Arlington — To the Editor:
Re: Editorial on “Separate and Unequal?” (July 25).
“Do we believe that poor students are less talented than students from wealthier families?”
Not innately less talented, however they don’t reach their full potential for the reasons mentioned in the later paragraph of your article. This should come as no surprise considering their home environment includes overworked parents that have “no time” to micromanage a student, and no resources to hire a tutor. The stereotypical Asian “Tiger Mom” is not just a stereotype, in my experience Asian culture fosters them and they exist commonly. The persistent encouragement for success from such a parent is likely behind the large Asian representation at TJ. Having tutored a disadvantaged Hispanic student for the first time last year I noted he had access to cable TV and both the latest Xbox and Playstation gaming systems (all the distractions of a wealthier student) but lacked the encouragement from his mother (a single parent household) to reach academic excellence. This was an unfortunate combination.
So that explains the reasons for disparity as I see it, and to balance the demographics at schools like TJ one needs to address the core reasons these students are not reaching their potential, not enact some quota to achieve a balanced student body. No one is going to remedy the wealth disparity or force changes in parenting overnight, so the racial and economic divides will persist. That said, I firmly believe there should always be top schools that ignore all factors beyond student achievement. If this results in a less diverse student body then so be it, they are elite schools for a reason.
Daniel Bronson
Arlington