I have always been highly supportive of collegiate athletics. While there are certainly multiple flaws on many levels, there are just as many positive aspects associated with the experiences surrounding college athletics. It is easy to point out academic scandals and integrity issues, but we must not forget the benefits of campus community, social experiences, and learning opportunities, all created by college athletic programs. College athletics definitely create positive experiences for those involved. Sally Jenkins takes this argument one step further by suggesting college athletes earn college credit for their efforts.
Before anyone overreacts about basketball player earning credits for sinking free-throws, let us all take a deep breath and consider the topic at hand. First of all, the thought process here does not actually have a foundation in rewarding college credit strictly based around on field efforts. Instead, the idea is to build a college major around the idea of athletics. If athletics is truly what an individual is interested in, then that individual should not be dissuaded from pursuing that interest as a career. Jenkins suggests offering courses such as Introduction to Sports Law, The Origin of Sports, Making up the Rules, and Sports and Public Policy. Additionally, athletes would earn credits for their time spent preparing and participating in their selected sports. The idea would produce a major that would be a hybrid between athletics, business, and a sport management major.
Jenkins makes a great comparison to other majors, and a connection that I had not previously considered. How would the proposed Sport major differ that greatly from a dance, drama, or music major? Those students learn the history and business side of their fields, as well as earning credit for performances, just as individuals in the Sport major would. This idea is brilliant. In essence, one could expect an increase in graduation rates among athletes, because they would not be forced into a major that they had no interest in. An athlete would actually still be pursuing what they are truly passionate about, and for those that fail to reach their ultimate goal of a professional career, they would be able to fall back on the hundreds of other job opportunities that a Sport degree would allow pursuit of. Of course, if the Sport major was too close to the athletics department, there could still be issues with athletes being pushed through the program and receiving passing grades that were not actually earned. This would have to be closely monitored by the university.
Another good point raised by Jenkins suggests that such a major could also help to reduce talks surrounding paying student athletes. Just as a drama major does not receive portions of ticket sales after a theater production, a Sport major would not be entitled to portions of revenue after playing in a basketball, football, or volleyball game. To me, this argument makes perfect sense. The on-field experience would simply be part of an individual’s Sport major experience earning them credit, not a right to a portion of the revenue.
On the flip side of this argument are comments by Ralph Nader stating that college athletics are dumbing down society. Nader suggests eliminating all athletic scholarships and recognizing college athletes as employees of the university. He assumes that this would eliminate many of the problems surrounding collegiate athletics.
Eliminating scholarships and recognizing athletes as employees would not only create an entirely new world of problems, but in essence it would simply create new professional leagues. If students want to watch professionals play they have the option of attending Major League Baseball, National Football League, And National Basketball Association games. If student athletes are eliminated from college athletics then the entire basis of college athletics is eliminated. While I recognize there are issues with college athletics, elimination of college athletes is the easy way out that actually is not really an option at all.
In regards to creating a Sport major for college athletes, it is an idea that deserves serious consideration. It would be very similar on many levels to a drama or dance major. Of course, there would soon be an argument that the major is discriminatory because not everyone has an equal opportunity to be a part of the major, because not everyone is talented enough to be a college athlete. To that I would say that not everyone is talented enough to be accepted to Julliard or earn an MBA from Harvard either. The fact is that college athletes are interested in sports. They live for sports. Why not give them a chance to earn a living doing what they live for?
Well, the creation of a Sports major certainly is interesting to me. I am a former D-I student athlete so as I was reading this I was thinking "I sure wish they had this when I was a student athlete". When I was a collegiate athlete I had very little interest in the academic part of my life. There is a part of me that wonders if I would have gone to college or been as successful if I did not also play a sport to guide me. I declared my major the very latest I possibly could because I had very few interests beyond soccer. I chose Elementary Education because my mom was a teacher. By my senior year and when soccer was over I realized I did not want to be a teacher. Luckily, I took a counseling class that helped me realize my passion.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, going back to the Sports major idea. When I was an undergraduate I probably would have chosen this major. Looking back now as I am working on my PhD in Counselor Education (and absolutely loving it!) I honestly believe choosing the Sports major would have been a bad decision for me. I am not saying that it would be a bad decision for all student athletes who have an interest in sport as a career, I simply wonder if a part of career decisions is struggling with ambiguity and change to find ones true passion. I think this idea is great and it makes sense when you think of it in terms of Dance or Music majors and I also wonder how we can help our student athletes decide if a Sports major is really for them or if it is simply easiest and most comfortable at the time.
