Argumentative Essay: Pay To Play In Public Schools

Improved Essays
To Purchase a Position
Bill Cosby had said "All around the United States of America - in the cities and the counties - our public education is suffering and has been suffering. Cuts, cuts, cuts."
The truth behind this quote is that public education has become financially unstable. Dr. Scott Smith, an assistant professor at Central Michigan University, said “When the school budget has a problem, the athletic budget has a problem.” (Cerling and Herman). Cuts are being made to the extracurricular programs. Because these cuts were made, schools have created their idea of a solution: a pay to play system for sports. Pay to play is a phrase used for a situation in which money is exchanged for the privilege to participate in a sport. It sounds
…show more content…
Public schools are getting substantially farther away from the primary directive: equal opportunity for all students. It is hard enough for parents to maintain the status quo for their child, so they should not have to worry about having to pay to get their child involved. Having parents pay for extracurriculars goes against public education. Extracurriculars should be considered a part of the education of a child, because they teach social skills out of the classroom. Sports teach young adults to be part of a team, to answer to a superior, and to learn that everybody has a job to do to gain a positive result. These skills can then be taken into adult life and the workplace. Extracurriculars additionally keep students out of trouble, because they have something that can be put at risk.
To cover for these costs, athletes can reach out to their community and raise money for their sport. Fundraising is a monumental attribution in providing funds for sports. Athletes represent their community also, so local businesses are willing to sponsor a school sport. Sponsorship and fundraising shows the support the students have from their community. Fundraising also teaches a lesson that the money has to be earned, and not simply given to the

Related Documents

  • Great Essays

    Although many athletes are given scholarships, they still can fall in debt to other things such as books, living, and extras. Meshefijian stated, “In the past twelve years, the amount of money generated by sports has increased nearly 300%” (par. 3). Student athletes lose the opportunity to have a job for a majority of their time because they are preoccupied by games, practices, conditioning, and on top of that they must also be a full time student and maintain a GPA that keeps them eligible to participate in their sport. College scholarships can only support a student for so much. Earning a salary would substitute the money they would be earning if they were able to have a job.…

    • 1767 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Now, in the 21st century, Sports is no longer just about fun and games. Sports are considered a business and college sports are no different. College athletics are becoming more and more like the professional leagues except for one big issue, money. A new American dream of making a huge living in sports at both the collegiate and professional level is rapidly growing. NCAA has paid millions into a fund for in-need athletes to cover clothing purchases, emergency travel, and medical expenses.…

    • 1704 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A main argument in Collegiate level sports is if the student athletes should receive pay or not. Former athletes may argue that a student playing a sport at a university should be paid; some spectators do not see pay for college athletes is a necessity needed. For some athletes tuition, room and board, and book expenses are covered through a full athletic scholarship, and these scholarships are still more than what academic students can receive (Block). What more could the athletes possibly want from the university? The athletes are being noticed throughout the whole country on Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN) channels, isn’t the publicity enough plus earning a free college degree?…

    • 1088 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    College athletes are giving their schools too many hours and incurring health risks without getting paid. Many people support college student athletes getting paid for playing. The money the athletes earns could go back to their families who are struggling financially. Not only would this support their family but also themselves because some athletes can 't depend on their parents to send them money.…

    • 1473 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Through scholarships, many athletes are already being compensated for playing. Also paying athletes would cause more problems than it solves. Some college sports do bring in a lot of money, but that money is not enough to pay all the athletes at a college. Athlete’s names and faces are used for advertisements, but they are legally allowed to do this. College athletes should not be paid to play a sport for their school.…

    • 1360 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Do you think college athletes should be paid? On one side, some believe that college athletes should be paid. However, some believe they shouldn’t. Currently being debated is the idea that college athletes shouldn’t be paid because they already receive scholarship money, they won’t be paid enough for as well as they play, and big-money sports bring in more funds to support less profitable sports.…

    • 437 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    If you follow college sports, it’s likely that you know about this big issue that is paying college athletes. This issue has grown over the years to become more and more important. Many players, fans, coaches, and other important people have spoken about this and taken a side. This is an important issue because college sports are very popular and generate an incredible amount of money annually while, the athletes don’t get any money besides their scholarships. At first, college athletes were regularly recruited and paid to play until the NCAA made the “sanity code” that limited scholarships to tuition and fees (Johnson).…

    • 1512 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    First, colleges provide high privileges to their athletes. Colleges offer excellent benefits to their athletes such as scholarships, which mean that these students are receiving free tuition, room, board, and also books and many other resources that they can take advantage of. Even though opponent views could argue that the college athletes already bring a huge amount of money for the university, the money of their scholarships does not have to be paid back from the athletes because they are selected from the university just by playing in one of their teams. Moreover, most of the students do not have the same benefits as the ones involved in sports because they will go out of the school with a significant loan debt if they cannot afford to pay their college. Therefore, in comparison, most of the students-athletes have a comfortable financial journey while in college than those who are not involved in sports.…

    • 563 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    How appealing does it sound to be able to play a college sport after high school? That contingency would be an opportunity most students would love to enjoy. “Playing college sports is about getting to play the game you have an unexplainable obsession with for four supplementary years. And that is a privilege, not an occupation” (Murphy, 2). Many people think these athletes should get money for all the work they put into these sports, but there are many reasons against this opinion.…

    • 1684 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Student athletes bring in billions of dollars for their universities, but what do they get in return? The money brought in by these athletes never goes to their pockets, but instead to their universities and the NCAA. While these athletes on scholarship, the talent possessed by them brings in a wealth that outdoes the amount of their scholarship. Being a college football or basketball player can be a full-time job. These players invest their lives in the sport they play; some athletes can spend insane amounts of hours on one sport.…

    • 1339 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The debate on whether college athletes should be rewarded for their dedication to sports through payment has many different arguments to it. Although some would argue that athletes do not deserve to be paid, it would be fair for them to receive compensation for their hard work. College athletes should be paid because they deserve it based on the amount of the work they put into their lifestyle, the college sports industry would be more than able to afford it, and it is immoral and possibly illegal to prevent the athletes from being paid. Critics to this idea argue that there are already enough advantages given for being a student-athlete such as: generous scholarships, exposure to future contract opportunities, and access to beneficial networks (Text 3, lines 23,26-28). This is not entirely accurate, however, because many athletes struggle with maintaining a stable financial situation.…

    • 570 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    While college athletes face many difficult problems in their quest to receive a degree, they also have many resources not available to other students (Cooper 3). Athletes juggle many responsibilities, but they also have many ways to deal with their problems. The bottom line is that paying them will not help them manage their…

    • 966 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The sacrifice that the athletes undertake to risk their lives in sports and win the tournaments to build the brand of their school needs to receive…

    • 1373 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In most cases, college athletes generate money for their institutions, which at the…

    • 1124 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Involvement in after-school athletics helps structure students ' time after school. It pushes students to be more organized with their daily schedule (DeMeulenaere ). Student athletes have a very structured schedule. They know that they have school at a certain time and then practice at a certain time. After they get done with all this they know that they must complete their school work.…

    • 1498 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays