side of the debate consists of those who are against intercollegiate athletics. Though a label cannot be put on this group of people because they are from various backgrounds, races, gender, and occupations, those who are against athletics tend to be in more respects educators who belief in maintaining the main goal of the university in conferring educational degrees, researchers who have measured the intangibles quantitatively and quantatively, and regular outside observers. Overall, this faction beleives that intercollegiate has a delerious effect on the university student for the following reasons:

Those against intercollegiate athletics

1. College athletics takes up too much time in the form of practices, team obligations, and meetings, which is a pivotal issue of concern in an academically intense university enviroment All other activities, though important, come secondary to this aspect on university life.

COMMENT: Lets take a look at this statement. Though college athletics does take alot of time in the university, the time the athlete spends concerning athletic obligations may not be the issue that is having a deleterious effect on his academic experience. For example, if an athlete is not achieving passing grades at a collegiate institution, one can not link it to the amount of practice time completely. In order to see the real issues one needs to break down how this athlete is spending his time when he is not on the athletic field. Many athletes who have very busy athletic schedules still suceed because they realize that playing intercollegiate sports is a sacrifice, and they must give up other activities in order to stay on top of their academic work. A great example of this method of thought can be seen at Duke University, who has a Division One football program which has one of the higher graduation rates for Division One football in the ACC. In addition, on the flipside, if an athlete is not spending the time he has apart of football and academics classes, this personal choice could lead to a lack of preparedness in college assigments and examinations. Overall, this idea cannot be validated without carefully overviewing the the different choices and sacrfices the athletes are making in their off time away from college sports and academic sports. Therefore, not time, but rather the effective use of time is the issue that needs to be adressed in the intercollegiate athletics issue.

 

2. College athletics has undergone a significant amount of commercialization over the past decades that have led to increasing profits for the already financially lucrative athletic programs.

COMMENT Common sense will tell you that college athletics has undergone a significant anount of commercialization, but one of the interesting things about this detail is that many Division One Universities actually report deficits! You may be asking how this is possible, considering the commercilization of college athletics in the form of media contracts, coverage, and sponsorships. The answer in this question lies in to how college athletics reports its expenses. A highly sucessful Division One Athletics university will not want to report all its financial gains in order to overshadow the academic aspects of the collegiate institution. Therefore, in order to try to see how commercialization really affects Division one Universities, one needs to look at the interesting concept of subsidies. In this practice, collegiate athletic programs charge a large amount of expenses to the general operatiing budget. Therefore, when the university subtracts these"operating budget" expenses from the full income of the athletic program, they are able to report that they have a deficit. This detail is very important, because it suggests that those against athletic programs cannot immediately link the financial growth of athletic programs without finding the information at the source, the individuals who report the revenues and deficitis.

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3. The recruiting of athletes to the university scene is, at Division One schools, is an underhanded practice which promotes the breaking of institutional violations in order to obtain the top high school athletes.

Comment: Yes, in some cases, such as the issue with Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson, collegiate recruiting class may need inspection. However, the will to get ahead through "any means necessary" has plagued other areas of society too, not just academics. Take the MIT researcher Luk Van Parijs for example, who was fired by the instiution for presenting false data and research. In this situation, his dishonest actions implicates that their must have been some sort of larger internal or external force that was prompting him to act so dishonestl.The point I am getting is that in order to see why this is going on, individuals who challenge recruiting strategies need to step back and acess why these individuals are trying so desperately to achieve these recruits. For example, outside pressures placed on coaches by higher ups in collegiate education and alumni donators may prompt coaches to support these practices to keep up with the "arms race" of achieving the best possible groups of players in order to develop a sucessful program. All in all, one needs to take a broader look at the root connections that are causing these practices, more than the actual practices themselves, though these practices in truth should never be condoned. One cannot draw a direct causal link between the recruiting of athletes at big division schools, and the underhanded practices that sometimes result.

4. Intercollegiate athletics promotes inequality when it favors men's athletics over womens athletics in finances, attention, and promotion, and vice versa..

COMMENT: Though its true that their is some inquality in college athletics, in some cases it is ironicallywarranted based on Title IX. For example, if a the school is 75% male and 25% female, then athletics programs are allowed to provide more resources to the men's teams, since it would be "substantially proportionate to the enrollment." Therefore, before one takes a stance at the inequality in college sports, they must first analyze vital stastics such as class enrollment male female proportions and the students interests, other details that are adressed in title Title IX. Another problematic issue about this belief is that it implicates that promotion of gender's sport over another gender's sport is always negative while in certain situations everyday men and women are promoted and demoted in everday life. This is the result of the economic hierarchy in American society that hinges on productivity. If a man is more productive that a woman, or vice versa, that person is going to be promoted because our society is subsumed by earnings. Therefore, the people who constantly attack the proposed inequality in intercollegiate athletic programs are actually, on a deeper level, attacking the inherent hiearchial infrastructure of American society.

5. Ethical problems that surface iin intercollegiate athletics, such as cheating, has plagued athletic programs and is a justifiable means for lack of public support of its maintenance and practices.

