The Real Miracle in Texas
With the arrival of November's issue, I turned straight to "Texas' Big Test" by Jerry Jesness. The subject has been foremost in my political notebook since I first hired two Vocational Education Office girls in 1974, just 10 years after I graduated from a public Texas high school. I was dismayed to find that neither of these well-behaved high school seniors could even spell.
I appreciate Jesness' article. But he fails to point out the miracle in Houston's worst ghetto areas: Thaddeus Lott and the new charter schools. With nothing but opposition from the teachers union, the educrats, and all who support the status quo, Lott has risen above it all to create a system that now has teachers as well as students waiting in line to get in. Scores are consistently equal to or better than those of the richest districts in Houston, in all areas of study. (That might not be saying much, depending on where you place the bar, but at least they do that well.)
Jesness' article makes the case for more charter schools and for free choice and vouchers. The continued failure of the very schools he discusses -- after all we've done to turn them around -- is clear evidence that some schools will never turn around, no matter how hard you try, how much you test, how vigorously you pressure the establishment. I believe every child in Texas deserves a K-12 education at least equal to what San Antonio's illustrious Mayor Henry Cisneros had, and that was all private, all Catholic. Why not? It works.
Robert Bruce
Boerne, TX
Jerry Jesness replies: I agree with most everything in Robert Bruce's letter. Although I hope to have the opportunity someday to visit Thaddeus Lott's Wesley Elementary, I have no firsthand knowledge of his charter schools. Sources that I trust, however, speak well of them, so I am assuming that these schools represent one of too few bright spots in the Texas education system.
The two current trends in education reform are government-mandated standards, which are monitored with tests like the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills, and market-oriented reforms such as vouchers and charter schools. Although we should not unconditionally support the latter reforms -- any program can be badly implemented, and a badly implemented voucher program could damage public and private schools alike -- the Texas experience has shown us a serious weakness of the former. Schools and government agencies can succumb to the temptation to spin data in order to exaggerate their successes and mask their failures.
Practicing Privilege
I found the article "Attorney Privilege" by James Joseph (November) to be, as a lawyer might put it, "on point." In starting my own new business, I have been bewildered by the array of accounting, legal, banking, and financial services firms I must deal with -- separately. The only thing that has kept me sane is the fact that I am fortunate to have family business connections with firms in all these fields (including many of the firms Mr. Joseph mentions) and so have been able to put together a coherent team of advisers. I cannot imagine what the typical first-time entrepreneur without access to such services must go through in order to do the same.
Michael David Wolk
Boston, MA
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