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Black or White: College Athletic student
Very long time ago, when sportsmen-professionals had no right
to participate in the Olympic Games, sportsmen-students presented
the United States of America on these competitions. And in
spite of the fact that they had to resist the so-called «amateurs»
- sportsmen of non-student age, who fought in the leading
clubs of national championships, - the students of the American
colleges often left experienced and professional sportsmen
out of work. However, it is not surprising, if to take into
account the huge attention which was paid and is paid nowadays
to the athletic movement in the American universities and
colleges.
A lot of student leagues in nearly every popular type of sports
(baseball, football, tennis and many others) exist in the
USA except those, which are called professional leagues -
such, as NBA, NHL and NFL. So, entering this or that college
students choose it according to his favor and financial status.
A maximal fee for education in a college is 43 thousand dollars
a year. But only a few students pay the whole declared cost
of education. There are special discounts for students working
in the university or college, discounts for students working
out of college according to the agreement between a college
and employer, when educational establishment gets money. Moreover,
athlete students have a lot of benefits. Firstly, the most
unjust and to my mind the most erroneous fact is that athlete
students do not pay for their tuition. Furthermore, they do
not have to pay for rooms, food, medical examination and consultations;
they do not pay for phone calls (except those which are done
to another country, etc.) and some travels in the country.
One more thing is that some of their pocket money that they
can throw to the winds are also fixed and discounted and some
of them can be refunded back to a student. Everything is organized
according to the financial support of a college or Univercity.
In addition, there are a lot of various funds, sponsor programs
which financially help young people to get higher education.
One of them is called “Sport scholarship”. It
is ratified by the USA Government and today it is the essential
integral part of the educational process in the American universities
and colleges. There are no analogical programs at present
moment in any country of the world. This program is mostly
spread among sportsmen, interested in entering the American
colleges and depending on the type of sport and level of sports
training. Moreover, it foresees a possibility of complete
or partial compensation of all of all expenses, connected
with the educational process, residence, foodstuff, and also
charges on professional sports training. Sport scholarship
allows going in for sports professionally, playing for the
sporting commands of the American universities.
According to the program Sport scholarship it is permitted
for students-sportsmen to play for the national combined teams
and clubs of their countries. On graduation of the USA University
a diploma of higher education of international standard on
the chosen profession is given to every student.
But I have deepened into the heart of the matter and there
is still a question: Should the athlete students pay for tuition
and have some more financial benefits and advantages? Why
is it done and why should ordinary students pay for their
comrades, being not sportsmen?
In Double–A Zone this problem is clearly discussed;
it describes the ideas of the majority and here what it reads:
Those who are fortunate enough to receive scholarships that
help with tuition, room and board are already receiving
plenty of benefit because of their status as a student
athlete.
And that is a true to life saying. As most of the college
students are not inborn athletes and their physical training
won’t bring erudition, but health only. So, I can not
help agreeing with the fact, sited on MSN site:
College and universities are for education first.
Athletics is secondary.
It is possible to give a simple example that describes the
situation clearly. If to put knowledge, education and all
known sciences on one pan of some imaginary scales and to
put sports and physical education on the other pan, it means
that it is more remunerative to choose athletics than common
sciences. And where is the justice? Why students of non-sport
education should pay a fantastic some of money for their tuition?
It means that nowadays thirst for knowledge, overcoming of
knowledge barriers, new students’ scientific research
works are not paid at all. Here is a crying injustice.
But all in all speaking about athletics in colleges we should
not forget world sports in general, as they are closely connected
not only by functioning, but by financial security. We should
not forget that sport is a multibillion system, where finances
circulate from one level to another. Firstly, it is very profitable
to invest money in new generation of young athletes of any
college, as soon sportsmen work, their championships, especially
their victories will bring money (clear profit) to the investors.
Then the profit will be invested again and again. And that
is why such state of events can be called an everlasting “chain
reaction” or so called circulation. On the one hand
this course of events can not be stopped and on the other
hand it must be stopped.
Moreover, if athlete student won’t pay for education,
it means that a round sum will be divided among ordinary students.
As it is written in MSN:
If you pay for the athletes, you also pay the cheerleaders,
the water boys, the equipment guys, the stat keepers, chess
club, physics club, honors society, and the list goes
on…The money that is brought in helps to pay for the
athletic travel, coaches’ salaries, administrative
expenses, and facilities management.
It is one more point to the fact that those privileges are
not acceptable and must be changed.
To cut my long story short I should say that I have tried
to give a lot of arguments and to describe the unfair situation
existing in modern society nowadays. I also can not help mentioning
that this problem is a double side medal, like black and white.
From the one side supporting of sport education is a good
base for the development of healthy and tempered population.
Especially today, when young people destroy their health seating
at home with no movement, poisoning their health with fast
food, alcohol and even drugs. But on the other side it really
necessary to encourage other students by introducing new programs,
loyal in financial side. It is very important to provide or
even guarantee residences for foreign students, to give some
more benefits and profits in education process. And I am not
speaking about scholarships, as the play the best inducing
role for students, as it is a real possibility to try reaching
higher points, better results in their studies. It is simply
a very good stimulus for reaching real goals. But they must
be awarded to the best students, not only athletes, for their
good, excellent and remarkable achievements in sciences.
I think that I have given good reasons about athlete student
education. And moreover, I think that mental education will
always be more successful and privileged than sport one. As
health training and body forms can be lost, while knowledge
can be only doubled and admired by all generations.
Works cited
College athletics. 12 April 2007. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
26 April 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_athletics
Student-Athletes Should Not Be Paid. Double-A Zone. 26 April
2007. http://www.doubleazone.com/2006/07/studentathletes_should_not_be.html
Should College Athletes be paid? 17 January 2006 SoCalSportsFan's
Blog. 26 April 2007. http://community.foxsports.com/blogs/socalsportsfan/2006/01/17/Should_College_Athletes_be_Paid
Should College Athletes be paid? 22 August 2006. MSN. 26 April
2007. http://community.foxsports.com/blogs/natedognphx/2006/08/22/Should_College_Athletes_be_paid_YES
What is the end game? 01 February 2007. Varsity Aces. 26 April
2007. http://njmg.typepad.com/varsityaces/2007/02/what_is_the_end.html
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