The Pros And Cons Of Non Athletes

The dumb jock stereotype has troubled athletes for as long as anyone can remember. Athletes are always seen as unintelligent jocks who get free and easy rides through school. They never seem to work hard at anything academically and yet they earn an ‘A’ from their professors. This belief has led to athletes being stigmatized by their non-athletic peers who feel as though their needs and accomplishments are ignored in favor of someone they view as intellectually inferior to them. But, if one were to really look at the situation from both sides it would raise multiple questions like: Do athletes and non-athletes differ from each other? Do athletes get more privileges than the non-athletic student body? Are the non-athletes simply jealous and …show more content…
Athletes were always seen as the popular crowd while most non-athletes were the nerds and dorks. Sports teams are put on high pedestals for their accomplishments and are loved and admired by thousands, but when a non athletic team, such as an academic decathlon team, accomplishes something their efforts are often minimized or ignored altogether. When one group is downplayed in favor of another it leads to hostilities that exist in many colleges today. In order to decrease the amount of negative perceptions, both sides need to come to an understanding that athletes are not better than non athletes and vise …show more content…
If an athlete from a renowned university gets into legal trouble, he or she will likely get off with a tap on the wrist and a warning. But if a regular person were to commit the same crime they would most likely face charges and possibly jail time. Why is that? It is because athletes are held above the law. A prime example of this would be Jameis Winston’s sexual assault scandal at FSU (Florida State University) in 2012. The failure of indicting Winston drew unwanted attention to law enforcement in Tallahassee and Florida State officials (McIntire) and lowered the university's reputation. The New York Times examined police and court records and found that the treatment of the Winston complaint was common in the way police handled allegations against FSU football players (McIntire). From incidents like vehicle theft to cases of domestic violence, many arrests have been avoided and football players have escaped major consequences. With preferential treatment like this it is no wonder that some people hold athletes in such a negative light. If authorities and school officials would do what they were trained to do and punish athletes like they do regular people, the stigma against athletes would