LeBron James, Taylor Swift, Adele and Cam Newton all make well over double the most paid doctor, Salomon Melgen makes a year. Kylie Jenner makes 175 times more than the most paid police officers make. And NFL rookies, who make the lowest salary professional football players make, make ten times as much firefighters. What do all these people do to make so much more money? They are essentially entertainers, promoters for products, and they make their own products such as shoes, cosmetics, clothing, and more. So this means people who are essentially in jobs that are just for our entertainment are making that much more than people who are in careers that save people’s lives. The average college football coach makes ten times more than the average college professor. College professors are the one’s teaching us everything and leading us to our degree, yet they make that much less than coaches. Why are coaches held so much higher than professors? Professors are basically the reason we are in college, we want to end up with a degree, sports are supposed to come second but we’re basically telling people that sports are more important than classes.

But that’s not even the worst part. The people who are going to school to be doctors, social workers, teachers, nurses, are paying all this money to go to school to get a job that is paid extremely less than these athletes who are going to school for nothing. The people that are paying thousands and thousands of dollars, make well under ten times the amount of money professional athletes, who went to school for free make. How does that make sense? We’re basically telling people that you can spend all this money on a good education, to get a good job, that pays a decent amount of money, to be paid less than those who are going to school for free. Many people might say well you don’t know if these athletes are going to school for free. First off, if you’re playing a professional sport you were probably good enough in college to get a free ride. And even if they didn’t, their first year salary will be well enough to pay back those college loans.

Most people will never make the amount of money that the lowest paid professional athletes are paid. New York Giants wide receiver, Victor Cruz was making $43 million in 2014 but said it was tough because he should make more. I’m sorry but whose life did he save? Does he do surgery on people? Does he teach our youth Math, Science, English or anything for their future? No, he plays football and makes 1000 times as much as the average teacher makes. Ariana Grande made $29 million in 2016 and claims to be the “hardest working 23-year-old on Earth”. Most people becoming doctors enter medical school at about 23 which costs around $100,000, 4% of the United States population is in the military at 23 fighting for us, and Pichamon Yeophantong had her bachelor, master, and doctorate degree, could speak seven languages and was a Global Leaders Fellow at the age of 23, but Ariana Grande sings songs and works so much harder that she makes well over 25 times the amount of money these people will make in their lifetime.

So why exactly do we hold these people whose jobs are there to entertain us so much higher than the people that save lives and teach our youth? It honestly makes no sense. We praise these people and are inspired by people who play sports, sing songs, and prance around on a stage. What about the people who can barely put food on the table for their families even though they spent all day teaching children? What about the people who spend hours trying to save someone’s life? What about the people who are helping people with mental illness? They should be the ones we are praising. They should be the ones making 100 times more than athletes. They should be the ones saying they are the hardest working people in the world because they are. We need to step back and think, do we want our youth’s aspiration’s to be to grow up and help people? Or grow up and throw a ball for entertainment?