I found that I enjoyed reading as a child, regardless of whether a student-athlete is read to as a child, I continued to read and be good at it. After completing this research project at the age of twenty-two, I am finally beginning to appreciate how privileged I was to have parents and teachers who taught me the importance of the most important life skill -- the ability to read. He replied, “I don't know what you think I'm going to do, but I'm not going to read.
One day, a student told me that he didn't need to read because he was “going to be a football player when [he grew up]” (Suggs). I identified when, how and where they learned to read and their attitudes towards reading at a young age and as university students. We must ensure that all of our student-athletes receive the best education possible --- starting with the ability to read.
Literature Review
In the academic journal Literacy Policy , Haan argues that “the single greatest barrier to student educational achievement is literacy failure” and argues that literacy “liberates every young person. According to an article in the Huffington Post, “The link between academic failure and delinquency, violence and crime is linked to reading failure” (Hers). In the New York Times article "The Boys at the Back," Christina Sommers advocates for equal education for men and women and asks that we reevaluate the components of our education system that have.
Regarding the gender gap, Catherine Rampel writes “the difference in GPAs between female athletes and non-athletes is relatively small. Willingham states “The average minority verbal SAT score as reported by the College Board is 456 (2008). According to the National Center for Education Statistics, “the 2012 graduation rate for first-time and full-time undergraduate students who began.
Athletic Teams
Because my investigation involves athletes, specifically football players, from the University of Mississippi, it is important to include information specific to the university's athletic program. Student population: 15,411 Student sports population: 391 Student population: 6,917 Student sports population: 242 Student population: 8,494 Student sports population: 149. It is important to note the importance of the football team in the athletic program at the University. Mississippi.
Members of the football team make up 31.45% of the entire student athlete population and 51% of the male student athlete population. I used all of the previous information found in the literature review as a basis for conducting my empirical research at the University of Mississippi. I asked about literacy levels, educational strategies in and out of the classroom, sports, demographics, and perceptions of literacy.
Methodology
On the day of the Student-Athlete Academic Orientation, he stood in the front of the room, introduced the survey, and then asked each athlete to participate. Over the course of two months, she had soccer players of all ages fill out the survey in her office. The biggest limitation of the survey is that not every college athlete at the university was able to take the survey during the Student-Athlete Academic Orientation.
Men's basketball players could not attend the meeting and were not included in the survey population. Since football players did not take the survey at the same time and in the same environment as other student athletes, this may have led to different answers. I would like to see if the views shared by non-football players in the interview are consistent with those in the survey.
Survey Results
Forty percent said they were ever read to and 10% said they were never read to outside of school. Overall, 50% of all young male student athletes said they were read to often as children. Eighty-eight percent of students who disliked reading said they grew up in a two-parent household.
Overall, none of the first-year male students who said they did not read as children described their childhood experience with reading as. Overall, 20% of all first-year FRPL male student-athletes said they were read to often as children. When asked about young FRPL male athletes who were read to as children and their childhood experience with reading, 50% said they enjoyed reading as children while 50%
Overall, 50% of first-year male FRPL student-athletes said they were sometimes read to as children. Overall, 30% of first-year male FRPL student-athletes said they were never read to as children. Fifty percent of FRPL students who enjoy reading said they grew up in a single-parent home.
Overall, none of the male FRPL athletes who said they did not enjoy reading as children described their childhood experience with reading as positive.
Reading and College Football Players
Sixty percent said they felt they were reading at a college level, and 30% said they sometimes felt. None said their father did not graduate from high school.20 Fifty percent said they grew up in a single-parent household. When asked about footballers who used to read to them as children and their childhood experiences with reading, 37% said they were often read to as children, 46%.
When asked about footballers who did not read as children and their childhood experiences with reading, 27% said they were often read to as a child, 45% said they. Thirty-eight percent said they felt they read at a college level, 43% said sometimes, and 19%. In comparison, 65% of non-low-income football players said they maintained a high school GPA of a 3.0 or higher.
