The Value of Student-Athlete Education

I was reading on a college sports blog about the value of student-athlete education. I found an interesting blog by Melissa Somadelis that talked about her recent visit to an NCAA convention in which they discussed if college athletes should be getting paid? Melissa claimed that the focus is being placed more on the athlete in student-athlete than on the student in student-athlete. I agree with this as more and more athletes are going to college solely to play sports and not to receive an education. Anyone can see that athletics is extremely important to athletes in college because essentially athletics is probably got them the scholarship to attend college. . According to Melissa, "the ultimate reason they are there is to get an education and in my eyes, the value of an education does not have a price tag." At this convention many people were arguing that student-athletes should be paid because they are helping college athletic departments generate substantial revenues and therefore should share in the department’s profits. However Melissa disagreed as do I. The purpose of attending school is to get an education, not to make money. Many student-athletes that are arguing that they should be getting paid are themselves receiving some sort of scholarship, which often includes tuition, fees, books, housing, meals, etc. I feel that many athletes are being given too much power and in a sense they feel that they are above the educational system. I know that playing sports and keeping up with your academics is a difficult tasks but it can be done. So for athletes to be getting paid in college only says that athletics is far more important than education.