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