Athletes and Education

Did you ever realize that in most of the cases numerous of athletes never graduate? It is sad to see young student athletes setting for much less education than they deserve. Neil H.Petrie in his essay is expressing himself against the attitude toward student athletes, and collegiate system. Petrie said "the system uses and then discards after the final buzzer." I found it true because there is so much pressure on athletes that it compromises their potential and academic careers. Petrie addresses his essay to several audiences. The primary aim of Petrie's audiences, which mainly are: teachers, counselors, and coaches is to provide a professional help for students so they could get a good education. One of the Petrie's audiences are teachers which are treating athletes with preferential treatment. The students have special attendance policies, because they miss a lot of classes. Also, they are allowed to take make-up tests and other alternative assignments. Furthermore, a special tutoring is provided for them to catch up what they missed. The athletes are spending many hours on a road trips as well as practicing. This causes them to drain their physical and mental energies, which they need for studying. Petrie wants the teachers to make sure that the student athletes are doing the work assigned. Beside that the teachers should let the student know when the work is not acceptable. Also the teachers suppose to inform the student where the improvement is needed, and how to improve to accomplish the best results. How can counselors contribute to the athlete's careers? Petrie in his essay gave us example of John who had never received any advice about putting together a program that would lead him to a degree. Moreover, nobody ever told him what would it take to earn a degree. Sometimes, we don't even realized how important is to get proper advice from the counselor and plan a coherent program in order to achieve success in college. Petrie suggests that