In the movie “Hoop Dreams” a film producer followed two African-American boys on their journey to become professional basketball players. Sadly, Arthur and William’s story is too common into today’s lower income areas. Income unquestionably plays a role in this equation; since the parents don’t have the funds to give to their child to go to school this is the child’s only way to college. Many kids at a young age are forced to pick a sport and be the best at it so they even have a chance to go to college. This also brings up the standards of education for these kids. I believe that race definitely plays a role in athletes having lower admission standards. With that being said no one really instills in the child’s mind that grades are important. Parents and coaches are just determined to make sure the child gets the bare minimum grades or SAT score to get into a school. When you think of a basketball player what’s the first image that comes to mind; a tall black boy from harsh up bringing’s. Schools and colleges are setting these children up for failure by giving them such low standards of admission. It shows them that their education is a second priority even though they are “student- athletes.” The student comes before the athlete. Neither Arthur nor William got drafted into the NBA after their college careers. This is why there always needs to be a back-up plan for these kids! It is also very necessary that parents, guardians, coaches or whomever they look up to instill in them that education should be their first and number one priority! For me this movie made me think so much about my own life and how sports have had an impact on me in so many ways. In high school sports gave me structure and kept me focused. For Arthur and William sports was the only way they probably would have gotten into college and afforded to pay for college. It wasn’t that drastic for me, I could definitely pay for college and get into college. For me it was the minimum time I had to do anything. I was always so busy with sports I didn’t have time to even think about anything else but sports and school. It was just a routine I had Monday- Friday, school, practice, and then home to study, and on weekends I’d always have games. In the movie Arthur’s best friend was arrested for selling drugs. If Arthur didn’t have basketball he probably would be out selling drugs with his friend or sitting in jail. Thinking back, if I didn’t have practice I would have had too much time to just do nothing and wouldn’t be aware of the time and procrastinate with my schoolwork. In all I think “Hoop Dreams” was an excellent eye-opening movie that documented the real life struggle for many low-income, African American families. I believe that everyone can learn from this movie kids, parents, coaches and even colleges. We have to start actually caring about these kids and showing them there are other ways to succeed besides the path of sports.
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