The War Against Athletes :: essays research papers fc

THE WAR AGAINST ATHLETES   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In schools around the country, many athletes are being subjected to a great indignity. They are being stripped of their personal privileges. They are scorned and questioned of their morale, without cause or evidence. The trust once shared between students and teachers, the bond between children and parents has been torn apart. Athletes ranging from middle school to high school are being subjected to tests for drug use. Drugs that only thirteen percent of the student populations are responsible for. (Brecher, n.pag.) The remaining eighty-seven percent of the students are being accused of, and unrightfully suspected of drug use. But why just athletes? Why not the rest of the students? In their quest for a more civil society, administrators have forgotten their true goals  ­ equality for all students. If an athlete is to be stripped of his rights, why not another student? What makes an athlete more susceptible to drug use than a non-athlete? A clear level of discri mination is evident in the Supreme Court decision to make drug testing of athletes legal in the United States. (no author, 4). It is wrong to suspect a person more likely to do drugs than another person solely on their extra-curricular activities.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Athletes are subjected to conditions most students are not. They go through more training and spend more time working than do most other students. Athletes, along with their parent or guardians, spend time and money to participate in athletic events. Each one of them works hard to achieve their personal goals, something that schools try to incorporate into their curriculum all over the country. Athletes are an example to the rest of the student body, through their level of effort and their desire to improve. They are rewarded by shoving their hard-status down the toilet, along with any feelings of privacy or personal pride. Only nobody seems to notice this injustice. For some reason, our society, or its government at least, seems to believe that athletes are the focal point of drug trafficking in schools around the country. By being the uplifting students they are, athletes have drawn attention to themselves. Attention that has gone from sweet to a more hateful su spicious attention. The kind of attention the press brings when a famous person is suspected of wrongdoing. The suspicion feeds on itself, until some anarchist reporter brings it to a rolling boil by exposing the entire scandal.