Grammar Regained

The Times’ headline writer may be quicker at writing than at perceiving.

In her guest editorial (“Looking Back at High School: Band Was Great But Grammar Was Lost,” June 16), Nina Manzi emphasizes that at Clairemont High School she and others were encouraged to “learn the intricacies of the English language through practice in weekly essays, to be language’s masters and not its slaves.” On her and others who cared, grammar was not lost.

As one of the teachers who reveled in the pleasure of working with this student, I rush to defend both her report and the school’s reputation. Her writing, always lucid, developed in style during the three years I worked with her, and her understanding of structure in language grew as well.

Unlike the headline writer, Miss Manzi is one on whom little or nothing is lost; for her, Looking Back at High School: Band Was Great and So Was Grammar. And so was Miss Manzi.

JIM GROVE

San Diego