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Malik Keaton
UWRT 1101
25 March 2015
Student-Athlete Stereotypes
Have you watched a movie with a student athlete in it? What would be the description of
what was seen in that particular person? Their unintelligent ways? Their privileged lifestyles?
Well, thats how the media and other student, as well, see student athletes. These portrayals are
inaccurate and petty, because I know from personal experience that student athletes work harder
than most other students, and they make mental, physical, and emotional sacrifices in order to
achieve their goals. Say what you want about the term student-athlete, but there are thousands
of players who truly earn the moniker thanks to their work in the classroom, in the meeting room
and beyond, Brian (Fischer), College Football 24/7 writer, said in his article. Spend a few
minutes with Josh Dobbs, starting quarterback for Tennessee University, and you can understand
why he makes this list. He started four games under center for the Vols last year as a true
freshman, but still managed to keep his grades up in the aerospace engineering major he's picked.
We're sure Alabama's defense is just as tough as honors calculus class. Athletes are one of the
busiest groups among students due to homework, test, training, and practices. Studies found that
because student athletes are effectively motivated, they tend to keep their grades up and really
strive to do well in school (Stereotypes).
There is a common belief that some schools, high school and college, are giving athletes
an easier time because they have physical skills but not academic ones, for example, and so all
athletes become considered "dumb jocks." Jocks are what student athletes are considered to be,
according to the media and many students. People using this term wrongly see jocks as abusing
their athletic status by being stuck up and self-centered, aggressive and quick tempered, rude and
arrogant, handsome and muscular, unintelligent, abusing alcohol and drugs, generally popular
with girls, and being a bully towards people who are uncool or less popular than they are, such

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as nerds or outsiders (Guides 1-2). The mass media often borrows many stereotypical include
The Amazing Spider-man (2012), Never Back Down (2008), and American Pie (1999). The main
jock character often has an important athletic role, such as the quarterback or captain of the
football team. In plenty of cases, the jock is shown coming from wealthy families, and driving a
fancy and expensive muscle car or sports car. This belief likely stems from the idea that high
school and college athletes are too busy training to do homework and that talented athletes are
given special treatment by the school system so they don't need to study. Or perhaps because the
physically-intimidating bully is more likely to turn to sports then the stereotypical nerd (Dumb
Jock).
In The Amazing Spider-man (2012), the student athlete is Eugene Flash Thompson,
played by Chris Zylka. In high school, Flash was stereotypical jock who repeatedly bullied Peter
Parker, the main character played by Andrew Garfield. He was the captain of the football and
basketball team. Flash was physically abused by his alcoholic father, leading to Flash's own
violent, bullying nature. He called Peter (Garfield), also known as Spider-man, with the insulting
nickname "Puny Parker" and humiliated Parker daily in front of the whole school. In Never Back
Down (2008), another good example of the stereotypical athlete. The student athlete, played by
Cam Giganget, is a mixed martial arts champion who came from a wealthy family. Ryan was the
most popular kid in school, considering that everyone feared him because of his fighting ability
and his quick temper. He hosted enormous fighting parties at his mansion often, which the whole
high school which he went to, attended. When the main character, Jake (played by Sean Faris),
moves to Ryans school in Orlando from Iowa, with his mother and brother. Jake (Faris) wants to
fit in, and he decides to go to a party with his classmate Baja (Amber Heard), Ryans girlfriend.
There, Ryan sees Jake with Baja, and he then pushed Jake into a fight and humiliated him in
front of the whole school with his martial art skills. Flash (Zylka) and Ryan (Giganget) both

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change at the end of the movies, which the main characters, Peter (Garfield) and Jake (Faris),
had to earn respect from them.
College coaches who emphasize their players academic abilities may be the best
defense against the effects of dumb jock stereotypes, a Michigan State University study
suggests (McGlashen and Feltz). My high school football coach once told the team that student
athletes graduate more often than other students in all Division I, and that about 80% of the
athletes being NCAA graduates. Stereotypes can affect student athletes academic performances.
For example, if an athlete believes he or she is looked at as a dumb jock, that fear may become
a personal problem, making it difficult to perform well in the classroom. Not only are other
students and the mass media labeling athletes as unintelligent and lazy, but student athletes, like
myself, persuade themselves that they are not as smart as the average student. A major study,
tested by the National Bureau of Economic Research, reported a significant academic gap
between athletes and non-athletes when college athletes are reminded that they are athletes. They
separated athletes and non-athletes into a group and gave them each a test of thirty nine
questions. However, the control group was asked to answer a series of questions about their roles
in college before they began the test. This immediately set the athletes apart from others, and the
researchers found that students whom were identified as athletes scored dramatically lower than
non-athletes (Stereotypes). This study found that the media doesnt only influence societys
opinion about student athletes personality, attitude, academics, integrity, but the athletes have
been shown to psych themselves out as well.
I have participated in sports since I was five years old. Throughout the years of being a
student athlete, I have worked harder than all of the other students I have went to school with, in
and out of the classroom. I was raised to know that school always comes first, thats why its
called being a STUDENT athlete. Many student athletes are misunderstood and are continuing to

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attempt to prove that these stereotypes are inaccurate and irrelevant. Everyone should understand
that it is honestly wrong and generally offensive to judge one another. However, the media has
become such a strong influence in perpetuating misconceptions and stereotypes of American
student athletes. (Stereotypes). We, as people, need to push these petty stereotypes away and see
student athletes as the average student who live for the weekends, spend hours studying, and are
just trying to survive the madness of college. At the end of the day, when the jerseys are off,
these young adults are just like every other student.

Reflection
The process of writing this essay went pretty smooth towards the beginning. I pretty
much knew about everything that I have researched about my topic, including the roles of the
student athletes in movies and television shows. The only bad part was meeting the required
length of my academic essay about student-athlete stereotypes. The length had to be six to eight
pages long, and my essay is only three! I made it harder on myself, because I started on my
outlining pretty late. I also had two other essays to write in my other courses. What I think works
in my essay is my introduction, I feel that I have grabbed the readers attention and made them
want to read what stereotypes are portrayed on my topic. What I think that doesnt work is
having my essay too short. I feel like I have briefly covered everything that I wanted to include

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in this essay, but obviously it wasnt enough, unfortunately. I will meet the required length for
my portfolio. I imagined my audience to be anyone who looked down upon student athletes
academically, and of course my instructor. I wanted to inform what was really going on, from the
perspective of a student athlete, and how we dont certainly have the easy life as other students
and the media believe. If anything, student athletes school experience is more stressful and
exhausting than the average student.

Works Cited
"Dumb Jock - TV Tropes." Dumb Jock - TV Tropes. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2015.
Fischer, Brian. "14 for '14: Smartest Players in College Football." NFL.com. N.p., 4 June 2014.
Web. 25 Mar. 2015.
"Guides to Information Resources." American Journal of Economics and Sociology 27.1 (1968):
1-11. Web. 24 Mar. 2015.
McGlashen, Andy, and Deborah Feltz. "Fighting the 'dumb Jock' Stereotype." MSUToday. N.p.,
22 Apr. 2013. Web. 29 Mar. 2015.
News Staff. "Are Athletes The Biggest Victims Of Stereotype Threat On College
Campuses?"Science 2.0. N.p., 22 Apr. 2013. Web. 26 Mar. 2015.).

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