Carlie Pracht
Lantern Staff
“I don’t have time to study I have practice and games.”
I overheard this from a student who failed a test that I aced. I have no free evenings during the week; on Mondays and Wednesdays I am in class until 9:30 p.m., Tuesdays I work until midnight, and every other Thursday I am on call for Residence Life from 5 p.m. until 8 a.m. I stayed up until midnight the night before the test, and woke up at 4 a.m. that morning, as well as studied whenever I could throughout the week whether it was during my lunch or the hour of free time I have in between classes and newspaper practicum.
I completely understand that being an athlete is hard work and takes a lot of physical and mental tolls on your body, but so does being a working student, and even a non-working student. Yet, you will never find me asking my instructor to extend a deadline for me or to be more lenient towards me.
I know MANY student athletes who have straight As, go to every class on time and never have late work, so I know for a fact that it is possible. Student athletes should be expected to be a student first and an athlete second, just like student workers are. You know your schedule ahead of time, and you have the capability to budget your time wisely. There should be no excuse for not doing your homework or not doing well on a test.
Most sports here at Butler have a study hall requirement for athletes, which is a perfect opportunity to study and catch up on homework, as well as work ahead.
It is unfair for athletes to be held to different standards than other students just because they are an athlete and in some people’s eyes hold more value at the school. Some working students have less free time than athletes, yet they work hard and get their work done on time.
It is also not fair to the instructors who spend all of their time trying to help their students succeed but are faced with students who expect a good grade to be handed to them. These teachers who don’t hand out free passes to athletes are scrutinized and hated just because they are doing their job.
Besides the unfairness of this issue, it also has detrimental side effects on how athletes are perceived. Athletes who expect special treatment come off as cocky and insensitive, and these are frankly not desirable qualities and give other athletes a negative reputation.
I know this does not apply to all athletes, but to the athletes who think they deserve special treatment, I sincerely hope that you use your free time wisely and try to better yourself. The skills you learn from studying and budgeting your time will help you for the rest of your life, well after you no longer play sports or graduate college. You will need something to fall back on if sports don’t work out for you or you get injured, and intelligence, hard work ethic outside of sports, and time management are looked very highly upon.
