Money

$9,000 US Dollars. This surprisingly big amount of money may mean a lot of different things to different people in different countries living in different conditions. They mean the amount of money that is needed to sustain the live of a family of six in Africa for almost two months. Instead for us, it means the costs of tuition of our school one semester. For some people, it is also the amount of money your parents earn every month. Now you know their importance, but if you add another zero, it becomes $90,000 US Dollars, a really significant amount of money. They now represent ten times of their worth before, but to ‘certain people’, they are the amount of money they earn in one season, four months. These ‘certain people’, are college athletes. Many of them earn more money than our parents in two months, maybe even half a year. These students are getting paid this enormous amount of money to throw a ball around, and those 90,000 dollars come from our tuition, which is definitely unfair and not supposed to happen. Today, I will address the problem of fairness. Secondly, why shouldn’t these athletes get paid, and lastly, why these athletes get payment from the school. The definition of the word ‘fair’ varies. In dictionaries, it says to be in accordance with rules or standards. What some of us believe is to not have what we want, but what we need. That is not what that is happening with most colleges in the US now. According to the Colorado institute of Human Activities, you can see that a high percentage of 38% of the students get into Ivy – league schools because they can throw a ball better than others. On the other hand, the coaches and television stations are making millions of dollars off of college sports, but it’s against NCAA rules for student-athletes to accept any type of cash payment beyond that of a university scholarship. These spots in school for the students in the US in most Ivy – league schools are taken by athletes, not people who actually spent their time studying for exams. Schools now overlook the students who want to pursue a better education, but spend time to uncover athletes from all over the globe. For me, athletes and other sportsmen spend most of their time throwing a ball. From my perspective, these people take up more scholarships and time than those people who actually excel at academics. Sports to 88% of a typical American family are just extracurricular activity. Just because they are a little better at those aspects, they shouldn’t receive special treatment from the school; excused from class at most. If they really consider doing sports as a living in the future, they can go pursue a goal of joining the NCAA, NBA, or anything else but to earn money out of their schools, which get the money from our very own pockets. These college athletes already receive scholarships from the school and take up most spaces that should be used for those students that want to pursue a better education, and they shouldn’t receive any more other form of payment, much less such a large amount. The last factor I want to bring into this argument is the need for the money.  Why do you think so many players are now going to the NBA as soon as possible' Players rushing through college sports could make the game much more exciting. These players have become employees of the schools they attend, but they don’t do the actual work like the janitors and other people, but they receive more payment than those who actually do work to help the school.  They go to class and then have to go to practice and games, where it is expected for them to perform well on the court or the field, at their own costs. They chose to excel at extracurricular activities, so why pay them to do their hobby' If $ 90,000 dollars is given to athletes as a form of entertainment, why don’t those schools, spend the money for actually helpful acts' As I said before, this amount of money can sustain a starving African family for a surprisingly long time. When we pay this money for entertainment, why don’t we use it to help people who actually need and appreciate the money' College is a place for people to learn and continuing in acedemics, not a place where you can squeeze money out of.