Along lines of the WS... Do NBA players have more impact on society than doctors?

[knickfan18]

Along the same lines as the writing section on the MCAT which wanted a discussion of highly selective schools' impact on society...

Would you agree that an NBA player can contribute more to society than the average doctor? Take for instance Dikembe Mutombo, who set up his own hospital in Africa. Or take Magic Johnson who has devoted his efforts to the development of businesses in the impoverished urban communities.

It seems that NBA players can affect much more than doctors and they also get to maintain a healthy lifestyle that is both fun and challenging. I therefore conclude that I should try harder to get into the NBA as opposed to medicine.

Let me know what you think.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[shantster]

Along the same lines as the writing section on the MCAT which wanted a discussion of highly selective schools' impact on society...

Would you agree that an NBA player can contribute more to society than the average doctor? Take for instance Dikembe Mutombo, who set up his own hospital in Africa. Or take Magic Johnson who has devoted his efforts to the development of businesses in the impoverished urban communities.

It seems that NBA players can affect much more than doctors and they also get to maintain a healthy lifestyle that is both fun and challenging. I therefore conclude that I should try harder to get into the NBA as opposed to medicine.

Let me know what you think.

Since athletes tend to have a lot more money (you normally don't see doctors pulling in multiple millions of dollars every year), they can if they want to, but you have stupid people (and I'm not an NBA fan so we'll go with an NFL example, which I know much better) such as Randy Moss who get all the spotlight and the ones that actually do something important and should get the praise you do not really hear anything about.

That said, I think that athletes as a whole have a much larger impact on society than doctors because they are more likely to be role models for the children and teens than a specific doctor is. Lots of kids want to grow up to (again going to football) Randy Moss or Terrell Owens. You don't see kids saying that they want to grow up and be some famous cardiologist or for example.

So, I believe that athletes have a greater impact on society as a whole and they should use that in a positive light. Also, another big thing is that the media should focus the attention more on the ones that make positive influences on those who are disadvantaged (such as Mutumbo and Johnson as you mentioned in the OP) and less attention to the problems in the leagues (such as Randy Moss who somehow can hit a traffic cop while in his car with marajuana in it and not get charged with anything).

 

[DrBowtie]

Although it is hard to get into medical school, it is exponentially harder to get into the major pro sports. So....good luck with that.