Here in Ann Arbor, Mich., we have been working on the achievement gap for years. After spending lots of money and moving kids and teachers around, we have made nary a dent in the problem. What is never said due to fear of sounding racial is that the ability to learn and reduce this gap starts when the child is a baby with the amount of intelligent interaction given the baby and in the following years the culture of learning that the child grows up experiencing.

The Asian population here does even better than the white kids, but no one seems to care about that gap. If the need to change the gap is to be an honest one, then maybe the intervention should start at the cradle. When people, white or black, have babies too young, or too close together, or have too many, those children suffer educationally. Are we willing to promote birth control or abstinence? No. Are we willing to limit the number of children in a home for the potential for better school scores later? No.

Face it, there is a limit to what better teachers, redistricting or pre-kindergarten programs can do if the culture from which these children spring does not encourage learning. No amount of legislation or fooling around with school buildings or teachers will change that. The best you can do is have a vigorous health and social studies program that emphasizes the evils of early parenthood and perpetual poverty.

— Katy Haygood

Ann Arbor, Mich.