proposal

Marc Kelley

English 103

Ms. Wiley

25 February 2009

I changed my whole paper because I realized how poor my original topic was, but it is still somewhat on the same level

Topic: Should young athletes be able to skip college or not finish school and get a degree to play a professional sport and the impact it has on younger people.

Thesis: Student athlete is a term that has long been used to describe people who play a sport in college or high school; however, sometimes the “student” portion if entirely overlooked. When young men do not finish college, or even go to college at all, they are affecting their lives, how young people approach school and grades and they belittle the importance of an education.

Proposal: Young men, who are only eighteen and nineteen years old, are given the opportunity far too often to simply skip out on an education and pursue the professional career of their choice. However, this affects far more people than just that one particular young man. Because kids see that they have a chance, even though it is so rare to be such a great player, and they decide that sports and athletics are going to be their number one priority instead of school. young boys and girls are always taught their goal should be to graduate from college, and at that point that have truly become an adult. But with this new age phenomena that teenagers are mature enough to make decisions about millions of dollars and living on their own is somewhat absurd. There have been way too many cases of this idea backfiring for people to still think it’s a good idea. Because some of these athletes do not realized that they will eventually retire from the sport and at that point they are left with nothing, because they barely received their high school diploma. The term student-athlete should be re-examined, because they have steered far away from the student portion. Each major sport has a part in this problem, and it is something that has been fought for years. There have been some changes to help, but not nearly the impact that needs to be made.

Points:

· Effect on the overall education in America

· Teaches the wrong values

· Unneeded pressure on teenagers

· Media and fans affecting their lives

· Life after their sport

· Student-athlete

· Makes choices easier, if you have to stay in school

· Pros and cons of the decision

· Examples of people who didn’t get an education

Intro: When kids are growing up they are taught to study first and play later. This should be no different when we are talking about college and high school people, too. Sports and leisure activities are still just entertainment when it comes down to the big picture and they should be treated as such for educational purposes too. Far too often when we refer to student-athletes, we completely overlook the student part and just ask questions about whether or not they will play professionally in their sport. Decisions that famous people make always affect hundreds of people, and they should set the right tone about how important schooling is. Although sometimes idea of skipping out on education and making millions of dollars seems smart, but in the long run it may affect their lives. Student athlete is a term that has long been used to describe people who play a sport in college or high school; however, sometimes the “student” portion if entirely overlooked. When young men do not finish college, or even go to college at all, they are affecting their lives, how young people approach school and grades and they belittle the importance of an education.

Conclusion: Athletes are idolized much more than they should be. They make a living by playing a game, and a lot of the time they did not even graduate from college. The importance of college and education is overlooked. A great doctor went to college for eight years, yet is much less famous than young kids who maybe finished their freshman year of college. The rules have recently been changed to try and make this problem better and reestablish the importance of education. But there needs to be far more done to make these great young athletes stay in school and finish their education then go and become the professional athlete. This problem is a direct correlation on how society treats all situations, because we are always looking for a quick solve, and we don’t want to go through the hard things, like four years of college. If the problem is not solved soon then it will only get worse and worse.