There are many who think and argue that professional athletes should be better role models and that when they engage in unsportsmanlike behavior and criminal activity, they simply set a bad example for today’s youth.
Many will also argue that athletes are hired by their employer and paid to do their job and not paid to be role models. This makes sense and it is true that they are not paid to be a role model, but like it or not, athletes are role models.
Now, does that mean that they will be a good role model? Of course not, there are also bad role models! But yeah, they are role models, it’s just one of those things that comes with their work.
Most athletes try to behave positively when in public view, but there are those who just don’t care what other people think of them. The minds of those who say that “athletics are not role models” are making some illusions; They really shouldn’t be role models, but they are and that’s a fact that no one can change.
The fact that so many kids look up to all of these baseball, basketball, and soccer players simply makes them role models. Here’s an example, when you become a parent, you automatically become a role model whether you like it or not. You cannot simply say that I am a parent and not a role model. The old saying “Do what I say, not what I do” doesn’t work. Because you are a role model in the eyes of that child! Children admire parents. Not just parents, but older siblings and other family members, teachers, doctors, police, and the list goes on.
All of these professionals are role models for today’s youth, whether they like it or not. Even the drug dealer can be a role model, of course he will be a bad role model, but when the neighborhood kids look up to him and want to be like him, he has become a role model in their minds.
So to ask the question “Should professional athletics be a role model?” It is not a valid question because they have no other choice about it – THEY ARE MODELS TO FOLLOW!
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