COMMENT: "Ethical" problems do in fact negatively affect college athletic programs. For examples to the Kelvin Sampson example above, or even check out my maurice clarett case analysis in the case studies page. Though this idea is true from these real life examples, it does not at all validate a statement that participation in athletics is the sole source for academic dishonesty at Division One Universities. Instead, in order to to see the real issues that academic dishonesty hinges on, one has to establish exactly why these individuals are going through extremes to pass school, at a supposed higher rate than their non college counterparts. The answer, or a pathway to it, most likely lies in relation to the admission standards that the university supports in order to allow the students to attend these schools. These student athletes, some of which may not have been considered without the aid of an athletic resume, will continue to struggle if they do not make the strides to adjust to the college academic enviroment. In addition, if the athletes do not hold certain vital NCAA academic statistics in the form of SAT scores and grades tthey will not be able to participate in there respective sports, which could be a crushing blow to an individual who needs to showcase his skills on the collegiate level in order to bolster his chances at a solid collegiate career. Overall, it is important that one realize that the level of the problem should not be viewed in terms of the athletic program as a whole, but rather deeper educational implications surrounding each student athlete.

Those in favor of Intercollegiate athletics

On the other side of the arguement are the individuals who are in favor of athletic programs. Like those who are against the effect of athletics on the students education, the supporters of intercollegiate athletics are of a variety of different faces, though the roles these individuals assume tend to be faculty members, outside critics, and impirical researchers.

1. College sports help cultivate life skills and values such as leadership, teamwork, and work ethic. Individuals who participate in athletics are better off in these areas than those who do not.

Comment: In athletics, there are various areas where skills and values get cultivated. For example, holding captains practices or team meetings in order to discuss important team issues takes a leader's vision to forsee pitfalls in the future. In addition, most coaches on teamwork emphasize working together with teammates so that they can become a more effective, and sucessful team. Consistent training in the offseason is an example of work ethic. Though all these details are true in relative sense,the problem with the belieft tthat those who participate in athletics are "better off" than those who dont is because there are various different activities and capacity one can exhibit these qualities. For example, those who are not very interested in athletics, but rather computer programming can exhibit all these qualities or more while preparing for a competition. In order to see this situation clearly, one needs to examine what exact activities in sports implicates in terms of values. For one, appointed captains and encouraged team play may implicate that individuals are gaining crucial practice in life elements such as leadershuip and working in groups. Overall, the problematic aspect of this belief is that sports does not implicate exposure to these life skills. Rather, very specific activities in sports implicate exposure to these life skils, which can be cultivated in activities other than sports.

. 2. Athletics should be an intergral part of the collegiate university because it provides scholarships to students, many of which would not be able to attend college otherwise.

 

Comment: Yes, sports scholarships do provide a chance for the disadvantaged. To those who belief in support for these individuals who may not have been able to support college education, others just believe this practices supports inequality and unfair handouts like affirmative action. Therefore, in order to look at the issue correctly, both sides need to define the essence of the scholarship in the university enviroment. Interestingly, handling this issue on this level could not only alleviate the intercollegiate athletics debate, but also provide a pathway for solving different viewpoints and ideas that revolve around college admittance and and scholarships for individuals of various genders, nationalities, and races.

 

3. Sports humanizes various aspects of the university by creating external connections with which the students of the school, and those who support the school, can identify.

Comment: In order to verify the validity of this statement, one needs to look deeper into what exactly the external connections are. One example that I came up is a tee shirt, with a symbol and the schools logo. For the person possessing this material item, the the T shirt can have varying levels of significance. For one, a person could just simply have gotten the shirt as a gift from a friend, or maybe a hand me down from a brother and sister. In this situation, the tee shirt may hold little significance. However, for the fans of sports such as Duke Basketball or Ohio state football, the shirt may hold a higher significance in the sense that it shows their support for the respective universities. As what I would like to call “material supporter” these individuals feel connected to the university through the clothes they wear, items they possess, or the individuals they know. Basically, though this assertion made by the pro athletic supporters may be true, the fact of the matter is not everyone is a sport fan at these division one universities. That’s very important, because the Division One high flying basketball team’s tee-shirt may hold extreme significance for the diehard fan, but to the young intellectual who may enjoy other activities, sports could in fact create a scenario where one iis left out of an activity that seems to consume the schools attention, and resources. Overall, the man aspect that those who make this claim need to take away is that sports DOES NOT hold the same “symbolic significance” for everyone.” Therefore, to cite this point as a reason to support the institution of athletics is not only weak, but also inherently biased to sports fans.

4. College athletics is a pivotal aspect of university culture because it alows athletes who may have not have had the chance to attend college, based on financial resources, a chance to attend school.

Comment: By no means am I saying that providing college scholarships is a negative part of university culture. Rather, I am trying to dissect the scene by showing the affect that this practice has on the overall structuring of the Division One collegiate Univeristy. In order to analyze the situation clearly, one needs to look closely at the kind of students that are being admitted to these universities, based on their educational stastics, and compare it to other students who are admitted based on high school academic performance. Based on the firestorm over these students, who in big time athletic sometimes lack the grades and test scores to get into school without the aid of athletics, the NCAA has instutited new rules and regulations that are stricter that will improve the graduation rates of these athletes who are ill prepared for college academic work. This is a very important detail, because it is on this view that college athletics are lowering the standard of the collegiate university that is galvinizing the side who beleive in a meritocrital admittance system, rather than a system which rewards a student athlete based on his potential to give the university publicity and financial profit.