Student Athletes

In today's social media world, scandals rise quickly and grow much faster than in the past. This year we have seen three major universities go through a horrible scandal. Og course you all know the Penn State scandal, and most of you, I'm sure, heard about Arkansas and the Petrino disaster. However, the University of North Carolina is also struggling with its own scandal, or at least trying to recover from it. But, all these scandals make me wonder, what has happened to collegiate sports? I think I know the answer; we happened. Americans have lost sight of everything that college sports were intended for. They are called student athletes for a reason; they are students first, then athletes. However, modern media and social media have turned them into celebrities. Now, it is more important to be the face of college football than it is to get an education and better themselves. Athletes like Cam Newton, Robert Griffin III, Tim Tebow, and Andrew Luck have become super stars of the media. Are they bad guys? No! But, young aspiring athletes don't look at them for educational inspiration, they look at them as sports idols. These young people believe school isn't important; focusing on their athletic performance over their educational achievements. Other sports have these same bad role models, Kobe Bryant and Lebron James both skipped college to join the NBA. What kind of example does this set? Is school cool? No, but in the modern job market, a bachelors degree is essential. Now, I'm not saying all athletes are idiots, RGIII has a masters degree, but few kids see that. Children see the media frenzy over the draft and earning potential, and dream about being apart of that. Yes, some athletes try to convince kids to continue their education like Lebron, but how can someone that never even thought about going to college be a good role model telling kids to go to college? I guess I'm just standing on one of my soap boxes right now, but it needs to be said. I feel that universities need to strengthen up their athlete's, academic performance and maintain the league standards. I think the NCAA, though unable to investigate every incident, has done a good job of punishing schools for violating the rules. But, I think the education departments of each state should hold these schools accountable for their slacking off on athletes. But, the problem is the American culture; we don't like hearing about young men and women fighting to earn a degree. We want to see what we think is the glamourous life of athletes. Our perception of what their lives are like is flawed. So, I'm afraid that the problem can't be fixed in the universities, American culture must be changed to save the industry. So, that is my soap box, have a great day.