Re: “Who’s Looking Out for Tiffany?” (10/31). Outstanding piece. Eloquent, insightful, and painfully truthful. On the subject of the zero-sum competition for academic resources for kids, I’m reminded of two stories I heard back to back on the radio business-news program Marketplace. The first was about how all the parents in an elementary school were being forced to contribute very significant money, goods, and labor if they wanted decent class sizes and good repair of the building—contributions parents had never been asked to make before. The other story was about how bond traders on Wall Street could expect to get $1-million bonuses this year. There’s something wrong with a system that pays people millions to move money around all day but can’t find the money to pay for good teachers and enriching activities for every child. And the fact that schools are now becoming financially dependent on parents means that the problem is getting worse instead of better.

Greenbelt, Md.

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