Cutting scholarships for athletes

Former presidential candidate Ralph Nader has recently called for the end of athletic scholarships in an attempt to protect the amateur status of college players. The NCAA already stands in opposition to Nader’s proposal and Walter Byers, a former head of the association, has gone so far as to call for the paying of student athletes.

In an odd juxtaposition, Nader and Byers both have the best interest of collegiate athletes at heart, yet they are at completely opposite ends of the debate.

Neither proposal, however, addresses the overarching problem within collegiate athletics.

College sports have fallen to the corruption of the insanely lucrative industry surrounding them. No longer are sports used as an avenue for discipline, leadership, teamwork and education. Instead they have become nothing more than a pipeline for talent and revenue stream.

Regrettably, in this wide world of sports where the dollar is king, the real victims are none other than the players themselves.

Although both Nader and Byers agree that athletes are used and abused by the sports industry, each man’s proposal comes with collateral damages.

First, if a plan to eliminate athletic scholarships were implemented, many of the 49,000 NCAA student athletes would be forced to forfeit their free or nearly free education.

For many, scholarships provide the only means of attaining an education.

Thus, if the well-being of the student athlete is truly at the heart of the issue, the elimination of athletic scholarships seems incredibly counterproductive.

Furthermore, while Nader cites the problems surrounding major basketball and football programs, scholarships affect participants in all college athletics.

Oppositely, Byers “pay-for-play” plan undermines the ideals of the scholastic nature of scholarships. As athletes are compensated with an education, to further pay them is not only to cheapen the education, but also to wholly succumb to the greed of the industry.

Where once scholarships were intended to provide and reward a talented individual with an education, scholarships are now doled out to entice those same  individuals to augment ticket sales. Education has taken a backseat to income and wins.

In 2008, USA Today and the NCAA released a study showing that college athletes in the five major sports are more likely to take easier course loads and were even encouraged to take the path of least resistance as academic requirements rose.

As players are encouraged to sacrifice an eclectic, challenging education, the term “student athlete” is becoming obsolete.

College players are not only being paraded around for profit but are also being robbed of their intellectual pursuits. The interest of the student athlete has been placed behind that of the dollar, and that is the tragedy.