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Essay prompt on professional athletes

Essay prompt on professional athletes-example-1

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Some famous athletes and entertainers earn millions of dollars every year. Do you think these people deserve such high salaries? Use specific reasons and examples to support your opinion.

Model Essay - The question of income inequality has long been one of great debate and interest. Sociologists claim that the economic disparity between the super-rich and the poor has never been greater. Perhaps some of the most visible mega-rich are the athletes and entertainers that we see on TV and in magazines. Some say that these individuals while talented are grossly overcompensated for their contribution to society. While there may be many other professionals who are underpaid relative to their social contribution, famous athletes deserve the salaries that they earn because it comes through a substantial level of risk, after significant investment of time in training and to the great utility of their millions of fans worldwide.

There are physical and social risks that follow athletic performance. Performing at the level required for professional athletes poses significant risks of both acute and chronic injury. Also their reputation is often open for public intrusion. These risks exceed those of most employment and thus justify earning a larger than average salary. Examples of the physical risks have been typified by the NFL player's concussion lawsuit where hundreds of former professional football players are now eligible for compensation from the longterm effects of brain related injuries. The social risks would include the scandal several years ago of Tiger Woods. Now his actions albeit morally reprehensible, were magnified greatly by his celebrity status. Having your poor personal decisions part of the public domain is an aspect of sports celebrity that should be compensated for and the large salaries of athletes in part accomplishes that .

Athletes have invested thousands of hours into training and playing their sport before reaching a salaried level. Some have estimated that even the most talented individual must invest at least 10,000 hours to become an expert in a skill. Thus even though we quantify what an athlete is paid based on one year of current performance, in effect we should be compensating them for all of the effort invested to bring them to that point which in part their large salary does. Consider Olympic gold medalist Kim Yuna a Korean figure skater. She is one of the highest paid female athletes. Long before she was spokesperson for many different companies and winning international competitions she was a young girl who was sacrificing thousands of hours in solitary practice that could have been alternatively applied. The hope and promise of potential financial success helps to motivate talented youth to apply themselves and make great sacrifices to succeed.

Athletes contribute to the leisure and entertainment of millions of fans. Watching sports provides a great escape for many many people who use a sporting event to socialize, forget their problems and invigorate their lives. The fact that famous athletes affect so many people simultaneously suggests that they should be greatly compensated for their impact. For example, imagine a worker at a fast food restaurant; in one hour they feed 25 people. The worker has provided utility or value to those 25 people. Now imagine a famous soccer player playing in a world cup match. In one hour of competition, literally millions and millions of fans worldwide have received great utility as they've watched and enjoyed the performance. Now the fact that the athlete is compensated at the scale that they are relative to the fast food worker is at least statistically reasonable. While some may question the substantiveness of the contribution of a professional athlete, no one can question the raw scale of their contribution to society.

Because of the expansiveness of their reach and impact, the significant investment of time in training and the substantial physical and social risks, famous athletes do earn their impressively large salaries. However coming to this conclusion does not mean that others such as teachers or police officers deserve the low wages that they receive. Some of the same rationale applied above could translate to reinterpreting impact. Obviously law enforcement and other public safety officers are often placed in situations of serious risk. A teacher's preparation initiated long before their first day in the classroom. Also an educator's impact is not just those students in the classroom but also the individuals that those students will later affect as they utilize their education.

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