Hearings on the Role of Athletics
ANALOGY ESSAY SAMPLES
• While not perfect, these samples from students past should give you an idea on how to organize and approach this essay. • If you have any questions, please ask.
Should We Pay?
Many issues have been plaguing the sports world recently, especially the question of paying college athletes. Are athletics so important that colleges need to put out millions of dollars per year just to pay for students to play for them? Paying college athletes is like throwing a lit match into a haystack: once the fire is started, it just keeps burning, making a bad situation worse.
There are several differences between the haystack and paying athletes. To start, throwing a needle in a haystack is a totally negative concept; everything will burn. However, with paying college athletes, some people can find reasons why this could be a positive thing. For instance, some believe paying athletes will bring more competition to the table and make some colleges much more prestigious than others. Others say this will bring in more money and more revenue. A second difference is the end of the situation. At the end of the fire, there is smoke and it will eventually put itself out. However, this is an issue that cannot extinguish itself. No matter what the verdict, someone is going to be unhappy and the "fire" will keep burning.
[pic]Despite these differences there are many similarities between the two. One similarity is the haystack going up in flames and the whole educational system going up. If we pay our college athletes the focus will be more on the money than on learning.
College is supposed to prepare a student for life's work through learning, not be life's work. College sports will also become more like professional sports- all about the money and less about the love of the sport. Related to this is the issue of scholarships. Are scholarships not enough pay for the student? And who decides how much money each player receives? Will it
• While not perfect, these samples from students past should give you an idea on how to organize and approach this essay. • If you have any questions, please ask.
Should We Pay?
Many issues have been plaguing the sports world recently, especially the question of paying college athletes. Are athletics so important that colleges need to put out millions of dollars per year just to pay for students to play for them? Paying college athletes is like throwing a lit match into a haystack: once the fire is started, it just keeps burning, making a bad situation worse.
There are several differences between the haystack and paying athletes. To start, throwing a needle in a haystack is a totally negative concept; everything will burn. However, with paying college athletes, some people can find reasons why this could be a positive thing. For instance, some believe paying athletes will bring more competition to the table and make some colleges much more prestigious than others. Others say this will bring in more money and more revenue. A second difference is the end of the situation. At the end of the fire, there is smoke and it will eventually put itself out. However, this is an issue that cannot extinguish itself. No matter what the verdict, someone is going to be unhappy and the "fire" will keep burning.
[pic]Despite these differences there are many similarities between the two. One similarity is the haystack going up in flames and the whole educational system going up. If we pay our college athletes the focus will be more on the money than on learning.
College is supposed to prepare a student for life's work through learning, not be life's work. College sports will also become more like professional sports- all about the money and less about the love of the sport. Related to this is the issue of scholarships. Are scholarships not enough pay for the student? And who decides how much money each player receives? Will it