Spending on Education

In response to “All Kids Deserve Good Schools,” editorial, Oct. 13:

I think the title of your editorial should have been “All Deserving Kids Need Good Schools.” If after nine grades of continuous education at the taxpayers’ expense a student shows no sign of taking advantage of free educational opportunities, then the right to attend high school should be suspended in favor of vocational training or no further secondary school at all.

Public high schools in Los Angeles, and in cities across the nation, no longer serve the purpose for which they were intended. They have become holding stations for thousands of students who are social misfits. These students attend school not because they want to but because they must. So let them leave school and go to work full-time as unskilled workers--if they can land a job. And if they can’t, then let them practice their antisocial behavior on their parents instead of upon conscientious fellow students and school staff.

MALCOLM GAFFNEY

Valencia