USC Academy for Scholarships

Re “A Six-Year Test With High Stakes,” March 21:

Your article detailing the results of a comprehensive program challenging a selected group of average South-Central sixth-graders was profound. With an annual investment of only $2,000 per scholar, these children were enabled to pursue college at USC or other options that would not have ordinarily been open to them. This seems a small price to enhance the future of a child. The cost is much less than the price of incarceration for those whose options are so limited that their only choices might be gang membership or other antisocial behaviors that put them behind bars.

Underprivileged children and their parents require and deserve comprehensive supportive programs to facilitate the use of their full potential so that they can become productive, self-sufficient, satisfied adults and children. Positive growth can only occur with healthy assistance.

GLORIA SLOSBERG

Claremont

* What a thrill to read about the USC Academy. Here’s proof that we can modify lives by modifying environment. We don’t need to have cities filled with undereducated, unskilled, dissatisfied young people. We can make life better for everyone if, as a community, we change our priorities and commit our resources.

Why don’t we?

JEAN MUNSEE

Fountain Valley