Ramirez on LAUSD

* As a teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District, I wish to protest Michael Ramirez’s Dec. 5 cartoon. Ramirez chose to depict all students who attend LAUSD as “doomed,” able only to work in a fast-food restaurant, while those who can afford private school are a “success,” drive a Mercedes, smoke big cigars and have the “doomed” folks as their waiters and servants.

I looked around my fourth-grade classroom today, to see who was “doomed.” Nobody seemed to be. All I saw was bright, capable students. I thought of my own son in public school, who is getting a solid education. I thought about all the kids I know who have gone through LAUSD and are now attending universities across the country. I thought about all the graduates of LAUSD who work in a multitude of jobs.

The only person who is “doomed” in this scenario is Ramirez, with his elitist and bigoted attitude. I give him an F for his cartooning style, content and artistic merit. Bashing kids is a pretty low and ugly way to make a living.

PHILIP BRIMBLE

Los Angeles