The Intersection of Academics and Athletics at Prestige University Essay Example

tight admission offers, and this would make it hard for the administration to get top athletes from its population. Therefore, this compelled the school to come up with a way that can accommodate full-time athletes who will be representing the school during sports competitions. With this, they were not helping the athletes. Instead, it was for their gain because, in the end, the athletes would not have got the quality educational skill they needed.

These college athletes volunteer themselves for the sake of the school when they sacrifice their time and commitment to the sport. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) recommends the schools to guide and mentor these athletes through their tenure at the school. It is recommended that the school should advise, tutor, mentor and assess the student-athletes so that they can manage their schedule right, both in class and at the field (Clayton, et al. 2015). Therefore, these athletes give up their time and substantial commitment for that but then the school administration has failed to provide that. Instead, they bend the school laws to make it look like the athletes are doing a good job in athletics and academics. Therefore, the student-athletes are not to blame since they did their part, and as young students, they needed this mentorship, which the school administration failed to provide.

The long term effect of this scandal on the parties involved is that they will lose their reputation and that will affect the school at large, the students and the alumni too. To the public eye, it will be seen as the school has lost its priorities in academics and it would produce half-baked professionals. That way,

the school can lose its Ivy League status, prospective employers will avoid students from there, and no parent would want their child to go to an institution which does not prioritize on education. As a higher education administrator, firstly, I would come up with reforms that would decrease the costs of these sports. It is involvement of significant financial investment into collegiate sports that compels institutions to look after the monetary profit and with this mindset; most schools would look beyond their primary mission for the sake of money. I would push for reform that makes college sports a nurturing platform for the student’s talent rather than money-making. Colleges and universities should be there to develop students into better people so that upon completion then the student can make a better living out of his talent. With the mindset, most school administrations have towards these sports; it is exploiting students for their gain.

It is possible for an institution to excel in both academics and athletics without compromising academics. It all matters on how the system balance and prioritize on these two activities This balance can be achieved through proper reform measures brought about in institutions to give academics the priority. Institutions should have a culture whereby student-athletes know that they have to do well academically since that is the main reason they came to school. With athletics being made a non-profitable event, then schools would not exploit much on its athletes to an extent they can interfere with their studies.

The report from the whistleblowers helped the student-athletes who got enrollment in ghost classes. The report was helpful because even the NCAA has always relied on

institutions to ensure that these athletes are supported and mentored so that they can manage to succeed in their academics because of their commitment to sport denied them the time needed for the study. The main reason for enrolling the athletes to ghost classes was to reduce their academic workload and enable them to focus on sports so that they could give the school glory. However, in the long run, this is seen as exploitation because as much as all institutions are charged with the role of nurturing talent, they should not compromise the athletes’ education.

The media compelled the top administrators to share with the public a disclosure of the ghost classes and the popularity of literacy among student athletes (Clayton, et al. 2015). The whistleblowers were justified to send their findings to the media because when they decided to confront the university administration concerning the irregularities found, they were challenged by the senior administrators. Had the officials cooperated with the whistleblowers, then the case would have been solved internally by the institution and still keep their professional reputation.

The curriculum committee had the responsibility to be the internal watchdogs for the NCAA so that they can uphold academic integrity while athletics program is still in the picture. They would help keep sports and academics ethical by ensuring that the student-athletes are supervised so that they cannot lose focus in their studies. Some safeguards to ensure sanity is enabling institutions to clarify their mission statements such that if athletics is their de facto purpose, then it should be stated straightforwardly. Also, independent athletic foundations should be dissolved and substituted with a branch structure inside the institutional

administrative control.

If the whistleblowers presented their findings, I would compel other administrators so that we can look into the matter internally without involving the public. We would first disband the ghost classes then, together with the whistleblowers, we would come up with necessary measures that would help the student athletes. We would find ways of making them be part of the academic curriculum while still undertaking their respective sports. The main aim here would be to enable our athletes to finish college successfully and become real professionals as well as sportspersons.

Reference

• Cayton, A., Grantham, A., McGurrin, B., Paparella, P., & Pallegrino, L. (2015). Winning Is Everything: The Intersection of Academics and Athletics at Prestige University. Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership, Vol. 18(2) 144–156. DOI: 10.1177/1555458915584674/docProps/thumbnail.wmf