Spring

Proposition: Are Sports an Effective Way

Out of Poverty?
Charlton Jones: Pro and Kody Brown: Con
.

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Introduction
Sports are an integral part of society and culture worldwide, with NBC Sunday
Night Football being the most widely watched television show in the 2011-2012 season.
(Schneider) Because athletes get paid so much (the average salary for a professional
athlete in the United States is 3.19 million dollars)(Dorish) and because of the fame that
these athletes receive, many impoverished children see sports as a way of one day being
rich and famous, and so they focus on sports from an early age. However, are sports an
effective way for these children to escape the poverty zone?
First, what is poverty? Dictionary.com defines poverty as the state or condition
of having little or no money, goods, or means of support; [the] condition of being poor.
(Poverty) Essentially, there is this imaginary line called the poverty line that represents
the amount of money it takes to buy food, shelter, and clothing; essentially the bare
minimum a human being needs to survive. Living in poverty means living below that
line, where one cannot even afford to buy the things necessary for survival. More than 46
million Americans live in poverty, with 16.4 million of those being children. ("Adult
Education; Focus: Work and Economic Security.")
Our proposition is that sports are an effective way of escaping poverty.
Charlton will be arguing for this proposition while Kody will be arguing against it.

Pro Data
An article in bleacherreport.com said that Minorities are two-and-half-times
more likely to spend the greater part of their childhood in poverty, substantially limiting
their opportunities and forcing them to look to sports as a way to get out This was a
quote This website was bias because it only shows the positive aspects on how sports can
help guide the youth out of poverty.
Bleacherreport.com had an article that stated Sports play a massive role as a
dynamic tool to prevent crime among youth. This website was bias because its primary
goal was to talk about how positive sports are.
Bleacherreport.com also talked about how In Canada, over the last decade, youth
participation in sports has dropped by nearly 10 percent, while crime rates have grown
rapidly. (Goldman) This article was bias because it focused on all the good things sports
do to get people out of poverty.
An article published in howtosavemoney.com showed that Food stamp usage
peaked in 2011, with a record 45,753,078 people receiving SNAP benefits. ("How Many
People Are on Food Stamps in America?")This was not a bias website, but the data
could be dubious because they were against food stamp usage. Newsone.com stated that
Less than 1% of high school athletes ever make it professionally. This article was bias
because it only focused on the negative aspects of sports.
Espn.com has statistics that show that athletes graduate at a higher rate than
regular students. The statistics showed that 64% of athletes graduate, opposed to 62% of
regular students. ("Six-year Grad Rate at All-time high.")This website is definitely bias
because it never wants to make sports look bad. The data could actually be dubious as
well because it never said how they got the statistics.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Workers 18 and over sporting bachelors
degrees earn an average of $51,206 a year, while those with a high school diploma earn
$27,915. But wait, there's more. Workers with an advanced degree make an average of
$74,602, and those without a high school diploma average $18,734. (Longley) This site
is unbiased because it just simply shows how important a college degree is, and what
components can help get you the degree.

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Statisticbrain.com shows that Associates degrees make about 10% more annually
than people with just a high school diploma. ("Salary by Education Level Statistics.") I
have the feeling that this could definitely be dubious data because it uses the word
about, and never gives the real information. This website was not a bias, because it was
not focused on making sports look good in any way

Con Data
According to Business Insider, 11.6% of college baseball players go on to play at
the professional level, while only 0.6% of high school baseball players do the same.
College football players have a 1.7% chance of going on to play at the professional level,
while only 0.08% of high school football players will have the same opportunity. For
mens ice hockey, 1.3% of college athletes will go on to play at the professional level,
while only 0.1% of high school athlete will play for a professional team. When it comes
to mens soccer, 1.0% of the college players will go onto play professionally while only
0.04% of the high school players will play professional soccer. Men who play basketball
in college have a 1.2% chance of playing at the professional level, while only 0.9% of
college women who play basketball will have the same opportunity. Men who play
basketball in high school have a 0.03% chance of playing for a professional team, and it
is the same statistic (0.03%) for women who play basketball in high school. (Manfred)
Although I retrieved these statistics from Business Insider, they themselves quote
the NCAA as their source for these statistics. Because of this, I determined that Business
Insider is an unbiased source.
According to CBS News, only about 2% of high school athletes win sports
scholarships every year at NCAA universities. Also, out of all the sports scholarships
available, only 6 sports will provide a full ride. These sports are football, men and
womens basketball, womens gymnastics, volleyball, and tennis. (O'Shaughnessy)
Most major news networks are heavily biased, but the information provided on
this subject by CBS didnt seem so, and I verified their data from other sources as well,
leaving this article with no bias.
According to Out of Bounds: Inside the NBAs Culture of Rape, Violence &
Crime, 40% of NBA athletes have a criminal record. This source has heavy bias in its
arguments, but its statistics seem solid. (Benedict)
NBC says that 7% of college football athletes have a criminal record. (Taylor)
This source is biased and could be dubious data because it only looked at the rosters from
SI.coms 2010 preseason Top 25 teams. Since there are 119 schools that compete just at
the 1-A level, not mentioning schools that compete at other levels, this is a very small

