Argumentative Essay Assignment

Argumentative Research Essay Assignment:
This essay must be written in the argumentative mode, and you will incorporate research into it. The primary purpose of this argumentative essay is to convince readers to think the way you do about a subject. To accomplish this goal, you must establish a reasonable and thoughtful argument supporting a position on an issue.

Your essay should have the following parts:

Title page in APA format
In-Text Citations
Introduction which includes your thesis statement
Body paragraphs that state your reasons with supporting evidence
Refutation – acknowledge the opposing view, but explain why your position is the correct one
Conclusion
Reference page with a list of sources used in the essay.
You are allowed to select your own topic for this assignment. If you would like topic suggestions please ask. I will be glad to be of assistance.

You must have at least 5 reliable and appropriate authoritative sources in a variety of formats published within the last 5 years. Avoid the use of Wikipedia in academic research.

Support your position with evidence. The following are different ways to support your argument:

Facts – a powerful means of convincing
Statistics – Be sure your statistics come from responsible sources. Always cite your sources.
Quotations – Direct quotations from leading experts effectively support your position.
Examples – Examples enhance your meaning and make your ideas concrete. They are the proof that backs up your point.
Formatting Guidelines:

Double Spaced, 1” margins, Times New Roman font in 12-point size, and formatted according to APA guidelines
Use APA format for Title page and page numbers
Use APA format for In-text citations and References page
This assignment should be 8 pages not including Title page and References page
Avoid the use of 1st and 2nd person. Must be written in 3rd person point of view

ANSWER

College Athletes Should Be Paid

Introduction

Over the years the college athletics have become popular and gained vast growth across countries. College athletics has enabled young student-athletes to showcase their talents, abilities and enabled them to become well-known athletes in their future. College athletics involved different categories of sports such as baseball, football, and basketball. These have brought in excess revenue to the schools which raised concerns on whether the student-athletes should be paid. The determination on whether college athletes should be paid has been debated and reviewed several times over the years. This is because some advocate in favor of the college athletes while others are against the idea of paying the college athletes. Many standpoints exist why they should be paid or not. Despite the growing pressure on whether they should be paid or not, college athletes need to be paid since they bringing revenue to the colleges and the National collegiate athletic association (NCAA). College athletes also need to be paid to compensate for the time they commit, to meet their basic needs beyond scholarships, avoid unethical coach bribery schemes, and motivate the development of talents.

College Athletes Should Be Paid

College athletes need to be paid since they are a source of revenue to the NCAA and college athletics department. College athletics has been among the most profitable with billions of dollars being acquired across different sports. College athletes participate in sporting activities such as baseball, basketball and football bring billions to the industry and in excess revenue to the athletics department within the schools. These huge revenues are distributed unfairly considering that the college students that led to the revenue as players receive nothing.

College athletes have been described as amateurs by the NCAA and by their laws as a student that engages in athletic contests for personal pleasure, educational values, love for the sport, satisfaction but not of material gain. The college athletes take their talents to college sports which bring a huge amount of money. Coaches are receiving extravagant salaries while the athletes are receiving nothing despite the much efforts they put to create high achieving teams (Nocera and Strauss, 2018). Ideally, the huge revenues received are not being used for the benefits of the students such as education investments. Therefore, college athletes have failed to recognize any return for their efforts. The earnings are being split amid the administrations and coaches while the college students and parents are being forced to rely on their finances to fund the college athletic department in their tuition fees.

In the current situation, college athletes are nothing but cheap labor through which the college sports industry relies on to generate more revenue. They are relying on the students to bring revenue and build their reputation while they have ignored adequate compensation of the student-athletes. For instance, the NCAA gains billions of dollars through college sports annually while students are not compensated (Zirin, 2015). They earn revenue through tickets and other associated merchandise to sports such as sponsorship by commercial enterprises. Bertolas, Krejci, and Stanley, (2018) researched at the University of Texas which illustrated that the athletic program has the highest revenue within the University. However, despite the high revenue gained the college athletes are not yet receiving any form of compensation. Therefore, college athletes need to be paid since their services to the college sports industry is going unrecognized.

College athletes ought to be paid to offer income to the students that fail to work during their part-time jobs. Considerably, to get better achievements for the team, the college athletes have to make sport their priority which means that they have to sacrifice more hours. This may influence their ability to work in part-time jobs like their colleagues to earn a living.  For instance, the college athletes participating in high-level competition spend more than 20 hours a week in sports. This has limited their ability to work in part-time jobs and gain income like other students through normal means. This has created a gap in the ability of student-athletes to meet their expenses since they lack enough money to cater for their day to day needs such as clothes, recreation, and food. Therefore, paying the college athletes will allow them to concentrate on their career growth and eliminate the need to put intense pressure on their hours as they try to work in part-time jobs while participating in sports.

