Outlook for Poor Children

* Re “Children’s Survey has Bleak News,” Nov. 26:

For the most part, rich people don’t become rich by accident and poor people don’t become poor by accident.

We lost the war on poverty because we did not declare war on irresponsible behavior. This is not a moral question; it is an economic one. Start in grade schools. Tell children: No, it’s not OK to make babies you have no intention of supporting without taxpayer help. No, it’s not OK to have more children than you can support without government handouts. No, it’s not OK to make love then make tracks; no, you are not a macho man if you can get girls pregnant, then take a powder.

ANNIE CAROLINE SCHULER

West Hollywood