‘I Decided’: New York Teen Baseball Star Refused to Accept Act of Racism At Private Prep School, He Chose to Leave In Response to Derogatory Comment About His Speed
A 16-year-old baseball phenom has transferred from an elite New Rochelle, New York, prep school to attend his local public school in his junior year. […]
So here's the deal: There are many Catholic high schools around the country that have several things in common. The level of offered education is quite high, based on SAT scores and whatnot; tuition is not quite as high as a posh private school, but it is a difficult pill to swallow for most parents. The schools do not actively RECRUIT athletes from the local public schools, but many of the schools ATTRACT athletes who are (a) athletically gifted, (b) NOT Catholic, and (c) poor. Being good folks, the administrators at the schools invite and accept these kids at reduced or no tuition, provide tutoring and special help as needed, and both the schools and the students benefit. The record of college acceptances and even scholarships is outstanding. The kid is SHOWCASED in an elite program that gets a lot of local and regional attention, he gets a better education than what is offered in the local government school, and the school benefits from the exposure of outstanding athletic teams.
Often the local public school coaches complain about the "unfair advantage" that the Catholic schools have because they have no actual geographical boundaries, and in effect, they recruit kids from all over.
The linked article describes the case of a Black kid who came to such a Catholic school. I don't personally know whether he is Catholic, or whether his parents were paying any tuition, but the averages tend to favor a negative response to each of those questions. Now, having been showcased at the Catholic school and earned a college scholarship, he experiences a vile and hurtful slur cast by a teacher who asked if he increased his foot speed by running from police. How he survived this verbal assault one can only guess.
He obviously had no choice but to leave the school. He claims to have undergone similar outrages before while at the school, and never got satisfaction from the administration of the school.
How nauseating. It was a mistake to accept the yoot in the first place. Accepting such kids is a fool's errand, and should be stopped. My own HS in Pittsburgh is another example of the phenomenon. I don't care for it. If they want to take poor kids out of the goodness of their hearts, they should do it on the basis of academic merit, not on whether they can play a fucking game.
