Argumentative Essay On Student Athletes

The ‘Friday Night Lights’ have always been accompanied by their fair share of controversies, from TV shows like Friday Night Tykes, to sports related injuries. These debates are especially relevant when the topic is student athletes. High school and youth league sports have always been a popular way to get kids involved and keep them active. They not only gain the confidence required in order to preform on a field in front of a crowd of people but also acquire a group of teammates and friends who are also involved in the same sport. Being engaged in sports at the school level also includes a certain requirement in regards to grades and GPA, which is a very enticing benchmark for kids with a desire to play. In todays society, juvenile crimes are ever present, arguably in relation to boredom. According to

Minors involved in after school sports and other activities are usually at practice or a game between these times. One argument leaning towards the stance, that minors participating in athletics does not keep them out of trouble, is the opinion that student athletes are granted more leeway than that of their purely academic counter-part. “There are still too many coaches who care more about getting a student athlete out on the court in a uniform than about getting them in a cap and gown four years later.” Arne Duncan, a columnist from Huffington Post, perfectly represents the idea that athletes’ grades are being manipulated in order for that student to see playing time on game day, which is reinforced by the ‘dumb jock’ stereotype. Pop culture is especially fond of this label, consistently portraying these players as brutes who are incapable of forming a coherent sentence and who most likely reside on the left side of the IQ scale. Movie characters such as Andrew Clarke (The Breakfast Club) and Stifler (American Pie) are prime examples of this recurrence.