Spending on Education

Kozol’s article was especially nostalgic. The New Trier Township High School that I knew 30 years ago was substantially as described in the article, always the envy of the other suburban schools as well as the Chicago schools, even though he describes a rebuilt school two miles from the old.

The old school at the time was bulging; my graduating class was close to 1,000. The physical setting was similar to many suburban high schools, but New Trier always stood out for excellence and the Chicago schools stood out for inferiority. We lived in Chicago through my second grade, but my parents had the foresight to get out of the city because of the schools. My sister and I benefited immensely.

My wife, a grade school teacher for 25 years, attributes the success of a school more to the level of interest of the parents than to their affluence or the setting of the school. The success then feeds on itself. Good teachers are attracted to the good schools; caring parents are attracted to the good school districts and provide the incentive and help that their children need for a successful education. This can change the worst of times into the best of times.

MICHAEL L. PERSHIN

Thousand Oaks