Should College Athletes be Paid? Draft 3

            It is one of the most disputed topics in college sports. Should college athletes be paid? No, athletes should not be paid in college.

            If they are not satisfied, there should be a way for athletes to go into a sports club or minor league system, where they could be paid, and universities could give the education to those who truly care about it. This also would give larger universities that bring in more money an unfair scouting advantage of offering more money than those smaller schools who will may only be able to offer a very small amount.

            The fact that many athletes are already on scholarships shows that they are already making more than the common student. Most students don’t receive even one scholarship from the school. Some students work every day just so they can eat, because they don’t have enough money. These students may start to resent their athletic peers should they be paid.

            The NCAA has said that “if college athletes were to start being paid, many schools would leave Division I sports” (Ganim, par. 1). Furthermore, “the universities that stayed in Division I sports would have to start cutting other, less popular sports to be able to afford the salaries” (Ganim, par. 2). Many of the athletes would also be left with nothing to do and may even be forced to transfer to another school to continue moving on in their respective sports.

            If athletes were to be paid, then the game may seem to be more about money and greed, rather than the love of playing the sport. Again Mark Emmert of the NCAA states “if amateurism goes away, so will the games as we know them now” (Ganim, par. 8). He goes on to mention that many schools lose money on the sports but they keep them for social cohesion, most likely among students who love to watch their respective teams play.

            One more huge issue is who would actually be paid. Would all athletes receive the same pay or would the most well-known and popular athletes receive more than those who barely get to play? Would football and basketball (being the two largest sports) make more than smaller sports teams because they bring in more money? This is possibly the largest group of questions regarding whether or not athletes should be paid. They would be the major issues needing worked out before many would change their views on the issue.

            There are many people who feel that college athletes should be paid. They have a variety of reasons as to why. They feel that because college athletes bring in so much money to the school that they deserve a cut of the pay. What they don't realize though, is that many schools are struggling to stay around, because their sports programs cost them so much money. They earn no money and in no way would they be able to pay all of their players. They feel that players are so special to the school that they deserve the compensation, but most players at any given level of any sport have been replaced and almost always are replaced.

            As you can see there are many reasons as to why athletes should not be paid in college sports. Many will still argue this topic long after it is truly settled, but college athletes should not be paid. That is unless there is a way for all schools to have a fair shot at bringing in athletes by paying them.

"Devastating Beauty"

In the essay the writer talks about the effect that advertisements are having on young girls. They discuss how women are seeing themselves as unhealthy and feel they need to reach an almost unattainable shape. I feel this is how young girls are seeing themselves. Girls are now trying to emulate models on TV that are unnaturally skinny. Advertisers see this as normal because of how much money the clothing industry brings in. They also see this type of body as natural because it is all most of them are around. They do not see a “normal” body shape.

             

Who is willing to be the Rosa Parks of the fashion industry?

The writer mentions how we need a boycott of goods with models like this on them. They compare it to what happened in the 1960s and the civil rights movement, mentioning that we need someone to act as Rosa Parks did to kick it into gear. While I don’t feel like this is anywhere close to what was happening in the 60s (and long before), I do feel that this is a big social issue that needs to be fixed, and fixed soon.

Who is willing to be the Rosa Parks of the fashion industry? And to stand up for all the young girls receiving the wrong message.

Should College Athletes Be Paid?

It is one of the most disputed topics in college sports. Should college athletes be paid? No, athletes should not be paid in college.

If they are not satisfied, there should be a way for athletes to go into a sports club or minor league system, where they could be paid, and universities could give the education to those who truly care about it. This also would give larger universities that bring in more money an unfair scouting advantage of offering more money than those smaller schools who will may only be able to offer a very small amount.

            The fact that many athletes are already on scholarships shows that they are already making more than the common student. Most students don’t receive even one scholarship from the school. Some students work every day just so they can eat, because they don’t have enough money. These students may start to resent their athletic peers should they be paid.

            The NCAA has said that “if college athletes were to start being paid, many schools would leave Division I sports” (Ganim, par. 1). Furthermore, “the universities that stayed in Division I sports would have to start cutting other, less popular sports to be able to afford the salaries” (Ganim, par. 2). Many of the athletes would also be left with nothing to do and may even be forced to transfer to another school to continue moving on in their respective sports.

            If athletes were to be paid, then the game may seem to be more about money and greed, rather than the love of playing the sport. Again Mark Emmert of the NCAA states “if amateurism goes away, so will the games as we know them now” (Ganim, par. 8). He goes on to mention that many schools lose money on the sports but they keep them for social cohesion, most likely among students who love to watch their respective teams play.

            As you can see there are many reasons as to why athletes should not be paid in college sports. Many will still argue this topic long after it is truly settled, but college athletes should not be paid. That is unless there is a way for all schools to have a fair shot at bringing in athletes by paying them.

My 'Almost' Public Writing

My writing has been mostly relegated to academic papers for most of my "career." That is why I do not have too much experience writing for large groups of people. One time that I actually had trouble writing was my last research paper of high school. While not "writing to the world," this paper was written as though it was a public piece. I had to write in a way that would seem educated to my teacher, but that my peers in class would understand it as well. This was made more difficult because many of those peers did not care about the paper or the class, so I had trouble receiving any feedback to help make the paper better and more understandable. So to fix the issues I was having, I tried to put the language into more of a similar dialogue from how we all normally talked, such as Lunsford mentions in the book, from our local community to give off a "down-home" sense in my paper. This made the paper more simplified, so that they could better understand. I felt this would make my paper more original because I was not just stating what a book or source said, but I was able to have my own voice as a writer. Lunsford tells that we should really watch who we are writing to, and that we are always taking the chance of having people of different backgrounds reading our papers. This was really not the case when it came to my paper, because we had ALL grown up together in the same area, and had known each other for years before, so I knew who I would be writing to.

"Is Social Media Taking Over Our Lives?" and Assigned Reading

Is Social Media Taking Over Our Lives?

In the article "Is Social Media Taking Over Our Lives?" the author looks at whether the use of social media is making us more anti-social. They mention that 28% of Facebook users between the ages of 18-34 check their page before they even get out of bed in the morning. They also bring to light that 57% of social media users talk to people more online than in real life. They bring up many positives though, such as many students are using the sites to connect with others in the same class for help on assignments.

The Reading

The reading describes how to make an argument credible, and how to win with that argument. The book brings up many times when you would use an argument, such as at work or home, to try to get someone to do something for you. The reading points out that a big way to win arguments is to earn credibility ethically. This is to show that you know what you're talking about, you can see where the other point of view comes from, and demonstrating fairness. These will help people to see that you are not just trying to say something for the sake of argument, but that you are showing that you are educated and correct on that topic.