Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s record as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer has stood unbroken for more than 25 years. He has been an actor, an author of young adult books, and a U.S. cultural ambassador. Despite his long and distinguished career, he hasn’t forgotten his experiences as a UCLA basketball player. In this November 2014 article published in Jacobin, he criticizes NCAA rules for college athletes.
Read it here: Abdul-Jabbar, “College athletes of the world, unite”
- Although he never states it explicitly, Abdul-Jabbar is arguing for specific changes in NCAA rules concerning college athletes. What is he advocating? Point to passages in the article to support your conclusions.
- Although Abdul-Jabbar’s argument focuses on college athletes in the United States, he presents cases of injustices concerning child labor in other parts of the world. Do these examples strengthen his argument? Why or why not?
- In addition to his personal experience, what evidence does Abdul-Jabbar present? How well do the different types of evidence complement each other? Explain your reasoning.
- Abdul-Jabbar emphasizes the distinction between treatment of students who receive academic scholarships and those who receive athletic scholarships. How are those two types of scholarships treated at your school? If you find any differences, are they well-justified? Do some investigation and write an essay in which you take a position on the conditions you find. Do you support the status quo? Why or why not? Use Abdul-Jabbar as your They Say.
They Say I Blog 
I agree with Mitchell, who argues that student athletes should stop being penalized. Student athletes practically sign their life away when they take that full scholarship, but is it really a fair deal? Honestly, why can’t players get extra food from their coach if they are hungry, because their meal plans don’t provide enough food. I don’t believe that getting that bit of extra food automatically improves the player’s ability to perform. It’s really sad to see how poorly student athletes are treated, when they bring in such a large portion of college revenues. Yes they get a free tuition, but do they get as much as they honestly deserve, I don’t think so.
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I completely agree with Max Hardin. Division 1 athletes have the opportunity to attend some of the most prestigious schools in the nation. These schools have to keep a certain number of acceptances open for their beloved sports teams, which excludes students that may have the grades to get in, but get denied because a basketball star needs to be accepted. The student athletes have the opportunity to travel the nation and gain publicity to potentially become a professional athlete one day. These athletes are not mistreated. The athletes can go to school for a mere $3,200 a year, which is much less than any student that is on a very good academic scholarship. These athletes are provided free clothing for practice and for games. Abdul-Jabbar discusses how he was not allowed to work a side job during college and did not have the money to go out and celebrate with his team. He makes the comparison that student athletes are like the children that make clothes in third world countries. While these children are making the clothes that the athlete gets for free. That is absolutely absurd. Those children work 18 hours straight with no food and live a very miserable life. A student athlete may have to put in a lot of practice hours, but they are not getting beaten when they take too long in the bathroom. If Abdul-Jabbar wanted to make way for college athletes he should not be comparing them to less fortunate people that work for pennies. Max makes a very good point that Abdul-Jabbar has a net worth of $20 million, which means without him playing in college Abdul-Jabbar would not have the opportunity to become a professional basketball player.
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After reading “College Athletes of the World, Unite” by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, I disagree with Hannah Smith’s overall conclusion that collegiate athletes do not do enough to earn payment for what they do. Athletes in most situations must still take 15 credit hours, pass their courses, and attend hours of additional practices every single day, and then spend their Saturdays or afternoon/evenings entertaining the students, faculty, and alumni in their sport of choice. As Abdul-Jabbar states, the NCAA makes billions of dollars year after year for broadcasting student athlete performances on national television, but many of them never see the benefits of their work. Just as any student might receive payment for working on campus, student athletes deserve compensation for the work that they do. Although I agree with Hannah’s claim that guaranteeing scholarships would protect the students, I do not believe this is plausible because it would be too financially risky for a university. Just as an academic scholarship has GPA requirements, a guaranteed scholarship for athletes would remove some of the motivation for their play and commitment, as well as cost the university excess over the life of their collegiate sports programs.
