Smart Jocks

I was reading an article yesterday about a top high school basketball player declaring where he was going to college. In the article the writer mentions that the young man has a 4.3 g.p.a. Based on that small piece of information I knew their would be some racist comments made and I was correct. Apparently some people don't realize that it is possible to obtain something higher than a 4.0 in high school. Obviously they weren't taking AP classes.

Here's a story about a young man who has athletic prowess and intelligence and yet instead of being honored for that he is condemned by ignorant people who obviously have some personal; issues they need to work on. If the player had been white, there would not have been any comments made about him getting people to do his work or any other idiotic comment. When will people accept that there are intelligent black people who excel at sports. Its not an either/or situation.

Yes our school system has failed so many black athletes simply because all they cared about was the money the kid would bring to the school and not about educating him/her. However, there are exceptions. Black children often feel as if it;s an either/or situation and it is up to us as parents and teachers and friends to help them see that it doesn't have to be that way.

Another comment that irked me was how people questioned his decision to attend a basketball school rather than attempt to attend an ivy league school. I don't think there is a right or wrong decision. Obviously the kid wants to go to the NBA and make a crap load of money. Can you blame him? He probably didn't grow up in the best of neighborhoods and every little hood boy dreams of buying his mother a big ole house. Attending an Ivy League school would have been great also on one level. People bestow a lot of credence on a degree from an Ivy League school which I don't necessarily agree with but that's another post. I made a decision not to attend an Ivy League school. It's a personal decision that one makes for himself. Sure there are people who would kill to attend Harvard, (literally) but not everyone is a could fit for Ivy League. Why can't we just be happy that the young man obviously has a good head on his shoulder and hope that he takes that basketball scholarship and get an education with it.