Another school-reform path

It is with sadness and frustration that I read about privileged Princeton undergraduates taking up the cause of school reform (Campus Notebook, Nov. 16), which now has become synonymous with union-busting, standardized testing, charterization, and the diversion of taxpayer money into charters and vouchers that serve a select few. Training “a new generation of school-reform leaders” to spearhead Wall Street’s attack on teachers no doubt will provide lucrative and prestigious managerial positions for young Princeton alums, but it won’t do a thing for America’s underfunded and understaffed schools. 

As an alternative, I’d suggest that Princeton grads who want to make a difference should commit themselves to training real teachers, or better yet — since the pay and benefits are apparently so good — to spending 10 or 15 years themselves teaching in public schools.