Growing up in America, sports are an essential part of daily life. From childhood to adulthood, certain aspects of sport concern almost everyone. As a child, we try to find a hobby to play sports. As parents, fathers look forward to coaching their child's little league team. And for tens and young adults, sports are an opportunity to become “someone” and do something incredible. The general perception in high school and college is that athletes have it all. If you're good at sports, you don't have to worry about homework or popularity and basically you don't have a care in the world; you are invincible. While it is great to see some succeed and become professional athletes, many others do not meet the same fate. The fate of these athletes, who happen to be the majority, is what determines my opinion of college sports. If I had the opportunity to create a new college sports system, it would look nothing like the current system used by American colleges today. My system would eliminate college athletics and create a separation between athletics and higher education. According to the Pew Research Center, 47% of Americans believe the purpose of college is to teach job-related skills, while 39% believe it is to help students develop personally and intellectually (PewResearchCenter, 2011). Personally, I believe that the purpose of college is higher education, which means that the skills and knowledge acquired in college are aimed at creating a valuable and productive member in society. College education should be specific to what a person plans to do for the rest of their life. Of all the sports played professionally around the world, many athletes' careers are short-lived. The average career of an athlete in each of the four...... middle of paper ...... place for adults to play a child's game instead of going to school. If athletes want to play that much because they feel they are good enough, they have to make sacrifices. I'm not against talented individuals playing professional sports, but I am against those who don't get a degree and don't get a college degree before doing so. Writing in an article published by USA Today "in 2009, that 78 percent of NFL players are bankrupt or face serious financial difficulties within two years of ending their playing career and that 60 percent of NBA players are broke within five years of retiring from the game” (Wiles, 2012). Professional athletics isn't just about fame and being extremely rich and that's something young students don't understand. It is essential to improve and get a degree, there is much more to life than sports.