Garic Wainit Source 5

Bowen, William G., and Sarah A. Levin. Reclaiming The Game : College Sports And Educational Values. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2003. eBook Public Library Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 18 Oct. 2016.


Question: What significants of academic credentials of recruited and non-recruited walk-ons play as role in how they fare in higher education?

Before Reading: Before I read this book "Reclaiming The Game" by William G. Bowen and Sarah A Levin I thought to myself what exactly was being "reclaimed" and whether or not if this book solely had to do with athletics or if it had any academic outlooks to its research? If it did have academic outlooks how would academics fit into "reclaiming the game"? 

Step 2

Summarize: For the purpose of my research I decided to select chapter 5 of "Reclaiming The Game" to help further my research of my topic. I selected chapter 5 because of the fact that it focused on what I was missing in my exploratory paper-what are the academic outcomes of these student-athletes. Even before a student-athlete steps a single foot he or she has commitment to their sport. That commitment takes up a lot of their time and with that being said also dictates there major and course load. Since their sports dictate the students course load it also effects the graduation rates of student-athletes. The book sites from U.S News & World Report attributed to John Cooper, the former head football coach at The Ohio State University, observed and stated that the graduation rate of their football players would have been higher, if Ohio State didn't cut classes and raised the standards for sports and leisure studies. On the other hand walk-ons had more of say in what majors they felt like pre-suing because they didn't have that previous commitment like their scholarship athlete counterparts. Fortunately, it still looks like these student-athletes reason for coming to higher education goes past just their sport. Besides the top athletes, the average or rather not top tier athletes academically perform at an exceptionally high rate. When it comes to academic "outliers" for student-athletes there are none and that no one athlete or group of athletes stick out as that "outlier". 

Think: The book as a source I believe answered my question of the academic significants of collegiate athletes. This sources as definitely brought some new light to what I was looking for and helped me shape it down to where I believe it will fit quite well in my essay. I agree with the book when it mentioned the source where if the school or football program didn't cut classes from the students that the graduation rate would substantially increase. I do not agree with how there are really no academic "outliers" pertaining to student-athletes I don't find that to be true but I plan on looking into that more and maybe my opinion will change. 

Synthesize: I believe that I can put this source into conversation with my sources that pertain to how the academic institution academically tries to help there student athletes. This source respond to my other source by filling in spaces like academically how ready are these student-athletes and how that may or may not put them in a disadvantage. It also helped by giving a transparent view of how the athletic part of student-athlete really effects the academic side. 

I still have some question that have may not have been answered or just over looked during my exploration. I plan to look through my sources again to see if I can answer my unanswered questions.