College Admission of Sports Students and Academic Values

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College Admission of Sports Students and Academic Values
There is a growing concern on biases that arise in the admission of college students. The main concern has been on low entry levels for students enrolled in sports programs. The primary concern is that universities and colleges are drifting away from their role of fostering education and enhancing academic values to the business-like approach. Competition in admitting the best talents from athletics and other games is lowering the standards of educational values. This has created a need for investigating the present public understanding of college admission programs and the impact of reducing academic admission standards for students because of their talents. There is also a need to understand the social injustices that arise when students that have qualified for university slots are denied entry because their slots are taken by other students that are talented in sports. The present study will seek to explore the issues that arise when colleges lower admission standards in favor of students that engage in games.
Background to the Topic
It is nearly impossible to underscore the role of sports in social, economic, and even personal development of a given society. Games are a source of income for many people across the globe. Learning institutions have also grown to become centers of attraction for high school students because of nurturing talents. Institutions admitting athletes have also played a significant role in transforming the society because of encouraging academic values. One of the educational values is to instill the values of discipline in students. Discipline hardly exists in market environments where there is competition for athletes and sports people. In the recent past, learning institutions have been forced to find measures of striking a balance between risks of lowering admission standards and the quality of education they offer. The problem is that there is still a struggle because learning institutions are tending towards business-like operational techniques. An article “When Colleges Recruit Athletes, Everyone Loses” by Allen published in The New York Times touches on one of the pressing issues associated with unfair college admissions. Growing up, parents encourage their children to perform better in early education. They forget to tell their children that colleges have special admission programs for students that excel in sporting activities. Young people grow up working hard academically only to be disappointed that they have missed out opportunities in higher learning institutions because they do not have special qualifications in sports. Sports career has come to define entry into universities.
The significance of this Study
The present study will seek to benefit scholars, parents, and researchers interested in this topic in the future. Parents will benefit because they will understand the reason why there is always a gap in the graduation standards for students in sporting activities and those that do not engage in sports activities. Additionally, there is also a gap in the level of discipline for students participating in sporting activities and those that spend most of their time in the classroom environment. Another primary purpose of investigating this topic is that it will reveal the level of academic injustice for untalented students that have been denied entry into university even after attaining good academic performance. Researchers will benefit from this study because the study will serve as a basis for future research work in this area. It is expected that parents will also change the manner in which they bring up their children. They will start fostering participation in gaming activities if indeed this trend of special admission programs for talented students does not seem to be wiped away from the learning institutions. To complete this study, the researcher will use the following peer-reviewed academic articles in the annotated bibliography. Peer-reviewed articles are selected for this study because they are reliable.
Annotated Bibliography
Allen, A. Frederick. “When Colleges Recruit Athletes, Everyone Loses.” Forbes, 2012.
In this article, Allen explains that parents and students in high schools have a broad understanding of how athletes enjoy better lives in colleges and universities. They also understand that excellence in sports can qualify one an entry slot in the university even with poor academic performance. The problem is that a country cannot progress on athletic prowess alone. The country needs industrialization. Universities should rethink their admission criterion for the sake of the economic development
This article has a significant contribution to the topic under study. The article underscores college admission on athletic prowess, bringing an understanding of college admission biases. It is expected that this article will work with others in this paper to strengthen the need for colleges to drop prejudices in admission and focus on academic excellence.
Aries, Elizabeth et al. “A Comparison of Athletes and Non-athletes at Highly Selective Colleges: Academic Performance and Personal Development.” Research in Higher Education: vol. 46, no. 5, 2004.
In this peer-reviewed-article, Aries et al. sought to investigate the relationship that exists between selective college admission and academic performance and personal development. The study focused on selective colleges that had lower entry academic qualifications for students that spend more than ten hours in academic activities. The study found that athletes had higher personal development skills compared to non-athletes. Athletes were also noted to drink and smoke more during weekends compared to their counterparts that were not involved in gaming activities.
This source will be helpful to the study because it touches on a critical area of bias in college admissions an...