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sample size, which could lead to inaccurate data. Therefore, this source comes with some
bias, whether it was intentional or not.
Mybackgroundcheck.com did a study that showed only 3% (1 in 29) or average
college students have a criminal record. ("At Least 1-in-29 College Students Have
Criminal Records.") This site also has some bias, because it doesnt take into account
Juvenile records, and also had a sample size of only around 14,000 students. The number
could have easily been much less, because from the looks of things, it seems the whole
purpose of this article was to convince parents to use their website before sending their
students off to any particular university.
According to US college search, 507 NFL players were arrested in 2010, meaning
1 in 44 players were arrested that year. ("Crime Rates in Pro Sports.") This source is
biased, and could also be dubious information. They gathered the information themselves
using other websites, few of which were unbiased sources themselves.

Pro Argument
The three main components that play a major role in why sports can help get
children out of poverty are social interaction, crime prevention, and education. The first
one discussed will be social interaction. Sports can teach children how to work well with
others at an early age. Most jobs in our country require you to collaborate with
coworkers, so if you already have experience with working with others on a sports team,
then it will be easier to adapt when put in a situation off the field. Sports can also enhance
your social skills. In sports you meet a lot of different types of people, so this will help
you understand different cultures. Many friendships are built, and even though you might
not like someone on your team, when it comes down to the game, you must put your
differences behind you. Also when being involved on a sports team, the athlete gains
experience with working under an authoritative figure. In the real world, it is common to
have to take orders from someone above you. If you are not use to this concept, then it
might make the business world a lot more difficult. In sports, your coach is basically the
boss or even CEO.
The second concept that proves sports can get children out of poverty is crime
prevention. By staying busy, children dont have the spare time to get in trouble,
therefore committing a crime that they could not get off their record; No job wants to hire
someone with a record. Instead of having nothing to keep these children busy, sports
gives them a chance to release stress and have something enjoyable to look forward to
after school. As listed in my data above from bleacherreport.com, sports are essential to
preventing crime among our youth. (Goldman) Finding a job is extremely hard to do
already in this economy, so having criminal record makes it almost impossible. So as
long as we start putting more children in sports, crime rates should begin to decrease, as
noted in bleacherreport.com.
I saved the best for last. Education is the most important thing in our society.
People in poverty cannot afford a college education, but sports can provide them with a
free scholarship. Once children are given this free education, there is an incentive to
make good grades. When being involved with athletics, an athlete must maintain a certain
GPA. This gives the players the motivation to study and make sure they stay on track to
graduate. This supports my data from espn.com when they mention how athletes graduate

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at a higher rate than regular students. ("Six-year Grad Rate at All-time high.") If paying
for an education is a dilemma, then it is most likely this individual spends many days
wondering what he or she will eat. ("How Many People Are on Food Stamps in
America?") Sports give athletes an opportunity to have three meals a day for free when
given a scholarship. I know the chances of making it professionally are very rare, so that
is why you use the sport you play to get a free shot at a degree just in case you never get
to play at a professional level.

Con Argument
Using sports as a way out of poverty is flawed and misguided. Not only are the
chances of going on to play at a professional level very slim, but also there are other,
more secure ways of receiving a scholarship in order to get an education.
Lets start first with the idea that becoming a professional athlete is the way to get
out of poverty. The statistics provided by Business Insider show just how unlikely this is.
The only sports with greater than a 1 in 1,000 chance of going on to play at the
professional level is baseball and hockey, and they dont look much better with a 1 in 167
chance and a 1 in 1000 chance respectively. Basketball is as low as 1 in 3,333! So as you
can see, the chance going professional in any sport is too small to be seen as a primary
route out of poverty.
The second reason many impoverished youngsters turn to sports is in hopes of an
athletic scholarship, so that they can get an education that will in turn help them get
higher paying jobs. Although I, and many experts in the field as well, agree that an
education is the best way out of poverty, I believe that an athletic scholarship is not the
way to go about doing so.
For starters, there are only 6 sports that provide a full ride to a university, limiting
their options. In addition to this limiting factor is the blaring statistic that only 2% of high
school athletes get athletic scholarships. (O'Shaughnessy) Even if a child in poverty were
to be that 1 kid in 50 to get the scholarship, it gets only worse from there. In sports, there
is an inherent risk for injury. With the way athletic scholarships currently work, you are
covered for a year, and then the University can choose to either renew or reject your
scholarship for the next year. If an athlete sustains a career ending injury, or if for some
reason the coach is just a jerk and doesnt like the athlete, the athlete in question can lose
his scholarship and have to drop of out school.
With academic scholarships and grants, the University cannot take it away from
you unless your GPA falls below a certain average, at which point you dont deserve the
scholarship anymore anyways. This is why I feel that a focus that is purely on academics
instead of athletics is a much more successful option for getting children out of poverty.

