‘Different’

I read, with a great deal of interest, Bill Billiter’s article (Times, Jan. 24), “Chancellor Denies Giving Edge to Asians.” For the past 14 years, I’ve taught elementary school in Orange County. I’ve noticed, during that time, that my Asian students consistently stay at the top of their classes. I find this interesting especially in light of the bad press the public schools have received in the past few years. Why, if our schools are so bad, do these people do so well?

The answer lies, not in smaller classes or better paid teachers, but in the students themselves. Often, they come to school victims of poverty, language-handicapped and, many times, orphaned. Nevertheless, these children let nothing stop them from being their best.

I do not presume to know what makes these children so “different.” It behooves us all to question this phenomenon rather than finding excuses as to why our so called “normal” children so often fail to get an education in our public schools.

SHERRY WALKER

Laguna Beach