30 November 2011

“Fair Play” is an article on Title IX. Title IX is a law that was passed in June 1972. This law made it illegal for any tax funded school to discriminate against females. It all started with Edith Green, a democrat from Oregon. One day she had heard from superintendents that they were making special programs for under privileged boys in their schools, however when Mrs. Green asked if they had any for the girls they said no, that the boys are “going to be the bread winners”. I think Title IX is fair. If boys and men get the right to play baseball, football, basketball and many more then women should have the right to play whatever sports they would like to. I also believe that it is fair that the funding for men sport is being cut for women sports. Both categories should have the same funding. By limiting women’s rights in college it is giving men the upper hand, telling women they can’t while men can, that is a prime example of discrimination which is illegal thanks to the Title IX. In my opinion Mrs. Green did something she should be greatly proud off! She had a vision of making it illegal to discriminate against women and because of that the US was able to win 7 gold medals in the Olympics that year.

Title IX was started in 1972 by Edith Green. It was started because Green believed that is should be illegal to discriminate against women in federally funded schools. Any rights the males had she believed the females should have too. It was originally started with the movement towards not allowing as many women into schools. For example State Universities in Virginia turned away 21,000 women in the 1960’s, however in that same time period not a single male was turned away. Green wanted to fix this. She wanted women to have the same educational opportunities as men had. Now it is more focused on sports. High Schools and colleges have to have more female sport opportunities. High schools have to form more female sports such as basketball, soccer, wrestling, and more because that is what they want to play and they cannot discriminate against that. Colleges have to hand out more sports scholarships to women and allow them to play their sports in colleges. Many didn’t like this at first because it took away from the funding for male sports. I think Title IX will always have to fight for its right to be part of our nation. So many disapprove because it limits something they like such as getting rid of a male sports team to have money for girls sports. However I believe that as long as there is women wanting fair opportunities in schools then the law will stay!

24 October 2011

Mega Bucks is an article about how colleges get funding for their sports teams. For example, OSU has the largest athletic budget is the country. However the sports bring in their own money. For example the football team brings in about $36 million in profits. While their academics may not have the most funding they believe what they do is fair. Athletic department funds them self’s, no money is taken away from academics for the athletic department. Some teams however are cutting sports because they cannot afford them. Rutgers dismissed 6 sports due to “budget cuts” however they were able to give the assistant football coach a raise. This is a school whose athletics don’t run off their own funding.

OSU brings in so much money from concessions, game tickets, endorsements, and from hotels and restaurants that people eat at while in town to see the game. UF’s football team brought in $27 million this year alone. Most schools use the money they raise with the sports on the sports. New equipment, better fields, new stadiums, and even break rooms including flat screen TVs. OSU has a $75,000 hockey treadmill for their men and women’s ice hokey team to practice on. It resembles real ice, goes up to 16 miles per hour and it even simulates shard turns. There are some pro hockey teams that don’t have this machine due to its size and cost! However some money earned is used to better the overall school, from scholarships for the athletes to re-doing the school’s library.

It is important to have such a strong football team because they help pay for the other sports that don’t have such a high income. All sports are important because no one should ever be told they can’t play the game they love because a school doesn’t have money. A strong football team helps pay for these types of sports. In my opinion it definitely is not right for a school to cancel sports because they don’t have enough money but yet they can give raises to the couches of the other more popular sports.  Overall thought, I believe all sports are important to every school.

2 November 2011

“Overinvolved” parents seem to be the new epidemic of colleges. These parents are those that make all the decisions for their kids, what school, what classes, even the roommates! Officials at these schools say that it is not safe for the students, when everything is decided for them they don’t know the common since to stay safe. Most schools are now trying to stop these “overinvolved” parents by setting up their own orientations, hiring people to distract them, anything to move them away from the students for just a bit. The schools must do this in order for the students to be prepared for the college experience. The officials understand that mommy and daddy won’t always be there but these students and parents don’t realize this.

I think schools are right for doing this. It is one thing to get help from your parents and it’s another to let your parents do everything for you. Students have to learn how to do some of these things on their own before they get out into the job world because mom and dad won’t be able to yell at the woman who didn’t hire you, or yell at your boss for being rude. I believe that students will benefit from this. It can teach them some life lessons they have missed out on from being babied their whole lives.

As a senior I will be a part of the fall freshman going into college, and as scared as I am I know my mom will force me to do things on my own. My mom has never been one to do things for me; she has this mato “If you won’t it, you better get it yourself.” I’m sure there will be some things that my mom will involve herself in, but for the most part I think she will stay away. She knows I am a strong person and can do it on my own. In my opinion what these schools are doing is a good idea, these kids need to grow up already and move on.