By Skye Tulio
Sports Assignment Editor
A Nov. 27 Time magazine article debated whether or not college athletes should major in the sports they’re playing as opposed to a regular academically approved program of study.
The idea does seem interesting, but I think it would be challenging to get those classes approved for a university’s curriculum.
Universities and colleges across the country already offer various sports-related majors for sports management, physical education, sports studies, etc. But the article suggested majoring in the actual sport itself. In other words, a basketball player would major in basketball; a baseball player would major in baseball so on and so forth.
The Time article claimed most college athletes rarely choose serious majors in the first place, so why not allow them to major in the sport in which they play? I immediately thought of former Bona basketball standout Andrew Nicholson.
The No. 19 draft pick for the Orlando Magic began his education at Bonaventure as a chemistry major before switching to a physics major his junior year. Sounds pretty serious to me.
In fact, a good majority of our athletes take on majors such as history, journalism and mass communication, business and biology. They have the same work load as full time students while playing a Division I sport at the same time.
According to the NCAA, over the past five years St. Bonaventure student-athletes entering school in the 2005-06 academic year earned a Graduation Success Rate (GSR) of 88 percent. Bona student-athlete graduation rates continue to exceed that of their peers with 12 out of Bonas’ 14 D-I teams achieving a GSR rate of 88 percent or higher for its incoming 2005-06 student-athletes.
Isn’t that the whole point of becoming a student-athlete? These men and women are not only attempting to achieve greatness between the lines, but in the classroom as well. Of course there are athletes who will choose what Time deemed a less rigorous path of study, but for the most part they’re pursuing a degree just like everyone else.
In case their athletic careers don’t pan out, it would be beneficial for athletes to have something they can fall back. They need degrees in something other than the sport they’re pursuing.
David Pargman, professor emeritus of educational psychology at Florida State University is a source for the article because of an article published in the Chronicle of Higher Education titled “End the Charade: Let Athletes Major In Sports.”
Pargman questioned having high school seniors to select academic majors irrelevant to their desired careers, entering the world of professional athletes. He said gaining athletic skills is what most D-I college athletes pursue and is often the reason they‘ve gone to their university of choice.
Whether it’s basketball, baseball or football, the sport is a passion and priority of a student-athlete, but their education is also a priority, according to Pargman. Not all student-athletes wish to continue their athletic careers after school and benefit from majors not centralized on their sport of interest.
Something else to consider, if the majors would be open to all students or just student-athletes.
If it truly is an academically established major, why not? It is definitely a curious idea, but it would take a lot for schools to begin adding on these new majors.
Whether or not universities add new majors in basketball, baseball and other D-I sports, it’s ultimately the athlete’s decision. I just think they should be encouraged to broaden their horizons.
