Role Men Play In Title IX example essay topic

Title IX Title IX was passed by the U.S. Congress on June 23, 1972, and signed by President Richard M. Nixon on July 1, 1972. It is a civil rights law prohibiting discrimination in education programs and activities receiving federal funds. It was the first comprehensive federal law to prohibit sex discrimination against students and employees in these institutions. (U.S. Department of Education, 1997) Title IX did much more than what the average mind thinks of when they hear the words: Title IX. I personally was interested in what people thought of when they heard this and did two simple interviews, one of my grandpa's, a 73 year old man, and also interviewed my friend, Samm, who is a 19 year old female who just recently graduated high school.

I asked each of them two simple questions: What is Title IX to you? And Has Title IX had an impact on your life? My grandpa responded with "Title IX is just a way women thought they could get some power in this country, when really we live in a country made for a man, always has been, always will be". My friend Samm on the other hand said "Title IX has given this country a chance to get closer to the equality in living we have yearned for over a long period of time. If it wasn't for Title IX I would not have the friends I do today because I got to know all of them through sports, something that Title IX has given me the opportunity to participate in". Now realistically I did not get a straight-forward answer of the two questions I asked them, but I was able to see two totally different viewpoints on one single subject.

I know I can not come to any overall conclusions just from interviewing two people, but I believe these two I interviewed did basically answer how people of their generation and gender would. Just as with any other problem we face today, the varying viewpoints make it very hard to come to a compromise that makes the majority of people happy. After I interviewed both my grandfather and Samm, I was not going to leave them without giving them information on the topic, and both of them thanked me for the information, because they both said they had been misinformed on what exactly Title IX is. That brings me to a point. Do you know what Title IX is? To be honest before I started this research for this paper, I was always told it is how women got the right to play sports.

Now given sports are a big interest of mine, so realistically that's all I really cared about regarding Title IX. It is so much more than giving a woman or young girl the chance to go out and play baseball, hit the wrestling mat, or even play football. There is a connection between the Title IX law and improvements in key areas such as access to higher education, career education, employment, learning environment, math and science, sexual harassment, standardized testing, and treatment of pregnant and parenting teens. (Women's Equity Resource Center, 2003) How in the world does that relate to me you ask?

Well, before this law many schools and universities had separate entrances for male and female students. Honestly, did it really matter what door you came in? Apparently, it did. I can see them having a problem with males and females being in the same dormitories, for obvious reasons, but not letting a man and woman walk in the same door to get to a classroom? That's a little ridiculous if you ask me. I know I could have never lived happily in the past generations, because I have had the freedom of being my own self and having the freedoms of every other race, gender, and social status for the most part.

The effect Title IX has played in my life comes in some major issues, as well as simple things such as being allowed to walk through the same door as the man in front of me. What else did Title IX impact you ask? Being a college student, a woman college student, I really appreciate the times now. According to Women's Sports Foundation Online (2002), before Title IX women were not allowed to take certain courses such as auto mechanics or criminal justice. Not only that, before you could get accepted to a college you were required to have higher test scores and better grades than males to get admitted. Now I don't know if that was supposed to be a compliment to women or what, but I'm betting it wasn't.

I know women tend to be smarter when it comes to certain things such as: cooking, cleaning, changing diapers, etc. but to require higher test scores? Come on now, how much more UN-equal could it possibly be? That's not all you had to deal with on a college campus though, because you are a woman you were not allowed to stay out past midnight, yet a man could stay out as long as he pleased. I know colleges want the best for you, but I think they were trying a little too hard to fill in the Mommy role with that rule. There is a border between caring, and just plain out trying to be too much, and the colleges might have crossed the line with that rule. I am not a rebel, nor do I try to be, but honestly can you imagine trying to tell a college woman today that she must be in her room by midnight?

I can see my mom saying that to me in high school, but I'm older now and trying to find a sense of freedom, and I really think that they were cutting into a person's freedom when they made that rule. Since Title IX is generally viewed as dealing with sports, I thought I would inform you that it is not just about sports, and now I will use reverse psychology and tell you what it has done for women in sports. I personally have many thanks to give to those who pushed for Title IX because I would not be the person I am today if it wasn't for sports. I am who I am because of sports, the people I met through sports, and the lessons I learned through sports. I was involved with sports from the time I was five years old.

