Link between athletic ability and scholastic grade

The Relationship Between Athletic Ability and Scholastic Grades

Student athletes , while often admired for their athletic abilities , are often depicted as "dumb jocks " and in other disparaging ways . One of the challenges of being a student athlete is to overcome the prejudice that teachers and other non-athletes have against athletes

Purpose of this Study

The proposed research project seeks to determine whether there is a connection between athletic ability and academic performance Specifically , the proposed study will attempt to answer two research questions . First , is there a positive or negative association

between athletic ability and academic performance ? In other words , do students who perform well in athletic competition also tend to perform well in the classroom ? Secondly , does athletic performance interfere with academic achievement ? Being an athlete places enormous demands on the student 's time and energy . Do these demands interfere with the student athlete 's academic progress

Hypotheses

The study hypothesizes that there will be a positive association between athletic performance and academic achievement . This hypothesis argues that high-performing athletes use their mind as well as their body to compete . This hypothesis also contends that successful athletes tend to have a high degree of self-discipline that extends to their academic pursuits as well as their commitment to their sport

The second hypothesis argues that successful athletes are able to balance the demands that their athletic pursuits places on their time and energy with their academic demands . This hypothesis recognizes the challenge of meeting all of the student athlete 's various demands however , the hypothesis contends that athletes can learn time management skills and other techniques to help them have balanced lives

Literature Review

Student athletes are the subject of many negative stereotypes about their intelligence and their inability to perform outside of the sporting arena (Simons , Bosworth , Fujita Jensen . Another common perception among faculty is that student athletes are accepted for college admission largely because of their athletic skill and not their academic abilities . This perception exists among faculty members of large universities with well-known sports teams and in smaller colleges with lesser known athletic programs (Baucom Lantz . These pervasive negative stereotypes have been associated with lower academic expectations , insults from teachers and other students , and other forms of discrimination on the part of teachers towards their students who are athletes (Simons , Bosworth , Fujita Jensen

Critics of college athletic programs claim that student athletes have lower graduation rates than other non-athletes . These claims , however are not supported by the research . Graduation rates for student athletes at NCAA Division I schools are actually slightly higher for student athletes than for non-athletes , with a 63 graduation rate for student athletes and a 62 graduation rate for non-athletes (National Collegiate Athletics Association [NCAA] , 16 . For African American athletes , the graduation rate was 53 compared to 46 for non-athletes white athletes had a graduation rate of 67 compared to a rate of 64 for white non-athletes (NCAA , 16 . Graduation rates may not reflect a student 's performance in an individual class , but graduation...