Advice on Area Schools Doesn't Pass Laugh Test

(By Julie Zhu -- Montgomery Blair High School)

Dear Extra Credit:

It's unreasonable to expect a newspaper columnist to declare which D.C. area public schools are the best. There are hundreds of schools and an infinite number of variables. Any judgment you make is sure to offend good people doing work in tough circumstances.

Perhaps, then, you should just not print, or respond to, letters that ask you to make those judgments. That would certainly be a better choice than declaring, as you did in your April 5 column, in response to a parent moving to the area from Kansas and hungry for honest advice, that her children would be well served by any school in Northern Virginia -- "And the same goes for most of the rest of the Washington area."

Countless decisions parents have to make, from where to live to what careers to pursue (to provide the income to make choices), would be a lot easier if what you say were true. Sadly -- tragically, in the case of some area schools -- the statement does not pass the laugh test. No informed local resident believes what you assert -- including, I'm quite sure, you.

That letter and response marked the column's debut in my Prince George's Extra. What a strange note to begin on.

Chris Shea

Hyattsville

I grant you, my statement sounds both stupid and arrogant. There are many occasions when I am guilty of both charges. But in this case I think I am right, and I have data to back me up.