Jayakumar, Uma M., and Eddie Comeaux. "The Cultural Cover-Up Of College Athletics: How Organizational Culture Perpetuates An Unrealistic And Idealized Balancing Act." Journal Of Higher Education 87.4 (2016): 488-515. Academic Search Complete. Web. 7 Oct. 2016.
Question: What does the different status of athletes and athletic organization on college universities reveal about the values of student athletes with as a student and individual student athletes?
Initial thoughts on question: At college universities collegiate student-athletes have some what of a different status than just a student attending the university strictly for academics. Status on a college campus especially for a collegiate athlete or collegiate sports organization can mean multiple things such as: social status, academics, athletics, and overall how much revenue the organization is bringing into the school. Status from the point of view of the student athlete can be looked at several different ways such as; how much time does he or she have devoted to not only athletics but as well as academics. Student athletes already have a rigorous schedule without including the academics,but with academics the are pulled in two different directions. How could that effect how they are valued by the universities both on the field and in the classroom or how they themselves value who they are as a student-athlete.
While first looking up sources for this topic I was skimming through the databases and this sources title caught my attention. What caught my attention from the title was "Cultural Cover-Up" it made me think of many different things that it could possibly mean "Cultural Cover-Up". Also the sub-title caught my attention as well with the phrase " Unrealistic and Idealized Balancing Act", which made me think of how student-athletes have to balance themselves out with academics and athletics.
Step 2:
This source examined the role if the organizational culture of the university and how that forms the lives of collegiate athletes, particularly the tensions of the unrealistic equilibrium as both a student and an athlete. Using the collection of 20 interviews and their finding the author delves into cultural cover up of the universities outlook of its athletes overall achievement and success in academic and athletics, however, there is a lack of support to back the student-athletes success academically. Student-athletes receive a popular perception that they excel all around academically and athletically is supported by what seems to be a false claim that students overall academic success comes first over athletically to the university. To go along with the dual role of student-athlete he or she is conformed to the four primary elements of the athletic department; institutional culture, external environment, internal environment, and leadership/power to form a glorified image of the athletes at these universities. Outside forces and values also effect the athletic departments operations that could possibly not be the same with the academic values of higher education. The interviews with former collegiate athletes and coaches reveal that at the start academic success is what was important but as the years went by athletics took the top spot over the students overall academic success. Even before the student-athlete steps on the college campus to start he or she's college career they are courted by recruiters who taut the notion that academics is the first reason why the student-athlete chose to come to that certain campus while counter acting that with why the sports program there is great. From the start there is personal connection with student-athlete and athletic program, but with that being said it is he or she's choice to decide what their intended academic path. With the personal connection the athletic program as strong grip on the students overall values and dedications. The life of student-athlete is supposed to in equilibrium with the athletic and academic departments. Instead, the athletic programs are held higher by the students who fed a some what unrealistic goal that takes away from their overall academic success. Socially the values of athletes are also perceived to have good grades on test and assignments just handed down to them as if they are not smart or work hard for that grade.
I agree with the idea that as a student-athlete that "idealized image of achieving excellence in academics and athletics, masks inadequate organizational support towards academic success. However, I do question that the university and the sports program do minimal for the academic success of their student-athletes. The author of this article barely goes over what the university and athletic programs provide for their student-athletes success in the classroom. While it does seem that a student-athletes values are held higher to university by the means of their athleticism the universities do provide programs and tutors to not only keep their athletes successfully on track to graduate.As student-athlete the decisions you make internally will affect their academic and athletic outcomes.
This source has led to what new questions I want to ask: What value of the student-athlete is held at a higher standard in higher education; is it their athletic values that brings in revenue or their academic values that bring prestige to the college? Socially how does this effect their value as well? How could the value of the student-athletes become more equal and what has to be done to get to that point where they are both on an equal playing field? How does the attitude of the athletic program towards academics effect how well their student do academically? How much do outside forces i.e media, companies, and sponsors effect what values of student-athletes are held at a high standard by the university. What I would like to do next is research more of what the university and athletic programs are providing exactly to their student-athletes to help them be successful academically and athletically equally. I would also like to look into how outside forces really do impact the values of the student-athletes. Once I have researched these question and I can form a better opinion on the subject that will lead to my conclusion.
No comments:
Post a Comment