Magnet School Controversy

I am a Anglo student at Palms Magnet Junior High School. According to your statistics, there are about 302 students per magnet, and 10,000 students waiting. To get all those students in magnets, the board of education would need to add 33 new magnets. A better idea (and a more economical one) is to expand the magnets and toughen entrance standards.

I agree with the district plan to reopen Osage and Parthenia schools as math and aerospace magnets. But the word magnet does not magically make a school a good one; teachers make the difference. Some teachers can double their pay by becoming janitors. Does that sound right? Standards to become a magnet teacher should be raised along with pay. With higher pay, more people will want to be teachers.

American needs intelligent leaders in the future. If no one is intelligent, we will not be a superpower. In fact, if we have stupid leaders, there may never be a future.

JOEL GAT

Los Angeles