What exactly is preferential treatment? I do not know and, contrary to popular belief, if you were to ask any student-athlete, they would probably not be able to give an answer either.
For years, the general population of high school students has accused student-athletes of receiving special treatment from their teachers, peers and school administration. As a student-athlete myself, I can say that that is simply untrue.
Student-athletes are held to a higher standard and the expectations placed on them exceed those of an average student. Along with these higher expectations and standards comes pressure; pressure to do well, pressure to stay out of trouble, and pressure to not fail.
Pressure to not fail is not the same as pressure to succeed. Pressure to not fail brings about thoughts, such as “I hope I don’t mess up.”
These thoughts can have a negative effect on performance in school and on the playing field of athletes’ respective sports.
The morale of student-athletes can suffer greatly from this added pressure. This is why when a high-profile athlete is the latest headline for being arrested I am neither shocked nor do I have a large amount of pity to offer them. Some simply cannot handle the pressure that comes along with the territory, and they crumble under the weight.
When the punishment is given for things that they have done, and it is not as harsh as it would be for an average offending citizen, it is viewed as a “slap on the wrist.”
Student-athletes are often placed upon pedestals that they have not climbed onto themselves. More often than not, if you were to ask a high school athlete if they are fond of the notoriety and excess attention they receive, the response you get would be, “Not really.”
In my opinion, the media are partly to blame for the magnitude of pressure felt by student-athletes in today’s sports world. This is not an excuse for the way that some athletes behave, but it is a contribution to the stress and pressure that is placed upon their shoulders.
While it may be highly plausible that preferential treatment is present in some high school settings, I have not been exposed to such treatment. If one is taking care of their business in the classroom and in their social life, it would be hard for anyone to persecute them when there is a countless number of knuckleheads and ne’er-do-wells to deal with. So for all of those who complain about a student-athlete being treated better than you, it is simply a case of the classic line, “If you knew better, you’d do better.”
