First in Class Makes the Grade

With no intent to disparage the magnitude of their accomplishment, I could not help but notice the venues from which our four area Presidential Scholars hail (“4 Southland Teenagers to Receive Presidential Scholar Award From Bush,” May 28). Surely I am not the only one who noticed that the schools represented consist of one very expensive private school (Crossroads in Santa Monica), two from among the most economically exclusive enclaves in the Los Angeles area (San Marino High and Palos Verdes Peninsula High) and a fourth (Calabasas) that can hardly be characterized as a low-rent district. If the conclusion suggested by this sad state of affairs is not a commentary on the disparity in quality of education and, ultimately, access to opportunity via economic advantage, then perhaps George W. Bush’s path through Andover, Yale and Harvard Business School really was a merit-based ascent to the position for which the Presidential Scholar awards are named.

Brian Patrick Clarke

Burbank