Aletter to a student i wonder if you will let a stranger say a word to you? i have heard that you are a young woman of some ability. i have heard that you are neglecting your school work because you have become hopeless of trying to do anything in the world. i am very sorry for this. how any human being whose fortune it is to live in these times should despair of life is almost unbelievable. and if that person is, as i am, of negro lineage with all the hopes and yearnings of millions of human souls dependent in some way on her striving, then her bitterness amounts to crime. there are in the u. s. today tens of thousands of black girls who would be happy to have the chance of educating themselves that you are neglecting. if you train yourself as you easily can, there are wonderful chances before you. you can join the ranks of 15,000 negro women teachers, of hundreds of nurses and physicians, of the growing number of clerks and stenographers. ignorance is a cure for nothing. get the very best training possible. the doors of opportunity will fly open before you. on the other hand every time a black person neglects a chance, it makes it harder for others of the race to get such a chance. do you want to cut off the chances of the boys and girls of tomorrow? adapted from a letter by w. e. b. du bois to an african-american girl, 1905. question: what is a possible reason for the girl's hopelessness? a. she thought she wasn't smart enough to go to college, so there was no point in studying. b. she couldn't go to school because she had to go to work to support her family. c. she had seen her race discriminated against in the workplace and elsewhere.