Many athletes make the mistake to not take grades seriously when they are in high school, but that is one mistake I never made. My ideology since freshman year has always been to be a student before athlete, making sure grades came first and practice came second. During my high school career I have earned achievements such as being an all A’s honor student, being part of the Raiders Champions Club, and winning the FACA All Academic Team award with a 4.275 GPA. I am not only a varsity athlete, but also a scholar athlete. Being an all A’s honor student is something that was important to me before I even started high school. When I found out how important academics were going to be to get into college in junior high I began to earn all A’s in
Do student athletes make the most of their opportunity to obtain a post-secondary education? Do they have the same academic success as those students that are not athletes? Are student athletes just “dumb jocks?” The answers to these questions might surprise you. Much research has been done to dispel the myth that athletes going to college are only there to play sports with little regard to their education. Programs have been created to assure that colleges and universities hold athletes to the same standards as the everyday student. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has decided that the “magic number” to put the “student” back into “student-athlete” is 925 (Hamilton).
In the article, Class and Cleats: Community College Student Athletes and Academic Success, Horton first examines the statistics of evidence showing college athletes and their underachievement. There are many instances of concern about college athletes and their poor grades having an affect of their athletic responsibilities, though this belief is usually denied due to a student always being a student before anything else. This study researches the idea of the way that college students and college athletes view success. Many college athletes tend to state that success is passing all courses and being more successful in their sport, rather than academics coming first (Horton, 2009).
In the reality of being a college athlete, “student” in most cases does not come first in terms of priorities.
Academics are a top priority of mine. I am a gifted student and am always on top of every class. I have never missed an honor roll, having report cards filled with A’s and B’s since 4th grade. My parents have high expectations for my school work and I have always lived up to them. My current high school GPA is a 3.907 but i plan for that to increase. Ever since graduating middle school, my goal has been to graduate high school with a GPA over 4.0. I have already taken several advanced classes and plan to take more to challenge myself and to
Athletes at school might get carried away just focusing on their sport. Playing a sport might not be a distraction and the student could just be stressing academically. They might be using their hobby to relieve stress, but this can lead throwing away their education as well. Education should be the number one priority. Honor roll, or just average grades in general, will increase the chances of students getting accepted to the college of their choice. If an individual wants to do the things he or she loves, college will play an important factor. Setting this rule for athletes will motivate them to do well in school if they really love the sport they
When participation in a sport in high school, it may interfere with class work, meaning an athlete may have to leave class early in order to participate in a game or tournament. With doing so, it is up to the student to get their work done. They have to make it up on their own time in order to make up what they missed in class. This teaches students time management and motivates students to try their best in order to make up work they missed. All coaches should take into consideration that if a student does not have the grades, then the athlete may not participate in competition or practice. Even this rule applies to the team’s best athlete, grade ineligibility applies to everyone. When it comes to high school, the sport itself generates motivation to keep the student on top of things and wanting to thrive for greatness in academics and athletics as well (“Merkel,”). All students should know that grades come before athletics. This will make student athletes aware of the minimum GPA that will be needed to be maintained in order to participate in athletics (“The Benefits of Participating in Sports”). Consequently, it forces students to learn
Academic success is important for both high school and college athletes. To be eligible to participate, athletes must maintain a certain GPA. Student athletes that don’t make school a priority, not only miss out on playing time, but also fail to prepare themselves for the next step in their life. For high school athletes, that means prepare for college while for college athlete, it means preparing to enter the workforce. Although, both high school and
work hard to get the grade that they want. Petrie says colleges let student athletes put the least amount of effort and get the grades that a student who puts the most amount of effort, and he says that teachers don’t care if athletes make it pros or not.
Moreover, college athletes have shown a poor academic success rate in past few years, in brief. Their academic performances were significantly low due to the distraction caused by athletic programs. Athletics are not only a distraction for athletes, but also for institutions which are holding these athletic programs. “The low graduation rates among athletics, particularly in sports like football and basketball, are alarming, although there is strong evidence that this problem is endemic to the entire academic enterprise” (“College”). Average outcome GPA of an athlete is way lower than that of a normal student in general. Missing classes regularly, missing assignments, and missing exams have been the reasons for these poor academic performance rates. Daily practices and tournaments are the reason for them to miss their academics. Another side of this argument is that athletes are given unfair advantages in academics unlike other students. They were given excessive grade changes and extra points to maintain their athletic eligibility. This situation degrades the quality of academic programs and it debases
Being on the varsity basketball, soccer, and softball team all three years has been quite a journey. Learning how to manage the little free time I have being a student-athlete is a thing that ties directly into responsibility. I believe I am an exceptionally responsible adolescent for the reason that I always am able to create time for my academics. Although it may be at 11 P.M on the bus ride home, I know that my education is my first priority. My softball coach, Shane Jordan, always re enforces the saying, “You are a student before you are an athlete.” This will stick with me throughout the rest of my high school career. Being a part of many unique teams has taught me great amounts about unity as well. Caring about and being there for my teammates on and off the court/field is something I do
In my sophomore year of high school, I maintained a high GPA while participating in Track and Field. I was responsible with my grades while attending practice everyday and I maintained honor roll. Attending practice everyday improved my health, skills and character. The artifact shows that education and sports are equally important. My award shows that maintaining a high GPA is a personal
First of all, student athletes when they leave high school, they will not be able to maintain the grades needed to pass because they were used to low standards in the past. The GPA needed to play sports is right around 2.3 according to NCAA. If you have good grades, you are more likely to be chosen over another student with poor grades, to receive a sports scholarship to college. Some students get good grades for just one quarter. But when they get to college they will not be able to maintain the grade for the entire year. What good does it do if you can’t keep your grades in college? It does you no good! If you
Academics play a big role in this specific Honors Society, and I am proud to say that I have a 4.4 GPA and even more proud to say that I plan to exceed a 4.5 GPA by the end of my senior year. Academics are one of the most important things in high school in my opinion. My past two years in high school I have made all A’s and only two B’s which were 92’s.
Despite the many stereotypes that are connected with being a student athlete, student athletes in general are held to much higher standards by their institutions. Before a prospective student athlete even enters college, they are made fully aware of the academic standings and requirements of the college they choose. Although the academic requirements vary from college to college, the standards are still held high for all student athletes. The transition into college can be exceptionally difficult especially for the
Children who participate in organized sports are usually told that to be part of it that you must maintain a 2.5 grade point average and sometimes higher. This being said shows that in order to be successful you have to not only work hard on whatever activity you participate in but also in school. For an example my sister participates in track and she is one of the top runners in her middle school, but half way through the academic school year she started slacking of and ended up with a 1.2 gpa. Most people believe that star players gets a pass when it