I started playing basketball at a local YMCA. Some say that competition that young is not good for you, and to an extent I believe that. Many people abuse the gifts we are given by yelling and screaming at their 5-year-old son or daughter who just missed a basket, had a turnover, or just tripped over their own feet and fell down. Since my parents were not the type to do those things to me, sports played a vital role in developing my personality, and I would not take back any of the things I have done, right or wrong, involving sports.

According to Ms. Foundation and their Research on Adolescent Girls, girls and women who participate in sports have higher levels of confidence, stronger self-images, and lower levels of depression. (1995) Does that mean that this holds true for all women and girls? It most definitely does not. I myself have been an athlete all my life, and as hard as it is to admit, I am clinically depressed.

I have to take an anti-depressant every morning and go to a therapist on a regular basis. They are not trying to say that their finds will hold true in every situation. When giving out facts like this, there are always going to be exceptions, but that doesn't mean you should think that you will be the exception and you just avoid trying because you "just know" you will be that exception. There will always be a few flaws in every fact people read to you. In knowing this that the Ms. Foundation has released, they basically want you to just go out and try a sport.

Does everyone like the same sports? No way, if you surveyed 100 people and asked them their favorite sport, you could get 50 different answers. Just go out and explore what's out there and see what you find as your "cup of tea" so to speak. Does Title IX affect me? I stated before that I had asked my grandfather and friend how title nine affected them and that I didn't really get a response from either. I have news, not just for them, but for everyone.

Title IX prohibits institutions that receive federal funding from practicing gender discrimination in educational programs or activities. Because almost all schools receive federal funds, Title IX applies to nearly everyone. The Office for Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Education is charged with enforcing the civil rights and regulations in education, extending protection to o about 51.7 million elementary and secondary school students; o about 14.4 million college and university students; o almost 15,000 school districts; o more than 3,600 colleges and universities; o more than 5,000 proprietary schools; and o Thousands of libraries, museums, vocational rehabilitation agencies, and correctional facilities. (Title IX: 25 Years of Progress -- June 1997) Now if you don't fall under, use, or support anyone who falls under any of those six categories, I think you probably ought to read over them again. If you are an adult, you may provide for a child who is in an educational institute, and if you don't, you are still paying because last I checked our taxes we pay are what builds and provides for correctional facilities, and they fall under the sixth category. See what I mean?

We all play a role or are affected by this law, even men, believe it or not. What role does a man play in Title IX? The first and most important role a man must play in this law is rather simple; he must accept it. I know that change in the times is not an easy thing to accept and that some people feel that the United States should not have passed this law because it really wasn't truly hurting anyone and all that title nine was going to do is cause more problems, but honestly how are you going to know these things unless you try? I was on the website Arbiter Online and was researching Title IX and came across one man's opinion about it. He stated "Title nine should be abolished because it does more harm than good it seems.

Yes, it helped women get many types of scholarships at the same time it raises taxes and tuition prices. So depending on the way you look at it. It could be good yet at the same time cause more budget cuts, loss of quality programs which, given some time could have brought valuable income". I was very frustrated when I read his response. He makes a bad reputation for men in general with the words he wrote. When he says that it has done more harm than good, I could not hold back sharing the facts that I found on title nine: - In 1994, women received 38% of medical degrees, compared with 9% in 1972.

- In 1994, women earned 43% of law degrees, compared with 7% in 1972. - In 1994, 44% of all doctoral degrees to U.S. citizens went to women, up from 25% in 1977. (2000) The man who wrote this awful response needs to look more into something before he states a strong opinion. The cost of tuition and the raising of taxes are due to an increase of the cost of living. If the cost to live gets higher, obviously schools have to charge more for us to be educated because their employees need more money.

It is just how the economy works, always has, always will. Now I know that many men feel that they are getting the bad end of the deal because they are losing funds in sports such as baseball, swimming, weightlifting, and wrestling, but really in order for women to get to participate in any sport whatsoever there obviously has to be money that comes from somewhere. Recently interviewed by the national review. com, former senator, the law's original sponsor, Birch Bayh, was asked if anyone thought men's sports teams would one day be eliminated because of Title IX, and he said no: "That was not the purpose of Title IX. And that has been a very unfortunate aspect of this. The idea of Title IX was not to give fewer opportunities to men; it was to make more opportunities to women". For Title IX to work there were obviously going to be cuts in some men's sports, it's like the saying "You give some to get some".

