Introduction to American Government and Politics

Cade Robinson

Dr. Jenkins

PS 101

4/28/2022

Student athletes grades 

         Student athletes are always told “You’re a student first, athlete second.”, but that just isn’t true for most athletes. According to Maloney McCormick “The average GPA of an athlete was 2.379 while the average GPA of a non-athlete was 2.681”. Most student athletes put athletics first. They will skip class for practice even though 99% of student athletes won’t have a career in their sport rather they will have a career in what they major in. Student athletes commonly face the problem of whether they go to class or focus on their sport. This problem stems from the lack of time they have and how you can’t be in two places at once. They are commonly asked to skip class or leave class early for their sport, which negatively affects their grades. Student athletes often have less time to do homework and projects negatively impacting their grade too. This is sad due to how one of the biggest points of college is to learn, and student athletes are choosing their athletics over learning in class. 

          Student athletes are affected by the bad grades in many ways. One main way student athletes are affected by these bad grades is when they become ineligible. Being ineligible means that you are not allowed to play during the season, which is a punishment for not passing classes. Becoming ineligible can really affect athletes' mental health in a negative way too. It can cause them to become depressed due to the fact they can’t play the sport they love. Another way student athletes are affected by these bad grades is when they are trying to graduate. It is getting more and more common to have to go to college over 4 years to get your bachelors degree, but it’s the same for student athletes too. Many student athletes have to take summer classes to graduate on time, or take another semester to get all the credits they need to graduate. This is due to the fact that student athletes focus in general on school less, so they are more likely to fail classes. Student athletes are also affected by the bad grades when looking for their first job. Many student athletes have lower GPAs than they could have due to them missing classes and getting bad grades. Their GPA doesn’t reflect how truly smart they are, or how much they know. This could lead to student athletes getting passed up for jobs due to the inaccurate representation of their intelligence by their GPA. The final way getting bad grades negatively impacts student athletes is just mentally. When you get a 55 on a test it makes you feel bad. Failing never feels good, and it’s the same with student athletes.

          From a teacher's perspective, it could be worrying to see a student athlete getting bad grades. It can make them wonder if the student is actually understanding the class and learning. It can make teachers wonder if there is something wrong in the way they are teaching, or if there is something wrong with the student athlete. It might also make the teacher think the student athlete isn’t trying and frustrate the teacher. All these things teachers face due to student athletes getting bad grades sometimes. Coaches are also affected by student athletes getting bad grades. It can cause coaches a lot of stress if a student athlete is getting bad grades because they might become ineligible, which could negatively impact a team. This impact could be so big that the team loses games which isn’t good for the coach also. Coaches might have to start trying to come up with solutions, and change game plans that they spend hours on if a player becomes ineligible. These bad grades also affect coaches, because their athletes reflect directly on them and their program. If a student athlete is under performing in the classroom it might make it look like the coaches don’t care about school and could bring down the team GPA which makes the coach look bad if it’s too low. Another problem the bad grades student athletes get may cause for coaches is having to figure out how to help them in that class. Students' parents also are affected by student athletes getting bad grades. If parents are paying for student athletes' college then they might have to pay for them to retake classes which impacts the parents financially. Parents also may become worried that their kid may drop out or fail out of college. Overall student athletes under performing in the classroom can have negative effects on many people in their lives and it isn’t a good thing for anyone.

     There isn’t one solution that can fix the under performance of student athletes in the classroom, but there are some things that may help. Having tutors available in the morning, middle of the day and at night could help them be able to get help where they are struggling. Student athletes going to office hours to ask questions and being engaged in class could help their performance too. If a student athlete goes out of their way to form a connection with their professor, and is willing to ask questions to them to show they are trying, it can also help them at least pass the class due to the teacher liking them and wanting to help them. Many teams have study hours if your GPA is under a certain number. This forces student athletes to focus on their classes during that time which could help. Many study hours let going to office hours and tutoring contribute to them so it also pushes student athletes to look for help.  Student athletes also should be educated on the academic resources they have. There are many academic resources that many students and student athletes don’t use and don’t know about. These resources can be very helpful and really help improve your grades. Another solution to help underperforming student athletes in the classroom is to partner them with someone on the team that is good at that class and let them help. Although many student athletes struggle in the classroom many also excel in the classroom. Partnering up these two types of athletes can positively affect both of them. This may also make it easier for the struggling student athletes to ask for help, because it’s their friend and teammate they are asking so they may be more willing to ask. Overall though there is not just one clear cut solution for helping student athletes in the classroom, it is a case by case circumstance.