Money for Schools

Yes, I care about the deplorable dropout rate in our San Diego high schools (“Where Is the Public Outcry for Black Students,” March 11). The dropout rate is a disgrace.

It could be improved, certainly, with sufficient funding for smaller classes and for more counselors. But we have both a president and a governor who talk about education but do not give it any priority when it comes to funding.

President Bush came to California recently, but he did not promise more federal funding for schools. Instead, he dedicated a prison and spent the balance of his time raising money for Republican political candidates. Nor did he talk about the inner cities and the lack of decent housing for low-income families, a lack which contributes to the failures in our schools.

A few days after he left, another nuclear weapons test took place in Nevada, a wasteful display of power in this period of thawing of superpower animosity. Nuclear weapons tests cost approximately $60 million a throw. Why not use this kind of money for education and housing?

I’m still looking for the “kinder, gentler” America that George Bush promised us.

PHYLLIS C. HUMPHREY

San Diego