A. Produced in 2013, Schooled: The Price of College Sport is a documentary film that exposes the issue of college sports, and how college students, after excelling in their sports, only receive a college degree while in the real sense, a lot of money has been made out of their talents by the sports organizers. The main claim of the documentary is that college students should receive financial incentives and rewards for having excelled in sports, unlike the current situations where they do not receive a penny from their inherent abilities, and the film uses some pieces of evidence to substantiate its claims. One of the featured narrators in the film is Arian Foster, a former American football player who played college football at Tennessee. Admitting to having received money in college and exposing what seems to be concealed he asserts, “I’m a firm adherent that an employee should get paid for his work and, 100 percent, I see student-athletes as employees. Hiding from it is just cowardly.” Another featured character, Taylor Branch, states that if the National Collegiate Athletic Association cared for college students, they would give them their right – payment for their hard work. Sonny Vaccaro, a former marketing executive, also states that despite the increased revenues in college sports, “one thing remains constant: the kids never got anything.” Joe Nocera, a New York Times author, also states that the reason why NCAA has fancy stadiums and high-quality sports is the efforts put by the college students. Jeff Locke, a UCLA footballer, also states that most of his athlete colleagues think that they did not get a fair share of the benefits that accrued to their schools from their athletic performance. Bob Costas, a broadcaster, includes the fans in the liability for the vice by stating that fans do not really care about the ills that are happening against the college athletes.
B. If I was the one directing the film, I would have ensured that instead of focusing more on delivering testimonies from experts and victims, I would have focused more on suggesting recommendations for action from expert opinions. A large part of the film involves accounts by previous college athletes and experts who have a deep understanding of what is happening at NCAA. Except for minor suggestions provided by the featured characters such as the assertion by Arian Foster that “an employee (a college athlete) should get paid for his work,” there is no concentration of presenting remedies in the amateurism debate. As much as the opinions and accounts were successful to substantiate the vices, the vice would still exist due to the lack of solutions in the film. The most effective thing in the film was the part where Arian Foster admitted to having violated NCAA regulations by receiving money. The least effective thing in the film is that NCAA declined to be interviewed in this film. Only past recordings were used, and a lot of things could have changed between the time that the recordings were made and the current state at NCAA.
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"Schooled: The Price of College Sport: An Analysis".
C. According to the film, the most beneficial aspect of college basketball and football sponsored by the NCAA sports programs in educational institutions is the scholarships granted to the students. The NCAA has regarded college sports as an extra curriculum activity where college athletes are rewarded in the form of college scholarships. In some instances, the program has enabled students with a poor financial ability to be admitted to prestigious academic institutions and is allowed to study in exchange for taking part in college sports. The institutions participating in NCAA sports program gain by receiving positive publicity as well as funds for further expansion. However, the situation poses a disadvantage to the quality of education by compelling college athletes to focus so much on sports, therefore performing poorly and cases of “paper classes” where college athletes are signed up for counterfeit classes.
D. In my opinion, students should not be paid for participating in college sports. I differ from the statement by Arian Foster that college athletes are like employees and should be paid for their work. College athletics is an extra curriculum activity, and students are still in college mainly for educational purposes, and if they want to pursue athletic careers, they should wait until they complete college. I also believe that college athletes should not be paid since not all of them are fortunate enough to afford school fees and sponsorships come as an advantage for them to comfortably pursue their academic goals.