Copper (2011) argues that the universities and colleges have offered vital and valuable amenity to the students through integrated educative channels. The student-athletes representing the schools are paid through grants and scholarships depending on the talent and ability of the athlete ascertained by the coach or trainer. Copper 2011 continues to argue that the sports scholarship is sufficient to satisfy the student’s expenditure that they may spend during the learning period. Although there exist such claims to have compensated the student-athletes through grants and scholarships, some of the college athletes have failed to gain the benefits. For instance, the student-athletes playing in division one and two receive equivalent benefits through scholarships. However, division three college students who consume the same amount of time and effort in the fields to perform in high-level competitions and generate revenue to their schools and NCAA have failed to receive any compensations in form of scholarships. Additionally, not all student-athletes tend to quality for grants and scholarships while others receive partial scholarships. This has led to the issue of inequality when it comes to compensating college athletes who hold a big role in generating revenue for the colleges, universities, and NCAA. Considerably, compensating all the students foster equality among them. The NCAA should offer adequate finances in exchange for the commitment and work through creating a sustainable financial aid system.

Considerably, the limitation of scholarships for some of division two and three college athletes raises concerns about the capacity of the college athlete to afford and continue competing and acquire education in the process. For instance, when calculating and assessing the expenses that are required for these student-athletes to compete in the division two-level, there are concerns whether the students are aware of the financial responsibilities that they hold when accepting the opportunities to participate in division two intercollegiate sports. The prospective student-athlete commitment suggests that the intentions of the division two college athletes are never to accept the huge amounts of debts that impact their financial security and stability only to play a sport. There is an issue with the scholarship policy which has created inadequate financial support for the college athletes

According to the NCAA rules, college athletes receiving payments are not eligible for participation in any sports (Hovenkamp, 2018). However, most of the student-athletes are struggling to cater to their daily needs. For instance, the student-athletes that lack scholarships struggle with their tuition and board fees, expenses linked to their transportation to school, and academic-related supplies such as books. Considerably, some violations have existed due to the benefits that are being provided to the college athletes by a commercial enterprise. Most of the students are violating the rules since they are struggling to make ends meet. With the little money, they get from their parents, many scholarship athletes are still struggling with their basic needs since the scholarship only covers the tuition, room, and board fees.

Additionally, adequate financial compensation will limit corruption and lower violations linked with the impermissible benefits that college athletes receive. NCAA has spent a lot of time and resources policing the violations and the rules to ensure that the college athletes do not receive benefits from commercial enterprises. However, the students and athletics department in school is exploiting the rules through having contracts with the commercial enterprises.  Compensations will eliminate the coach bribery schemes which has existed within the college athletics where coaches and commercial enterprises leading unethical practices.

The parents and students have agreed to sign contracts with commercial enterprises since they believe they will meet their daily needs. This is because most families are still struggling to support college athletes. Receiving such benefits from commercial enterprises will enable them to meet their needs and increase their benefits. Therefore, accepting the payment of college athletes will lower unethical practices and corruption issues in college athletics.

College athletes encounter a lot of challenges linked to injuries and permanent body damages. The NCAA guidelines require that all college athletes have health insurances (Hovenkamp, 2018). However, the NCAA does not pay for the healthcare costs linked to college athletics participation. This means that in case of any injuries or damages, the parent’s or athlete’s insurance is utilized to make payments for the cost of injuries. Most of the student-athletes have been left confused due to the unexpected expenditure and medical bills due to injuries and the long term care for injuries in the field.

Relatively, some of the health insurance has failed to cover the medical bills linked to injuries. College athletes need to be paid to eliminate the challenges they encounter linked to temporary and permanent injuries. Some of the players can also lose their scholarships after permanent damage. For instance, football has the highest number of injuries such as ankle sprains, concussions, and cartilage injuries which may affect the quality of life and restrict future activity levels. Allowing the college athletes to receive monetary compensation will enable them to save their lives in case of a permanent injury. Additionally, the lack of mandated health insurance cover for injuries, calls for compensation for the student-athletes.

Many college athletes have played sports focusing on becoming professional athletes since they focus on their talents as their way out of struggle. However, their socio-economic factors have influenced their participation in sports. Most of the students tend to spend most of their time in sporting activities which influence their academic performance and shift their future careers. However, most of the student-athletes have struggled in their entire lives since they invested most of their time in sporting activities. Some of the student-athletes argue that they are demotivated by lack of financial support and increased financial constraints which led them to quit sporting activities. College athlete payment will enable the students to invest in their future since they will leave the school not only with a degree but significant savings (Glenn, 2020). This will enable them to start their adult life securely.

