Should College Athletes Be Paid?

1. Set Focus
Frame the inquiry with these essential questions: What benefits do sports provide to colleges? What value do college sports provide to athletes?

2. Read and Discuss
Have students read the debate and then answer the following questions:

• What is the issue being debated? How does it relate to current events? (The issue is whether college athletes should be paid. This issue is timely because colleges and the N.C.A.A. make a lot of money from college sports and, although athletes can now make some money from their likenesses, some wonder if they should be paid to play.)

• Evaluate why these two authors might be interested in and qualified to comment on this issue. (Joe Nocera is a sports columnist who wrote a book about the issue. Madeleine McKenna represents the N.C.A.A., which is the organization that regulates college sports.) 

• Analyza Nocera’s view. (Nocera argues in favor of paying student athletes. He says coaches are paid huge salaries but the athletes who provide the labor are paid nothing. He says sports interfere with getting an education and that many athletes are there to work, not study. Therefore, those athletes should be paid for it.)

• Analyze McKenna’s view. (McKenna argues against paying athletes. She says that schools award scholarships to athletes, that schools often make less money than they spend on sports, and that paying athletes would mean schools would need to shrink their sports programs.) 

4. Writing Prompt
In an essay, evaluate one of the debaters’ arguments. Assess whether the reasoning is valid and whether it’s supported with evidence. Point out biases or missing information.

5. Classroom Debate
Should college athletes be paid? Have students use the authors’ ideas, as well as their own, in a debate.

6. Vote
Go online to vote in Upfront’s poll—and see how students across the country voted.