Letters in the New York Times today respond to Monday's story about ex-Manhattanite parents putting their kids into private schools. One letter (from Walt Gardner, a former Los Angeles teacher who seems to get a letter in the Times about 20 times a year) says that the critical factor in the quality of schools is not the teaching, the curriculum, the sense of purpose, the quality of the learning environment or anything else that the educators are responsible for. No, the critical factor is the parents and the size of their pocketbooks. So, by that logic, the private schools in Scarsdale and other high-end suburbs will be "better" because the parents who put their kids in the private schools have the money to do so.

Another letter from a parent in Short Hills, N.J. (another high-end suburb) reports that when the writer's daughter was out sick he e-mailed two of her teachers for homework help and one responded immediately electronically and the other called. A good story for the Times and other journalists would look at all the ways that electronic communications are changing (and improving) the interaction between parents and teachers.