College athletes are often getting criticized for not having a place in the college world of academia. Students hate that they had to work their way through high school and pay their way into college, while the “jock” of their high school gets into the same college on a full ride. Naysayers to athletes getting full rides to prestigious schools believe that most athletes are not smart enough to be in the school that they go to and just because they are good at a sport doesn’t mean they belong there. These people who despise the idea of sports in college don’t see the fact that these athletes have worked hard all their life, maybe not in the same way that others had, but they have worked hard at their athletic development on a level akin to those who do the same with their academic development.

Many young athletes grow up and dream of becoming a professional athlete, and as a majority of those fantasies come to a disappointing end after recreational sports, a few get to move on to high school and an even smaller accumulation of these athletes move on to college. Athletes have to be the best of the best to move on; according to the NCAA, only 3% of high school athletes get to continue their fantasy of playing sports on a bigger stage.

These athletes aren’t working in vain either;, most sports have a professional league that comes after college: football has the NFL and the CFL, soccer has the entire world to choose where they could play, hockey has NHL and the KHL, and the list goes on for every other sport. Professions need to be studied for during college if those pursuing them intend to be employed later in life, it’s the same way with athletics-  athletes are playing their sports and learning about their sports to get better at them and land a profession in them later in life.

College athletes also get scrutinized for being the goofs on campus; they are considered as the kids who blow off classes, party all the time, and get themselves into trouble. However, athletes are more studious and less risk taking than people think. Athletes do go to parties and they do slack off in classes, but those are just often the only people you happen to hear of doing such thingst. No one hears of the college burnout or the kid who neglects his classes and gets in trouble with the school, but since athletes get the spotlight and are watched over all the time, they are the ones that are heard about. Athletes are also punished by the school and the NCAA for making mistakes, so even though they are making these mistakes they will be punished just like any other college student that does something wrong.

Not every athlete is there just for their athletics either. Many student- athletes begin to realize that their athletic career will most likely end after college. Either they are not good enough for their sport or they would rather go into another profession. So not every athlete slacks in the classroom and not every athlete neglects their scholastics.

Athletics and the athletes that play them belong in the college atmosphere. Athletes have worked hard their entire lives to play in front of a crowd and move on in life with the profession that they have chosen.