Golf, the Sport of Equals

Until recently, the only time most Monroe High School students spent on the greens was amid the windmills and fairy castles of the local miniature golf course. But construction of a $12,000 driving range and putting green at the North Hills school has exposed students to the joys of the links--and given many a chip shot at success.

It may seem an odd place to build a golf center--at a campus where one-third of the kids are first-generation English speakers and most hail from poorer neighborhoods in the northeast San Fernando Valley. But that’s what makes it so perfect.

Long considered a sport of the rich, the old and the white, golf has enjoyed a boost among younger players who watch the young phenomenon Tiger Woods break stereotypes about color and age. Even so, golf remains most popular among the rich. Among families making less than $15,000 annually, it hardly registers.

For the students at Monroe, golf becomes an equalizer, a sport they can play long after graduation, a sport that gives them an “in” with prospective employers. It’s one of many unlikely extras--including fencing and chess clubs--that have helped cut Monroe’s dropout rate 25% in just two years. That’s an academic birdie.