The most interesting parts of my paradigm shift paper and inevitably of my TED talk are the examples of the scandals in college sports. The Penn State scandal is particularly relevant to my paper and will prove interesting as part of my talk because it affects us as a student body. We know firsthand how scandals in college sports affect not only the athletic program, but the entire university. I’m focusing on how the commercialization of college sports led to an obsession with winning and ensuring a good reputation for athletic programs. The release of information regarding scandals such as that of Penn State would hurt the reputation of the school and inevitably result in less money for that particular athletic program.
Another interesting part of my paper is an argument I read about in The Atlantic. The author discussed the economic side of college scandals and the unfairness of the industry regarding the student athletes. College athletics is a multibillion dollar industry. The athletes are the heart of that industry, yet the only payment they receive is in the form of athletic scholarships. The coaches and big name leaders of the college programs are the ones making millions of dollars a year while the athletes are the reason they have viewers. The author of the article goes so far as to compare student athletes to slaves – working countless hours a week without pay while their coaches have million dollar salaries. He poses the question of whether student athletes should be paid for their performance. They sacrifice so much to play the sport, but the only reward they get is the glory of winning (not that that isn’t a goal to strive for).
I like your points for this TED talk. I really do believe that athletes should be paid for their performance since they’re the ones doing all the hard work and attracting all the viewers. It’s not really fair that their coaches are the ones making so much money while they just stand on the sidelines and give directions.