I like the idea. Albeit, instead of a major course of study I would recommend a minor. The reason would be simply to promote fitness amongst the students. Yes students have the option to take some physical activity classes that are wide ranging so why not work this into a minor that promotes a healthy, active lifestyle?
ReplyDeleteWhat a sweet post! Cool idea. I trust that this would be something I would be interested in when I was participating in college athletics. I feel that institutions woud have to be careful how they market a Sports Major to incoming athletes as it has the potential to greatly influence incoming student-athletes.
ReplyDeleteOne solution may be to offer a Sports Minor. Thus, students (like Lisa) can pursue other degrees while earning credit for participation in college athletics.
I apprecaite your post as it served as a reminder that there is still a lot of good in college athletics. Thanks!
Hi J. As a former D-II athlete (track, x-country) I can see where you're coming from, and I like Cliff and Aaron's idea of exploring the idea of introducing a Sports Minor into higher education.
ReplyDeleteThing is, whereas there is maybe one dance major program on a given campus at most, and hopefully a drama and other artistic programs as well, there are 8-22 or so athletic programs on a given 2-year or 4-year campus. With perhaps literally hundreds of more participants than your typical campus dance and drama program combined. That is alot of potential demand for a program that may simply be incapable of structurally meeting the demand.
Also, given that a typical brick-and-mortar institution like UNC attempts to educate the whole college student into a well-rounded and informed person who can eventually contribute to the common good beyond college in employable ways, I am wondering just how well an athlete who majors in sports is going to meet such criteria. In order to do so, the required coursework would have to be rigorous and integrate lots of reading, writing, and critical reasoning skills in order to be worthy of the cost of a college education, and to meet the evolving needs of employers in competition with the millions of liberal arts major graduates who are already competing for often low-paying career possibilities. If I were a hiring manager looking to hire a assistant manager to groom for my business, and it came down to choosing, say, a former athlete who majored in philosophy or poli sci, or a former athlete who majored in...sports...well, I would probably hire the philosophy/poli sci major, all things being equal.
I like this idea. I have a good friend who studied in the UK, and got his degree in Sport Development. His classes included ones similar to what you discussed Jason; sports business, coaching philosophies and techniques and inclusion (increasing diversity in athletics). A degree like this could include athletic credits as elective credits, instead of required credits. That elective status would allow those who are not college athletes to pursue the degree as well.
ReplyDeleteI’m repeating some of what has already been said in other comments but I agree this type of degree program would be worth considering on many levels. I want to play devil’s advocate here though. For starters, as I noted in my blog this week, different academic programs may have different tuitions based on how the institution views the program’s hierarchy and potential for generating revenue. What if the Sports Major charged more than the other academic programs? And what if those students who declared Sports as a major were the athletes who received scholarships from the athletic department? The department would be funding itself and not the rest of the school and therefore would remain even more autonomous than we already see athletic departments acting today. Also, as many dance and music majors realize after college, there are only so many professional entertainment jobs to go around and those who finally get onto the big screen may make numerous personal sacrifices before getting there. Even if college athletes were able to study towards a degree based on sports, they may discover later there is no employment for the knowledge they earned. Possibly, as Michael mentions in his comment, for this academic program to be serious, it would need to include some higher cognitive courses, such as Sports Law (Jason alluded to this) or Business Accounting or Physics. These types of upper level courses could have potential to elevate the Sports Degree program to higher standards on a college campus than say the Fine Arts Degree. Then perhaps more institutions would give this idea serious consideration.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first started reading this article, I thought the suggestion was merely to give athletes credit (perhaps elective credit) for their participation in sports. OK, no biggie. When I was in high school, we got credit for required Physical Education courses for being involved in athletics.
