NBA players are role models to millions of children around the world, whether they want to be in that position or not. Children naturally gravitate towards athletes and other popular figures while growing up, idolizing what these people do. This leads to them forming certain goals in life, which might be similar to what they watched on TV.
Charles Barkley insisted on not being a role model, even doing a Nike ad to tell parents that he is not a role model for their kids. However, with age, Barkley has become extremely insightful and revealed an interesting observation he has made from giving talks in predominantly White and Black schools, and how they answer one question differently.
“I do this science experiment when I am in school. Let’s say I am in a White school, I say ‘how many want to play pro sports?’ Less than 10% raise their hand. ‘I wanna be a doctor, I wanna be a lawyer, I wanna be an engineer’. When I speak at Black schools, 90% of the kids want to play sports. 90%. There’s a couple that wanna be doctors, which makes me proud, but 90% of the kids when I speak in Black schools… Our kids are brainwashed if they think they can only play sports or be entertainers. You have a better chance of being a doctor than being in the NBA.”
The opportunities available to kids across races aren’t necessarily equal, so there’s a reason why kids of a certain race might not aspire to the same jobs as others. Barkley is right when he says it’s easier to be a doctor than an NBA player, but it isn’t easy to afford almost 14 years of medical school, or 5 years of law or engineering school, as compared to working hard for a college scholarship to play basketball.
Why Are Such Divisions Still Affecting The Pipeline Of Athletes?
The reasons children pick such paths and why it has a correlation with race are based on the opportunities children from these races have been given historically. Things are changing slowly, but societal change can’t happen with just a few talks at schools and takes years to implement. NBA players like Michael Jordan and Kyrie Irving have been donating to empower their communities but again, it will take longer.
In an ideal world, every kid has equal access to sports and education, so that the best in every field can naturally rise to the top. Many Black athletes and entertainers have built themselves out of nothing and didn’t rely on taking on debt that they couldn’t afford to finish college.
Children growing up in ghettos can look at athletes as positive inspirations to change their lives. LeBron James is a fantastic example of someone trying to change this by providing underprivileged kids access to STEM education through his I Promise School.
They can dream to be athletes and entertainers but the system should educate them enough to also understand the value of a full-time profession they can fall back on if their dreams don’t work out. Similarly, students of other races can also aspire to be athletes and entertainers. It’s just been a matter of the empirical experience by these communities over 100s of years and how it has shaped the thinking of the children that grow up in these communities even in 2023.
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