I am sorry that some men's sports are going downhill, but at the same time women deserve the right to have the same chance as women and Title IX has made some obvious impact. How exactly does Title IX work? Title IX governs the overall equity of treatment and opportunity in athletics while giving schools the flexibility to choose sports based on student body interest, geographic influence, budget restraints, and gender ratio (2000). In other words, it is not a matter of women being able to participate in wrestling or that exactly the same amount of money is spent per women's and men's basketball player. Instead, the focus is on the necessity for women to have equal opportunities as men on a whole, not on an individual basis. In regard to intercollegiate athletics, there are three primary areas that determine if an institution is in compliance: athletic financial assistance, accommodation of athletic interests & abilities, and other program areas.

Appraisal of compliance is on a program-wide basis, not on a sport-by-sport basis. While many resources have been written for intercollegiate sports, the general components of Title IX apply to interscholastic sport as well. (Curtis, 2000) Is Title IX really doing its job? I think the statistics I have shared have pretty much spoken for themselves when answering this question. There are though, some points of the law that the government thinks need improvement. For example, according to a study of NCAA Division I college, there are fewer male undergraduates than females, but 63 percent of student athletes are male.

(2002) Men's sports are still getting 77 percent of athletic budgets. (Flock, 1999) Now some of the school's are working to even out those percentages, by cutting men's budgets and even eliminating some sports, and that brings up the role men play in Title IX that I have already talked about. Title IX was not meant to be a degrading of men, it was a legislative law meant to boost women's sports. What are some myths out there about Title IX? The first myth I have touched on already but to set the record straight; Title IX does not forces schools to cut men's sports.

Some schools have decided on their own to eliminate certain men's sports, like gymnastics and wrestling, rather than controlling bloated football and basketball budgets, which consume a whopping 72% of the average Division I-A school's total men's athletic operating budget. For example, San Diego State University decided to address its $2 million budget deficit by cutting its men's volleyball team instead of cutting slightly into the $5 million football budget. (Women's Sports Foundation) There are other options: A recent GAO study found that 72% of schools that added teams from 1992-1993 to 1999-2000 did so without discontinuing any teams. (author, year) Another major fact that needs to be set straight is that: Title IX has not gone too far. The playing field is far from level for female athletes, despite Title IX's considerable successes. Women's athletics programs still lag behind men's programs. From limited opportunities to participate to fewer scholarship dollars to inferior athletic equipment and facilities, the playing field for women and girls is far from level.

Title IX is just as important as ever to remove the barriers women and girls face in sports. (Geena, 2002) What does the future hold for Title IX? The future of Title IX is currently in doubt, as the effectiveness and validity of the thirty-year old law that gives equity on fields and courts is debated in classrooms and courtrooms. Last summer, in a reaction to the brewing controversy, U.S. Department of Education Secretary Rod Paige appointed the Commission on Opportunity in Athletics to produce a report on Title IX. The volume of complaints stemming from the elimination of men's sports teams across the country seemed to indicate that Title IX had some flaws. Yet the Commission unanimously agreed that Title IX is at the core of equal justice in America.

They recognized that although women have had many new opportunities, there is much more to be done. (Jackson, 1999) There may be a long road ahead for those in support of Title IX, but if justice prevails, as it always has before, women will be protected and will be able to be considered equal with men. Women and men alike have long fought for the equality of race, age, gender, social class, and many other things. This is an on going fight that may never truly be settled because of so many varying viewpoints as well as strong beliefs. All that we can so is stand beside those who are in favor of this wonderful law and provide the support they need.

It is not just women who want this law to continue, there are some men as well. There are also women who are against it. That is why Title IX is and always has been such a controversy since the day it was introduced to the legislature. My role in Title IX is to inform and research as I have just done. I know my opinion and I am sure that after reading this paper you do also. As Martin Luther King Jr. once said when addressing a nation", I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all are created equal.

' 'Every person you ask will have a different opinion about Title IX, and some will even question where I found all this research, all I can guarantee you is that these are facts. I have spent a lot of time and effort into researching this topic and the results I have found are conclusive; Title IX has had an effect on the way sports are viewed and played, but still has a long way to go to become truly equal.

Bibliography

Hildebrand et al. (2000).
Knowing and serving diverse families (2nd Ed.) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall. web "Title IX hurts funding for men's sports, January 16, 2005.
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