Problem
Read "Why Not a Football Degree," p. 482 - 485 and answer the following questions.
A. Based on the first three paragraphs of this essay, how should you begin a Proposal to Solve a Problem paper?
B. Write a sentence or two summarizing Shughart's proposed solution.
C. NCAA rules require that to play college sports, athletes must retain amateur status, meaning that they cannot be paid by recruiters or sponsors and that their scholarships can cover only such things as tuition and housing. Shughart argues, however, that amateurism in college sports is an "illusion." Who, according to Shughart, benefits from keeping college athletes amateurs, and who would benefit if they were allowed to become professionals?
D. If the NCAA assumes that amateur status protects college athletes and perhaps also college sports, what is it supposed to protect them from, and how effective has this protection been?
E. Although he concedes that the physical education major is "hardly a rigorous, demanding discipline" (par. 5), Shughart proposes that football be a major in its own right. His argument hinges on the comparison of football to usic and other performance arts in which students receive "academic credit for practice sessions and recitals" (par 5). He calls them "vocational subjects" (par. 4) because their purpose is job training. In conceding that the physical education major is "hardly a rigorous, demanding discipline, Shughart appears to think his readers agree likely to assume disciplines or subjects studied in college should be rigorous and demanding. Do you share this assumption? Why or why not?
F. By calling football a "vocational subjects" and proposing that there be a major in football, Shughart seems to assume the primary purpose of a college education should be job training. What other reasons, if any, might people choose to go to college? Based on this essay, a proposal essay should have two distinct sections in it. What are those two sections?