The members of Bethesda Elementary School's academic team know a lot when it comes to solving problems that test their ability to be creative, logical and spontaneous.

There's one thing they obviously don't know, though -- and we'd all better hope they never find out.

By excelling in an academic competition that included students from 94 schools throughout the area, the Durham students obviously don't realize -- yet -- that poor, black and Hispanic kids aren't supposed to possess intellectual curiosity or perform well under pressure.

As long as they stay ignorant of their limitations, they'll continue defying conventional wisdom, winning awards and confounding those who would rush to make excuses for them should they fail.

"Our kids don't care about that," said Tomeka Ward-Satterfield, a counselor at Bethesda who works with members of the school's Odyssey of the Mind teams. Adults, she said, "are the ones who focus on the fact that they're poor, or get free lunch or live in neighborhoods with gangs.

"The kids just figure, 'I'm a fifth-grade student; why shouldn't I learn this?' "

Learn it they do. A team from Bethesda won first place this month in the regional competition for the second straight year, and another team from the school finished third. In April, the first-place team will compete against schools from across the state.

"We're the only school that's predominantly African-American," Michelle Stott said while sitting in Principal Doris Walker's office this week. Stott, who teaches the academically gifted program at Bethesda, said not all of the team members are in that class.

"These kids are just dedicated. They want to rise above where they are now. I didn't know until last week," she said, "that one of my favorite kids lives in a very scary neighborhood. I asked them to write about their neighborhood. He said, 'You don't want to know.'

"When we started five years ago, the Odyssey of the Mind competition was pretty 'Caucasian,' " Stott said. "It's more diverse now, but we were still the only team with Quneishas and Naycias."

(Note: A team from Clayton had a Jamal and a Voneasha. Right on.)

Bethesda finished in last place and next-to-last its first two years. The members of the team that finished first this year are Kourtney Adams, Andrew Barksdale, Jaylan Rhea, Naycia Russell, Angel Santillan, Miraha Smith and Montana Walker.

Am I the only one disturbed at seeing black students over-represented whenever schools honor star athletes -- but missing in action when academic honors are handed out?

I didn't think so. That's why we should applaud the program Ward-Satterfield, Stott and fifth-grade teacher Avril Caldwell have over at Bethesda.

The team receives financial help from the school's PTA, individual teachers and the Bethesda Ruritan Club. It will need more for the trip to Boone next month. If you want to help, call the school at 560-3904.

Too bad Bethesda's the only elementary school in Durham with a team.

Perhaps that will change when adults start focusing less on where kids come from -- and more on where they want to go.