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I have to agree with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, that the NCAA is taking advantage of the college athletes. I believe that it is not fair that the NCAA can make billions of dollars off of these athletes, while the college athletes themselves, cannot make a single dollar without being severely punished. I believe something needs to be done so that college athletes are able to get by without stressing about finances. It is not fair for the college athlete to be punished for making a little extra money on the side. I believe that they should be able to make money off of their likeness if they so choose. I believe that a college athlete should not have to struggle when going to college. They should not have to financially struggle since they are putting their bodies on the line everyday for their college and are making them millions of dollars because of their talents. I believe that the college athletes should at least be able to make money off of the likeness and be able to sign endorsement deals if the opportunity presents themselves. Most college athletes only have one goal in life, and that goal is to make it professionally in their respective sport. They do not care about their education and are only forced to go to college because the professional leagues force them to attend college. Since college athletes are putting their bodies on the line, there is always a high risk for career ending injury. If an athlete gets injured in college, and it is career ending, they can lose their scholarship because they got injured playing in a game. If their injury is career ending, then the lives of those college athletes will be changed forever without even making a single dollar for themselves. I agree that more needs to be done to protect these players to where they do not need to be financially stressed while playing for their college teams, while the college makes millions off of these players.
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Kareem Abdul Jabbar was extremely successful in his career during college and the NBA; however, he goes on about the struggle he endured while playing at UCLA. He states, “Athletic scholarships can be taken away if the player is injured and can’t contribute to the team anymore. He or she risks this possibility every game.” If a player doesn’t make it to the NBA then they want to have their college degree as a fallback plan. What happens to the players who get hurt and lose their scholarship and can’t afford school? They wind up in debt with a financial crisis in their future. I agree with Kareem’s view on this topic because I personally know what it’s like. I played division one football, and I know the amount of time and effort put in everyday. I know what it’s like to have a fear of getting hurt and not being able to play anymore. Luckily, when I was in school I had a little financial support from my family. That’s not the case with everyone though. I had plenty of friends from rough backgrounds who struggled greatly during college. With all the money that’s made through college sports, I believe the student-athletes should receive some sort of payment along with the scholarship. There should also be better rules regarding the scholarships of the athletes when they get injured.
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I agree with Jabbar’s entire argument. The athletes are used for their talent and hard work just for millions of dollars of gain for the school and for the NCAA. The players normally also have financial troubles because their scholarships do not pay for anything other than their education. Since they can’t earn money on the side they have to work hard during the offseason to save up money. It is even worse for players who stay for four years. Those who stay that long are less likely to have full scholarships and they spend four years of hard work with no pay just to come out with a lot of debt. The incredible amount of practice and traveling they do could also lead to a lesser understanding of class concepts in college. This means they have a higher chance of not graduating with a degree or having a much lower GPA. Their hours of dedication and even their names are only used for money and fame for those in the NCAA.
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In “College Athletes of the World, Unite” by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jabbar explains his reasoning on why college students should receive payment in addition to their scholarship. Jabbar backs his argument up by telling the readers a personal anecdote about how when he played at UCLA, he had to work to prevent being flat broke. Jabbar explains that this was a struggle because he had so little time outside of basketball practice and team events. He then breaks down the amount of money the different positions within the NCAA pay compared to the lack of pay the players receive. Jabbar explains how if a player gets injured the NCAA is very stingy about aiding said player, and injured players lose their scholarship money. Later in his essay, Jabbar compares sweatshop workers to athletes due to the little pay they receive. He also says they are similar issues because a big corporation is profiting off of both parties while the workers (or players) assume the risk of injury.
I agree with Jabbar’s main argument, but I did not appreciate the reference to sweatshop work in his essay. The people in sweatshops are working 20-hour shifts getting paid pennies, college athletes are not exploited to the same level as sweatshop workers. In addition to this, when Jabbar broached the topic of sweatshop workers, it shifted the focus away from the issue at hand which detracted from the argument. However, I do believe that collegiate athletes should be compensated. Athletes put their bodies on the line to make a dollar for the school and should be rewarded for doing so. There is an issue when the NCAA, which is supposed to help the players, is profiting off them and not caring for them when injured. I suggest that the NCAA should give the players a weekly stipend, not an exorbitant amount, but enough for basic living costs to help keep players from poverty.
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In my opinion I believe Kareem Abdul Jabbar is completely right for thinking college athletes should get paid for what they do. There are college athletes that bring in a significant amount of money to their college and don’t even get a small percentage of it. There are even some states where their college teams are the center of attention for sports. In the article Kareem talks about how people with academic scholarships can make money but students with athletic scholarships can’t. I believe that is completely unfair due to the fact that college sports bring in a crazy amount of money.
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