Should student athletes be given special leniency when the instructors assingn course marks?

Answer 1

Absolutely not! Their degree has the same requirements as everyone else's, so they should be held to the same standards. As a teacher myself, I think that giving preferential treatment to ANY student, or grading them on anything other than the guidelines you outline in the syllabus would be completely unethical.

Answer 2

Of course the simple answer is "no". The idea behind school is to learn the material. This applies to all students.
The real world answer is that, in universities, the student athletes are responsible for a large part of the income a school receives (ticket sales, TV rights, boosters, etc.). Without the athlete, funds go down and all students suffer. So to give an athlete a better-than-deserved grade is, in effect, helping 100's of other students achieve a better education. It's the "needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few" argument. I don't agree with it, but that's the way it is seen by some.

Answer 3

No, there is NO reason that an athlete should be given any kind of leniency at all. Why would they? They are at SCHOOL, playing a sport, not at a SPORT playing school, which unfortunately seems to be the case more often than not.

Answer 4

Absolutely not. The purpose of going to college is to get an education. Making student athletes an elite group that is not subject to the same standards as the rest just diminishes the reputation of the professor and the school. If you are going to do that, why not just hand them the degree as soon as they play in their first game and not make them go to class at all?

Answer 5

No. I cannot think of a reason why being an athlete would mean that you needed leniency in grading. This simply perpetuates the outlandishly elite treatment of sports figures.