Talk:Student athlete

US-biased
This article is very, very strongly US-biased (it hardly even mentions Canada much less Europe, South America, Asia/Pacific or Africa). This is a severe systemic bias problem. —  SMcCandlish   Talk⇒ ʕ(Õلō)ˀ  Contribs. 16:28, 14 January 2010 (UTC)
 * There are certainly people who are both students and sportspeople elsewhere, but my impression is that "student athlete" may be terminology that is uniquely American given the differences in what "athlete" and "athletics" mean. If it is terminology that is used only in the US or North America or other countries, perhaps the article should mention that. Location (talk) 22:45, 25 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Evidently not. Location (talk) 22:49, 25 March 2011 (UTC)
 * I agree that this article is US-biased, but I think that is to do with the great prevalence of the concept in the US as compared to other English-speaking countries. I know that Japan and China have relatively strong college/university sports systems, while the USSR had an extensive cultural connection between sports and study (see Unified Sports Classification System of the USSR for instance).
 * I think the dominance of US material both here and on College athletics is directly connected to the fact that these are very American terms. In some ways, college athletics is the NCAA, or a more US-specific idea at the least. We have no article for either student sports (or university sports), a term which would allow for a more international perspective. This would also link in with the International University Sports Federation – Decades ago, many of the world's best student athletes competed at the Universiade.
 * Perhaps a better way forward would be to move the majority of the material here and on college athletics to Student athletes in the United States and College athletics in the United States. Then the primary main articles would be plain student athlete and student sports? Aside from the first two sentences, I don't see how this article offers anything other than an account of student athletes in the US. SFB 20:19, 29 March 2011 (UTC)
 * It's US-centric because the term and the concept are strictly American. See :
 * “We crafted the term student-athlete,” Walter Byers himself wrote, “and soon it was embedded in all NCAA rules and interpretations.” The term came into play in the 1950s, when the widow of Ray Dennison, who had died from a head injury received while playing football in Colorado for the Fort Lewis A&M Aggies, filed for workmen’s-compensation death benefits…
 * …That they were high-performance athletes meant they could be forgiven for not meeting the academic standards of their peers; that they were students meant they did not have to be compensated, ever, for anything more than the cost of their studies. Student-athlete became the NCAA’s signature term, repeated constantly in and out of courtrooms.
 * I'm going to remove the maintenance tag, since it makes very little sense to talk about "student-athletes" in Europe or Asia, where the term isn't used. Mosmof (talk) 17:03, 15 November 2011 (UTC)
 * The term is used in other English-speaking countries outside the US. Location (talk) 02:31, 16 November 2011 (UTC)
 * But is it a notable enough concept to discuss on Wikipedia? When Byers said the NCAA "crafted the term", it's not that they coined the term, but that they essentially created a new class of students with a different legal status from the rest of the student body. I'm not aware that such a thing exists elsewhere in the world. --Mosmof (talk) 21:22, 16 November 2011 (UTC)
 * I don't think the term means anything different in other English-speaking countries. For example, Canadian Interuniversity Sport, the equivalent of the NCAA, uses the term "student-athlete" many times here in the same context to which you are referring above. I'm not arguing that the maintenance tag should be put back; I'm just pointing out that the term is used elsewhere outside the United States. I imagine that equivalent terminology exists in other languages, but I don't know for sure. Location (talk) 00:12, 17 November 2011 (UTC)
 * Would it be more accurate to say it's a North American phenomenon, then? I'm sure the term is used outside the U.S. But I'm not aware of any other cultures that celebrate the student athlete as a social icon, or of any countries outside North America where the student-athlete is specifically and legally a separate class of students from the general campus population. --Mosmof (talk) 14:44, 17 November 2011 (UTC)

United States Education Program/Courses/Sport in Society (Shelly Habel)/Students
Your article is US based and you did touch on that but I also feel that your article specifically targets D1 non AA teams because a lot of people that play do not necessarily get scholarships and they are still considered student-athlete. You should make more distinctions between the divisions in college sports and/or do more research into what really makes them a student athlete. For example, the minimum hours they play/meet per week, the contracts they sign at the beginning of the school year, or their representation on campus just to name some possibilities. I hope that helps! Onlybecauseihaveto (talk) 18:28, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

