College Sports Discrimination
The admission of students with athletic ability is common in the United States. A study by Hurwitz (2011) revealed the odds of admission for athletic or legacy students was 15.69 times the odds for other students. About 40 percent ofspots in college classes are reserved for legacy students, and elite colleges give up to 24 percent of undergrate positions to legacy students (Bergman para 5). Some studies reveal that legacy criteria can subsitute for several dozen points on the SAT (Ordway para 3). The high level of injustice towards academically superior students who are denied college positions for lack of superior athletic abiity can be understood in the context of competitive advantage theory. The theory stresses on the maximization of economies of scale, and is applicable mostly in business (Wang, 2014). In sports, it could mean that college strive to present as able to produce good graduates and empower talents. Thus, it might appear worthwhile to pay for high premium prices because the product is multifunctional and well-rounded. Also, students and sponsors can discern the opportunity cost of attending a sports-oriented college or non-oriented colleges.
The issue of injustice meted towards academically strong students is related to the concepts discussed in class. It relates to discrimination on the basis of social economic status and race. Indeed, reserving and providing positions to students with athletic abilty while denying the same positions to students with higher academic qualifictions is discriminatory. Besides favoring students from the superior economic background who can nurture talent comfortably, it awards students whose racial characteristics facilitate athletic prowess. This is wrong, as discusssed in class, because it propagates a culture of injustice, eliminates fairness, and encourages institutional discrimination, stereotypes, and segregation in educational systems.
I will address the raised issue by holdling dicussions with my college registrar and sports head in the coming week. I will book appointments, and when I meet them in their offices, I will determine the exact number of student-athletes, the college admission criteria, and the equivalent of the edge given to athletic student in terms of SAT or other scores. I will then ask the college to follow up on the athletic students as well as the students denied admission positions to determine how the students fair in their studies, and the institutions in which they get enrolled. That way, the college can track the impact of its policies even as it revises the admission criteria and relaxes athletic ability preferences.