The Use and Misuse of College Athletics
The authors of this article points out numerous circumstances in which college students are in full control of policies regarding their college experience and contrasts this to the field of college sports where an athlete has very limited power. The role of this paper is to examine these policies and suggest new and improved ones so that the athlete is more involved in the decision-making process of college sports.
This article explores the fact that leadership is not available for athletes in the sports they are involved in. Department heads such as coaches and assistants decide schedules, positions, training exercises, and even curfews. Examples of exclusion of students from their own sports is frequent and the authors compare an athlete to a performer who is merely should appreciate the privilege in being a part of their team. The article also touches on athletes’ pressure of keeping keeping up academically to be eligible for competition and concludes with comments commending athletic scholarships. Lastly, the authors suggests that awarding college credit for participation in sports reflects eligibility and overall GPA and is encouraged by coaches. They use statistical data from an example college (the University of Washington) that suggests in a 2-year period (1971-1973),
1,956/2,001 men enrolled in a college credit for athletic participation course received A's.
The average grade point average was 3.96 for students in the particular course when the same students' total average GPA was 2.92 in the spring and 2.75 in the fall.
This proves the author's point that some athletes may turn to these types of academic credits in order to help eligibility and GPA.
Citation:
Renick, Jobyann, “The Use and Misuse of College Athletics” The Journal of Higher Education Vol. 45, No. 7, (Oct. 1974) pgs. 545-552 JSTOR. Colorado College Lib., 26 February 2003 <http://www.jstor.org>.