Sports are a very important element to attending a big college or university, especially in the south. With big schools, many of these talented athletes receive scholarships. The big question of whether or not these athletes get special treatment in the classroom has been a big debate among many universities. This topic interests me because every single day all types of student athletes surround me. Sports have always been something I have been interested in, this topic felt fitting for me because it has always been something that has sparked my interest. This topic doesn't affect my values and me. Since I am not a student athlete myself, I don't have a direct personal experience with this topic, but having these athletes be peers of mine, I can't help but feel in some way involved. I am qualified to write about this because this type of issue with these students receiving special treatment could affect my peers and me. We do not get special exceptions so they should not either, or should they? How do these student athletes receive special treatment and how can it be prevented?

Travis Toth wrote an article about the financial side of this argument. The way that the schools pay for these athletes to travel to each game is a big financial responsibility. Schools will pay hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on team travel, without the students paying a single cent themselves. He also mentioned some other things that these student athletes are benefitting from like free gear and shoes, travel, and special meal plans to accommodate their nutrition guide, these all being things the normal paying non-athlete students do not benefit from. Travis Toth is a credible author because he is writing for an NC State University newspaper. This is a well-known and large university, making his information published in this paper credible.

 I found another article online written by William Schmidt on New York Times. His article discussed a major court case involving a student athlete at University of Georgia receiving special academic leeway. His professor told an athlete that he could have a very large extension in order to catch up on all his work if he scored in his game. Definitely something unprofessional and something that should not have happened just because this person was a star player for a big team. William Schmidt is a credible author because he was writing for The New York Times, a very big national newspaper that almost everyone has read or heard of.  

The author of the next article I came across discuss the opposite side of the argument. Geneva Turrini gave the viewpoint that these athletes do deserve special treatment. She talked about how these student athletes work very hard at hours and hours of practice every week and then are expected to do the same course load as students without the commitment they have. Another big point mentioned by Geneva was that these athletes are very big money makers for the school, they make them a lot of money by putting on big games and selling tickets. The author is a writer for USA Today, a popular news site that makes her very credible.

Whether or not student athletes are receiving special treatment or not is a very arguable claim. This is a big issue among a lot of schools, finding ways to prevent things like this would be extremely helpful. This topic has a lot of research and opinions on it, making good evidence and sources for my papers to come in this class. The sources I have found have both agreements and disagreements in them. Yes, these athletes may receive some benefits and help, but they do work for the school for the teams, some practice hours equivalent to a full time job. This special treatment may not be right in the eyes of a student like me, but shifting your perspective helps see the other side of it and seeing what solutions could help situations like this. These different perspectives affect my research because it helps me view the other side of the argument. It is important to have a clear understanding of the other side of the argument to make your point strong. The only way I would revise my research question would be making it more specific.

