Don't understand why college athletes should be paid? Let me give you a hypothetical.
Imagine an owner of a company that is predominantly made up of unpaid interns. These interns are subject to some of the most physically demanding duties in their work environment, and risk blood and body everyday. At their work place they are constantly verbally and physically harassed often in a demeaning matter, and are evaluated solely on their superficial talents. Despite the fact that their boss occasionally makes more $100 million, he refuses to pay his interns. The interns therefore, without enough time in the day to work another job, fall deeper into poverty.
Now, most would agree that the above stated working environment is something that should not be endured by anyone. However, it is. Not only has it become an excepted work place in our society, but every Saturday 100,000 fans cheer for it at America’s coliseums. Ridiculous right?
College football players in the NCAA risk their well being everyday for no pay. They put on pads and a helmet to play games that rack in millions of dollars for their schools, yet often return home to a family that couldnt even afford to go tothe game. This is an issue that has been discussed by many sportswriters and bloggers alike, and it is why I chose to do my Junior Theme on this topic.
Although I agree that the athletes shouldn't be treated that way, I don't think they should be paid. They are at college primarily to go to school, and no matter how much impact football has on their life, school should still come first. Technically they are student athletes. At the end of the day they are students at whatever college they are going to. Other students don't get paid (besides scholarship money which is only used to pay their tuition) to learn, so why should athletes get paid to play sports? I understand your argument, which is why professionals are paid, because that's their job. However it's not a student athlete's job to play a sport in college. I do agree with you though, that the treatment of the athletes should be better, because at the end of the day, they are playing the sport because it's fun and they want to enjoy it. But they should not get paid to do so.
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