Know the Score: Sports Aren’t the Only Way Out

I am an English teacher and a former track coach for inner-city boys and girls.

When I was coaching, I always checked the achievement scores of my athletes. I know that many black male students who dropped out of school had high scores. When I talked to them about this, they replied that they did not feel that the gift of intelligence was enough to overcome the handicap of being black in our society. I cited positive examples, but this could not counteract the feelings that they were gathering from everyday experience with the world.

I feel that your article has subtly reinforced doubts that those young people may have about the value of their intelligence. Both the coaches and the reporters neglected to investigate the intelligence of inner-city boys. They would have found that there are some gifted people out there. American society doesn’t need any more athletes, but the inner-city “brain drain” is a major loss for us.

GERI MINOTT

Cardiff