ReplyDeleteThen I understood that it was more of a Sports Degree program. I guess my confusion is what is the difference between what is being suggested and say a bachelors degree in Physical Education, Sports Management, Sport & Exercise Science, Athletic Training...just to name a few. Maybe I would need to see an entire curriculum to see the difference.
Either way, it's not that I disagree with the idea but I think a few comments really emphasize the cons to this idea. (And for the record, I'm more playing devil's advocate alongside Janella). Lisa even said she would've chose a major like this over something else. The harsh reality is that very few athletes get to continue being athletes beyond college. In this day and age, it doesn't even seem as if the athletes lucky enough to go pro have "time" to get their college degree because there's so much pressure to go pro young if they're good enough. So they graduate, they have this degree and then what? Chances are, they're still done playing sports competitively and they need to get a job.
That point aside, I highly disagree with Nader. I believe that college athletics as they are bring great value to college campuses. Yes, there are issues but as this class brings up, there are many "issues" in higher education.
I'd also like to bring up that (I don't know last years statistics) but the year before last UNC's student-athlete GPA was higher than the average GPA on campus. I think student-athletes often get a bad rep so I think that's a great statistic!
What’s interesting, this isn’t a brand new idea to me. In fact, I feel like my experience was somewhat tied into these suggested ideas (not identical, but similar).
ReplyDeleteI was a D-II college athlete, and I was REQUIRED to take one credit of “Varsity Athletics” per every semester I was actively practicing/playing. This didn’t go towards a major, but we had to literally “buy in” to our programs. I’m not sure if this was to gather extra athletic department funding (by charging hundreds of athletes per semester), or if it was intended to show positively upon our transcripts. For example, eight credits (4 years) of “Varsity Athletics” may look appealing to a graduate program or employer looking for dedication, work ethic, and the ability to work well within a team. Additionally, playing college sports logs PLENTY of more hours (year round practice, lifting, road trips, games, etc.) than any other credit on campus…including drama, music, and other mentioned programs.
Also, a minor that was offered at my university, and one that I chose to take was “Coaching.” I won’t remember the specifics here, but I do recall taking “Introduction to Athletic Training, and “Philosophy of Sport,” as part of my requirements.
As far as Mr. Nader’s comments are concerned, I highly disagree. My athletics were played at an institution that didn’t give out many full-scholarships. However, there are families all across the country where a college education for their children is not possible without scholarship. Sure, we have the NBA, MLB, NHL, and NFL, but a vast majority of these players were recruited for pro teams via their college performances.
As a former college coach, I can also attest that half of the competition involved in college sports is tied into recruitment. Which team is going to have the honor of getting that all-state, record breaking player? Most likely (but not always), the school that can deliver the best pitch, including funding. This looks remarkably different at various levels of collegiate sports.
Kylie R.
This is an interesting idea, especially in light of the growing (bad pun sorry) obesity crisis in the United States' youth population. It's not unheard of at all for universities to offer academic credit for physical activity as long as learning can be demonstrated.
ReplyDeleteAt my undergraduate institution, we could earn 1 credit per 3 hours for things like step aerobics, running, and martial arts. At my first graduate institution, I had to be enrolled in 12 credits to receive my tuition waiver and stipend. Often, four classes added to 11 credits, so I would "pad" my schedule with PAC (physical activity courses). I took golf, and I got credit for it, and I'm not sorry.
Dance is considered a legitimate degree at many institutions, and dance is a form of athletics. Dancers attend on scholarships as well. In a lot of ways, what you discuss is already happening, it's just not happening on an NCAA level.
I think that this is an AWESOME idea! Allowing students to learn more about an area that they are passionate about would be incredible. Students often struggle to find a major that they are passionate enough about to pursue it. If we allowed college credit for participation in sports, colleges would need to ensure student learning beyond what happens on the field or court, such as actual courses in coaching, sports marketing, sports management, etc.
ReplyDeleteI also think that athletics teaches more than just how to play the game. It teaches teamwork, cooperation, perseverance, loyalty, and a lot of other great life skills.