There is a comprehensive definition of student athlete which is great but i think the article lacks a number of other things that are essential to student athletes for example the challenges of being a student athlete i.e. pressure from coaches, academics, time constraints etc. This would make the article more concise. Just to be a little more specific, look at things such as the time stipulated for practice in and out of season for student athletes by the NCAA MrCampion10 (talk) 21:39, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Like MrCampion10 said above, I think there is a lot of room here to elaborate on what this term encompasses, and how it affects the individual who receives the title. Also, I think it would be valuable to discuss the origins of the word. Specifically, when was it coined and by whom (NCAA)? Furthermore, what implications have this word had since its conception (i.e. in legal proceedings, etc). There has been some discussion about why the NCAA crafted it in such away as to leave it ambiguous and open for interpretation. I think it would be interesting to include that perspective in this article Kwc2012 (talk) 23:48, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

In order to increase the clarity of the portion of the article which mentions the diversity of student-athletes, more concrete examples of diversity can be given such as gender, race, ethnicity, country of origin, religion, area of study and socioeconomic status. The qualifications for diversity that are given are helpful, however, they seem a bit vague. More tangible examples of diversity among student-athletes would offer one a better understanding of the various cultures, countries, creeds and interests represented by student-athletes. TstreetG (talk) 04:55, 9 February 2012 (UTC)

I agree that this definition of "student-athlete" is a little vague. There are two parts to being a student-athlete. Although this article covers the athletic aspects, the term specifically includes "student" because the priorities that come along with playing a sport in college are essential. Maybe statistics could be added about the success of athletes compared to regular students in college. Jeterfan252 (talk) 05:59, 10 February 2012 (UTC)

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Proposal for new section
I am suggesting adding a section titled "Funding for student athletes in public schools and institutions."

In many public schools and colleges, the athletic programs are among the most well maintained programs for a school. Oftentimes, athletes, especially those playing for a university, are provided additional academic assistance such as tutoring in order to enhance performance. According to research done by Donna Desrochers for the Delta Cost Project, an average of $92,000 per student athlete is awarded, while less than $14,000 is awarded to full-time students. In addition, many funds are allocated for athlete institutions such as stadiums. For example, according to a Fox News report titled “Texas High School’s Budget-Busting Stadium to Cost $70M,” in May of 2016, voters from McKinney, Texas approved a sizable budget of $70 million for a nearby stadium, surpassing the $62.5 million stadium in Katy, Texas and the $60 million dollar stadium in Allen. Sometimes, these sports stadiums and programs are valued higher than other academic programs and have monetary repercussions such as the case with Premont, Texas Independent School District. The city of Premont was threatened by the state of Texas to prioritize spending due to budget problems and lagging academic performance. In order to decrease spending, the school first continued to deny students music education as well as began to close the science labs that were already in terrible shape. But as time progressed, the budget was so low that the superintendent made a bold decision and canceled all sports programs. By suspending the sports programs, the district saved over $150,000 in one year-an unprecedented amount of saved money, and thus, allowed the school district to continue to be open. Student athletes receive many funds that normal students do not receive, leading many to focus on athletics and sports rather than academics and resulting in advanced pressures for athletes. Ks157852 (talk) 19:02, 10 December 2017 (UTC)Ks157852

Gonzaga Peer Review I agree that this article specifically features United States student athletes. I understand that the term student-athlete derives from America. I believe that their should be additional information in the section regarding collegiate athletes being paid for playing college sports. College athletes can't make any money off of their name, but the institution does. I looked through all of the sources and the links all work with them. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Wodonnell96 (talk • contribs) 06:59, 17 February 2020 (UTC)

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revert of 22:54, 26 February 2020‎ edit by‎ Izzyseverns
In the "Student athlete pressures" section, text is added about an inroduction course for athletes at large universities.

I have my concerns about this section as it stood before this edit, even with suitable citations. As to the added text, it seems like a personal observation made with a very limited basis. There is no explanation of what is meant by "introduction courses", and there is no citation to support it. Additionally, this suffers from WP:NPOV issues.

If there is to be content on how to mitigate issues of student athlete pressures, perhaps that should be in a separate subsection. However, while I may be proven wrong, I'm skeptical about finding a suitable citation.

In the section "Graduation rates for student athletes", the citation may be a biased source (NCAA is advocating for what is the best way to calculate graduation rates). The text written also suffers from NPOV issues. (As an aside, the citation after "According to the NCAA" is extraneous. If you don't understand why, please ask.) Fabrickator (talk) 04:27, 27 February 2020 (UTC)


 * I agree. I think using the NCAA citation is biased.Angela2448 (talk) 20:25, 25 April 2021 (UTC)

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