Paper writes story of star high school player's failure to graduate

And yes, the kid can play. Most scouts felt Wright more than held his own when he played against Jonathan Gray in the 2010 4A Division II final. His handiwork can be found on YouTube.

 

I touched on this elsewhere -- because those other kids were not treated as heroes for 12+ straight weeks in the fall.

I think you need to follow a story through to the end.

 

It's been out there since at least December that Wright would go to a JUCO due to eligibilty issues. And why does the story need to be followed through to the end? Does everyone do follow ups on the idiots who were good athletes but end up becoming dregs to society once they drop out of community college? It seems as if daydreaming to be the next Woodward and Bernstein, or Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams, gets in the way of common sense.

 

This information puts the story in a different light and it seems the paper had a potentially good human interest story and settled instead for overplaying a brief written with no compassion or understanding.

But every paper is accused of having biases against schools or cities.

 

That's such a lazy reason, based entirely on false equivalence.

 

Agreed with Ace. This does make it a different story. Every school, athlete or non-athlete, seems to have a couple of kids who are on the "five-year plan." Now not only do I still believe this is not A1, I wonder if it's news at all.

 

Clearly there is a lot more to story than what was written.

Can someone from Texas explain the proficiency exams that the kid did not pass. It sounds like a state requirement.

Sure sounds like the school did not help him much once his football eligibility was done.

 

If they were following his academics as part of the beat, maybe. But the sports section, being a -- gasp! -- sports section, should write sports stories about him, good or bad. If his academic problems keep him from playing BCS football this fall, then there's an obvious connection and you report it (and it appears they did). But not graduating in time does not affect his sports-playing future. If he doesn't pass that last test and he loses the JC opportunity, report THAT.

This wasn't good journalism. It might be acceptable on paper and it might not be libelous, but it's an anti-brite stuffed on the front page for very little redeeming value, and it gives the paper's enemies a pretty nice arrow to stick in their quiver.

Again, most papers do a graduation section where they list the graduates and possibly highlight some of the highest achievers. They don't list the dropouts or those who have to finish in summer school. It's an abstract inconsistency that doesn't translate when trying to change it in practice.

 

The fact that this kid has had the responsibility for his siblings in the wake of a tragedy makes me want to know more about how this year has been for him, on the field and then not being able to capitalize on the promise of his talent. It makes the brief on A1 seem more bizarre, but doesn't make me think it's a nonstory at all... Agree story needs to be followed to the end, with depth and sensitivity.

What this kid does with football is just part of it.

 

It's a story. Definitely a cautionary tale. The paper should follow up with this kid in July to see if he graduates and write about that. Then follow him through junior college and his D-I college. If the story stops here, then that is not very fair.

We had a kid who couldn't pass the TAAS (TAKS Test forerunner) test and had to go to a private high school to graduate from high school which cost him a season of football. He went to a Division I school on academic probation. He spent seven of eight semesters on the Dean's List while on probation and was Academic All Conference and All-Conference while on probation. He even graduated with honors while - you guessed it - on probation. He was diagnosed with a learning disability while in private school and he was just a bad standardized test taker. He was always eager to share his story with us because he thought it might help a kid with similar struggles.

There is also the story of the ugly side of standardized testing and how it keeps following you around like a Scarlet Letter, and the newspaper could follow up with that.

It sounds like this kid is trying to make a negative into a positive and I wish him the best of luck. He's still out there working to pass the test, and not quitting, which would be real easy for him to do.

 

Should we write about who he took or didn't take to the prom? Steamy expose on the time he got detention?

The flag says Sports. If it doesn't at least tangentially relate to sports, why the hell run it there? If his inability to graduate cost him a scholarship, write that story. If it doesn't change anything, why they hell do we care?

 

Bingo. Great point. With the kid as the central point of a larger enterprise piece reporting on how athletes face these tests or how these tests have held them back, it's a great story. But as is? No. The story as is lacks depth and is poorly written. It's almost like a brief.