Student Achievement

As a teacher of high school English and English as a second language, I take strong issue with the conclusion of “Ethnic Gap Widens in SAT College Exam Scores” (Sept. 1), in which we are told: “American high schools are failing to provide minority high school students with enough rigorous courses to prepare them for college.” Once again, schools and teachers have become the whipping boys for the real source of the failure: students’ (and their parents’) failure to take individual, personal responsibility for their own education.

My ESL classes provide a classic example of this truism. With a mixture of mostly Hispanic students from strong, working-class families, I see a broad spectrum of achievement and failure. My students, working in cooperative learning groups, are equally challenged on a daily basis by a rigorous agenda of reading, writing, discussing, evaluating, composing, proofreading and peer-group editing in English. In five years of teaching this rigorous daily agenda, I have witnessed the entire spectrum of results, from rejoicing in the success of a girl with a perfect 100% average for an entire quarter to grieving over students with 40 absences, no homework turned in and a dismal 5% average. Most fall somewhere in between, but all have one thing in common: How much they learn and the grade they earn in my class are entirely dependent on how closely they observe the four rules posted on the wall: Come to class; pay attention; do your work; behave. Above those rules is a mirror, and when students complain about their lack of success in my class, I tell them to look in the mirror.

CHARLES HAIGH

Hawthorne High School

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Your article, which focuses on the “largest ethnic groups” and the widening gap on college entrance exams between whites and ethnic groups, ignores the substantial increase in SAT test scores during the same period of another ethnic group, Asian/Pacific Islander. Some of these groups also have challenges involving test-taking in the English language and other economic difficulties. With hard work, good study habits and commitment to education, acceptance to the UC colleges is a realistic possibility for any ethnic group.

ANN HAYMAN YOUNG

Los Angeles