When asked about footballers who were read to as children and their experiences with reading as a child, 17% said they enjoyed reading as a child, while 67% said they did. No one said their father had not completed high school.28 Fifty percent said they grew up in a single-parent home. Twenty percent said they feel like they read at a college level, 70% said they sometimes do, and 10%.
When asked about FRPL footballers who enjoyed reading as children and their experiences with reading as a child, 33% said they were read to too often as children, while 67% did so. Regarding reading today, 67% of FRPL football players who enjoyed reading as children reported that they enjoy reading today and 33% said they enjoy reading sometimes. Sixty-six percent say they almost never or never have problems understanding textbooks, 33% say sometimes.
Data- Interviews
I didn't go to kindergarten or anything, so I didn't know how to read like everyone else. AKS: By the time you got into the ninth grade, you think you were prepared to read at a high school level. Some students would choose not to read them - many times I would not read them just because they were so terrible.
AKS: Was there a person in your life who pushed you to read and study in school? SF: I had a lot of role models, but I didn't have anyone to push me to read better. AKS: Do you remember having any encouragement to read in elementary or high school?
Discussion and Recommendations
I draw my evidence from the number of low-income and non-low-income students who did not enjoy reading. Thirty-eight percent of low-income footballers said they never enjoyed reading, while only 31% of their wealthier teammates said the same. This becomes clear when we look at the difference between low-income and non-low-income student athletes.
For example, 40% of low-income student-athletes admitted to never reading outside of school, but only 60% said they achieved a GPA of 3.0 or higher. As for low-income football players, 39% admitted to never reading beyond high school, but only 45% said they achieved a GPA of 3.0 or higher. Sympathetically, 46% of low-income football players admitted to never having read beyond high school, but 65% achieved a GPA of 3.0 or higher.
One can conclude that although these low-income students may have read more frequently in high school, they did not comprehend the material as well as their more affluent peers, which is reflected in their lower grade points. . Clearly, low-income students feel they are reading at a college level less than their more affluent peers. Only 40% of low-income beginning athletes reported reading at the college level most of the time, compared to 58%.
Only 26% of low-income football players said they were in college, while 62% of their more affluent teammates said the same. This is especially evident when looking at the difference between low- and non-low-income student-athletes, football and non-football players, and low-income. Through my research, I have found that low-income student-athletes have parents with lower levels of education and are less likely to be read to as children.
Also, I recommend that universities, like The University of Mississippi, open their doors to low-income students from around the area to attend a sports camp where reading and sports are connected.
Conclusion
- How old are you?
- Are you male or female?
- What year are you in school?
- How would you describe your ethnicity/Race?
- When did you begin playing sports?
- What year did you graduate from high school?
- Did you attend high school in Mississippi?
- Did you attend public or private school?
- In what type of area did you attend high school?
- In high school, did you qualify or receive Free or Reduced Price Lunch?
- What level of education does your mother have?
- What level of education does your father have?
- Did you grow up in a single parent household?
- Did someone (a parent, sibling, friend) read to you as a child?
- Did you enjoy reading as a child?
- On average, how often did you read outside of school in high school?
- Did you use the school Library in high school?
- Overall, how would you describe your childhood experience with reading?
- Today, Do you enjoy reading?
- Today, Do you feel like you have trouble understanding college textbooks?
- Today, Do you feel like you have a difficult time focusing while reading?
- Do you feel that keep up with your reading assignments in your college classes?
- Do you feel that you are reading at a college level?
Next year, when I teach high schools in the low-income area of the Mississippi Delta with Teach For America, my research will provide a solid foundation for understanding students' perceptions of literacy and how they arrived at their perceptions. I believe this student is representative of all low-income student-athletes who come to college feeling underprepared, but take advantage of the abundance of resources available to help them be successful both on and off the field. The proficiency of black students appears to be much lower than expected.” The New York Times.
Literacy Policy: Pioneering Blueprint for State Legislators." Committee on the Haan Foundation for Children and Governmental Affairs.