Additionally, when college athletes are paid for participating and competing in sports, they can gain life skills such as money management. Most of the professional athletes have struggled in their lives as they try to manage their finances due to inappropriate money habits. The inability of pro athletes to manage their finances has been a serious issue for the NFL. Most of the professional players are out of money two-three years after leaving their careers (Zirin, 2015). Considerably, the amount of time that pro athletes have in their professional career is small as compared to other professionals. Therefore, paying the college athletes prepares them for money management which is one of the most important skills that students should learn. This will enable the college athletes to master the skill of saving and investing which is a benefit during their professional career.

Most of the college athletes come from humble backgrounds with families and parents struggling to offer direct support to their talents. College athletes receiving benefits from commercial enterprises have withdrawn from their colleges since they have found better alternatives that will cater to their financial needs (Warren, 2017). Considerably, college athletes should receive adequate financial support more than scholarships to enable them to support their families. Most of the student-athletes playing in high-level competitions from humble backgrounds receive a lot of pressure from the families, fans, and alumni to seek financial compensation for their efforts. The college athletes are being forced to join professional leagues to support their families and gain income since the NCAA has failed to support them. Thus, compensating the athletes will relieve their families of the financial strains as they attempt to offer long term support to the athlete. This will also encourage the college athletes to remain in schools and complete their degrees rather than signing contracts with commercial enterprises to get paid in professional leagues.

Paying college athletes is one of the effective ways through which the college sports industry will motivate and support college athletes. Students hoping for financial compensation that will boost their living will feel motivated to boost their abilities and raise their performance (Nocera and Strauss, 2018). Ideally, good earnings increase the college athlete’s motivation to work hard and practice more to maintain and raise their rankings. Students ought to be less stressed about their financial situation thus focusing more on their education and sports without anxiety for financial support. Additionally, compensation will also make the college athlete intensive competitive. This is because the players will have more determination and motivation.

The NCAA and other parties against the payment of college athletes argue that these are not professional athletes. They argue that the sole focus of a student-athlete should be on education and sports but not as professional athletes that focus only on sports. This enables the students to be more passionate about sports since they are representing their colleges rather than measuring their efforts to the amount of financial compensation they receive. However, this argument has been outweighed by the stated reasons why athletes should be paid.

NCAA and college athletics departments are gaining millions of money from college sports, therefore they need to motivate the athletes and appreciate efforts. Compensating them will ensure that they remain in schools with less focus on monetary gains in professional leagues. The compensations will also enable them to cater for their daily expenses and support their families. Many people try to argue that the opportunity offered to college athletes is enough for athletes. However, it is time to begin offering more than scholarships and education and start paying athletes to lower the unethical business practices by commercial enterprises.

Conclusion

In summation, college athletes should be paid for several reasons related to their social and economic factors. College athletes encounter great physical and mental costs yet they are not getting compensated for their efforts. The huge earnings are distributed by the NCAA, coaches, and college athletics department. There are several reasons to believe that college athletes should be paid. College athletes ought to be paid to compensate the time they could use for part-time jobs, support their families, meet their basic needs, compensate for their injuries, build their money management skills, eliminate corruption, and ethical business practices by commercial enterprises. This will also facilitate better distribution of the huge earnings and motivate college athletes to complete their degrees and participate in college sports. Most college athletes are being under the tables by commercial enterprises to enable them to meet their financial needs. Therefore, the NCAA and college athletic departments need to change the situation and begin paying the college athletes to prevent and solve some of the issues existing in college athletics.

References

Bertolas, R., Krejci, J., & Stanley, A. (2018). Policy Point-Counterpoint: Are Colleges and Universities Obligated to Provide Student-athletes with Additional Compensation beyond Tuition, Room, and Board?. International Social Science Review, 94(1), 21.

Glenn, T. (2020). Should College Athletes be Paid? Examining the Perception of Sports Fans.

Hovenkamp, H. (2018). The NCAA and the Rule of Reason. Review of Industrial Organization, 52(2), 323-335.

Nocera, J., & Strauss, B. (2018). Indentured: The battle to end the exploitation of college athletes. Penguin.

Warren, N. (2017). The Economic Feasibility of Paying College Athletes.

Zirin, D. (2015). An economist explains why college athletes should be paid. The Nation. Retrieved from http://www. the nation. com/article/economist-explains-why-college-athletes-should-be-paid.