Mike Davis
Detroit, MI
Hans Eisenbeis replies: As Carl Pope undoubtedly knows, it's a most difficult exercise to convince Americans of the "butterfly in China" syndrome -- that what we do each day, individually, can have planetary impact. Maybe the "growing scientific consensus" will compel us to behave more thoughtfully and morally. In any case, it is just this side of nuts to suggest that Bangladesh's (and other developing nations') past, present, and future problems stem from global warming and industrialization, rather than chronic economic underdevelopment and its resulting poverty.
The point of my article was to explore the lure of the SUV itself, and precisely why it endures even though the vehicle is increasingly vilified in forums like The New Yorker and NPR's Car Talk. I'm not saying I disagree with their negative portrayal, just that it's kind of pointless until we explore some of the longstanding reasons why people -- lots and lots of people -- are attracted to such vehicles.
The good news is this: Car manufacturers, too, must juggle competing myths and demand-side mandates. While they continue to build luxury SUVs that meet draconian off-road specs (with no real point, since only 10 percent ever go off-road anyway), they're also making good on converting the 4X4 fantasy into a more responsible reality.
To wit, the massive new category of CUVs (crossover utility vehicles) such as the Ford Escape, the Toyota RAV, the Honda CRV, and many others. There's even word that Ford wants to build a hybrid CUV that uses an electrical system to double or triple gas mileage and reduce emissions by an equivalent amount. It's about time someone built a little environmental awareness into these alleged wilderness machines.
I'm neither a mechanic nor an automotive historian, as Mike Davis deftly points out. I found the research for this article slow going, because there are so few well-written or dependable histories out there. I relied too much on shop manuals and enthusiast publications, where enthusiasm tends to outpace accuracy. Academic histories of the automobile are virtually nonexistent.
I surely should have caught the glaring anachronism regarding the V-6 and V-8. Anyone who's ever lifted the hood on a classic car knows that most from this era were straights. The V-8 was relatively rare, and the V-6 was two decades away.
Stand and Deliver
It has always amazed me that it seemed no one was appalled by the destruction of Jaime Escalante's program at Garfield High School ("Stand and Deliver Revisited," July). I was cheering author Jerry Jesness until I came to the last page of his article.
There Jesness suggests that a standardized curriculum and tests would stifle a teacher like Escalante. On the contrary, if earlier grades had higher expectations, brought about by standardized curricula and accountability, then the number of academically prepared students in the pipeline might have been much larger. Perhaps Escalante wouldn't have had to fight so many battles and work so hard to build an exemplary program.
Jesness must realize that the A.P. Calculus course and exam, used to illustrate Escalante's success, is itself a standardized curriculum, and that A.P. tests constitute an accountability system. Why would the adoption of a standardized curriculum and assessment system (such as the A.P. exam) be good for Escalante's students at Garfield but bad for other children?
William Tarr Jr.
Sacramento, CA
Color Schemes
Richard Epstein's review of Glenn C. Loury's unpersuasive book The Anatomy of Racial Inequality ("Color Schemes," July) is appropriately negative. But Epstein makes some mistakes in his analysis of racial and ethnic preferences in public and private contexts.
Epstein would prefer a world in which private actors have freedom to discriminate on the basis of race and ethnicity. While we await Congress' repeal of civil rights laws, however, we in the real world must choose between two legal regimes: one in which all races are protected from private discrimination, and one in which discrimination against only some races is banned (and indeed where discrimination against the others is actually encouraged). The latter regime is unfair and unconstitutional -- as well as contrary to the statute that Congress passed -- and so we should prefer the former while Epstein does his lobbying.
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