— Dr. Donald H. Smith
Professor and Associate Provost (Emeritus)
Baruch College, CUNY

Making ‘Equal Opportunity’ Work for Everyone
(“Perspectives: Abandoning Brown and ‘[Race]ing’ Backwards on K-12 Education�July 19, 2007; www.diverseeducation.com)

Justice Roberts had it right when he said, “the way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.� Clarence Thomas took his view of desegregation even further, showing that he felt insulted that so many people believe that the only way a minority student can get a good education is by sitting near Caucasian students.

I concur. I believe that all schools should be held to the same standards of academic excellence and adequate funding no matter what the student body looks like or how much money the average child’s household brings in.

— Lloyd Hansen

Native Role Models for Native Students
(“Best & Brightest: Obligation To Native
Culture, Community Fuels Academic Drive,� July 19, 2007; www.diverseeducation.com)

This is a good story. Encouraging education (at all grade levels) for reservation American Indians from reservation American Indian role models is what we need more of. However, the poisoning of precious resources, such as water, requires educating impressionable minds of the people who will grow up one day and be faced with this decision. Upon my experience with public educators of non-Native Americans, our schools are woefully lacking in the following manner: No or little exposure to “how reservation American Indians see Mother Earth and what challenges they face.�

— David Coronel