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Analysis of Pro Argument

Charlton presents a very logical, 3-pronged argument on why sports are an
effective way out of poverty, appealing to the logos of the audience instead of choosing
to use the ethos or pathos routes. The first prong of his argument, however, is almost
entirely invalid; while sports do provide opportunities to learn how to work under
authority and work effectively in a team, these are traits that are likely to get an employee
a promotion, not a unemployed young adult a job. Since you have to get the job first to
escape poverty, this first third of his thesis cannot be taken as a valid argument as to why
sports are a good way out for poor children.
His second argument about crime prevention has the opportunity to be valid. No
one wants to work with a criminal, and you are less likely to get a job with a criminal
record. Unfortunately, the statistics just dont show that criminal activity is lessened
when sports are brought into the picture. His own statistic about Canada shows
correlation and not causation, meaning it could be a huge number of other factors causing
the crime rate to go up, not just the lack of participation in youth sports. Furthermore, the
data I found actually shows the opposite; college athletes are twice as likely to have a
criminal record than a normal college student, (("At Least 1-in-29 College Students Have
Criminal Records.")(Taylor) and it gets even worse at the professional level where 40%
of NBA athletes have been arrested (Benedict) and enough pro football players were
arrested in 2010 to fill 9 NFL rosters. ("Crime Rates in Pro Sports.")
I am glad to see Charlton agrees with me on an education being the primary way
out of poverty. One interesting thing to note is how athletes graduate at a higher rate than
normal students. I dont know the trial, but they could have very easily chosen dumb
students and smart athletes for their data, skewing the results in their favor. Assuming
that it was in fact a random draw and a large enough sample size to minimize error, I
would like to see the survey done instead with how many students with athletic
scholarships graduated vs. how many students with academic scholarships graduated. Im
sure the numbers would then shift to be more in favor of my own argument.

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Analysis of Con Argument

After reading the con argument, I quickly noticed that all his points
were mostly logos based arguments. Kody first stated that, Not only are the chances
of going on to play at a professional level very slim, but also there are other, more
secure ways of receiving a scholarship in order to get an education. He then goes on
to list numerous statistics that portray this slim chance of playing professionally.
However, the statistics he brought up in his argument are only for professional
sports in America; many American athletes instead go overseas and play
professionally there.
But when I speak about sports being a good way to get people out of poverty,
I am not talking about going on to play professional sports, as I stated in my
argument. It is simply to get an education, one that would not have been likely to be
got without sports. Even if an athlete loses his scholarship after two years, an
Associates degree is still better than no degree. ("Salary by Education Level
Statistics.")
Kody then goes on to talk about how, only 2% of high school athletes get
athletic scholarships. This statistic is misleading because not all high school
athletes want an athletic scholarship in college, therefore bringing this percentage
down. As far as the injury standpoint, this was a logos and pathos argument. He is
trying to get sympathy by saying athletes could get hurt and lose their scholarships,
but this is a rarity. In college sports they have what is called a Red Shirt. This is
when an athlete can sit out a year from sports while still getting his school paid for
due to injury. There is also a chance this athlete might get to play for a California
school, where it is now required for schools to continue to pay out even in the
instance of a career ending injury. This policy might even spread to other states
soon. ("Student Athletes: California Law to Protect Those with Career-Ending
Injuries.") There are not many ways out of poverty, and if the very slim chance of
having a career ending injury is one of the main reasons not to pursue sports as an
outlet, then it would be absurd not to go for it.

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Evaluation
After further analysis, we have both come to the conclusion that we weakly
agree with the proposition that sports are a good way out of poverty. The reason we
weakly agree as opposed to strongly agree is because we believe that sports provide
a myriad of opportunities, including travelling across the country to see what else is
out there, to teamwork and working under authority; however, sports cannot make
up for bad grades, and so you must be aware that you are a student athlete, not just
an athlete.
It is common to think that sports misguide our youth because the chances of
going professional rare, but as long as the individual realizes that the sport is just a
pathway to helping give him or her a free education, and also has grades capable of
receiving academic scholarships or grants if the athletic scholarship doesnt happen,
then we believe this proposition is effective.
Also, were more states to take after California schools and require their
Universities to pay for an athletes tuition if they were to sustain a career ending
injury, this proposition becomes even more effective as a way of getting
impoverished children off the streets and into schools where they can receive the
education they deserve.

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