Letters

IN WEBSTER GROVES

"The stark resemblances between Webster and my high school lead me to conclude that we are fine, thank you very much." CLINT MARTIN, age 18 Magnolia, Ala.

I was excited to see Nancy Gibbs refer to schools as "looking in a mirror, under bright lights" [SPECIAL REPORT, Oct. 25]. It is true that kids have not changed. We as a society have. It is preposterous to believe that teenagers, adolescents and children are capable of determining their own distinct culture. They merely mirror the thoughts, ideas, attitudes and actions of adults--especially parents. Schools are the showcase displaying what our kids have learned--not only from teachers but from all of us. MATTHEW A. WERNER Union Mills, Ind.

After 40 years in public education, 10 as a high school principal, I believe I have some insight into a contemporary high school. You have provided your readers with an absolutely accurate picture of a very typical high school, without exaggeration or minimization. By including the full cast of participants--students, parents, teachers, administrators, support staff and outside interest groups--you have made very clear the diverse pressures that are inherent in every public high school. Thank you for illuminating a very complex social/educational institution. EDWARD A. WEST Fairview, Ore.

I am upset because the TIME team focused on the minority rather than the majority of the kids at Webster High. Every night my son has at least one to two hours of homework, as well as some kind of music practice at school. The teachers are all involved in extra activities with the children. And what about the parents? You made it seem as if we don't exist. Parent participation is very visible. A few of the stories talked about the Webster school I know. The rest seemed like just trying to find dirt. You lost who and what Webster is all about. CARRIE FLICK Webster Groves, Mo.

I am a sophomore at a high school much like the one featured in your article, and would like to commend you on a job well done. Your team of journalists made sense in a week of the bizarre world of high school. To your great credit, you unmasked many of the problems in American schools--persecution by administrators of people who "don't fit in," a quickness to medicate anyone with a problem--along with many of the concerns of my parents' generation (alcohol and drug abuse, premarital sex). GEOFFREY HUGHES Winston-Salem, N.C.

As a teacher reading this article, I wasn't surprised by the diversity of the student body. Rather, it was the message that came across from the administration and staff: little or no homework because few do it anyway. "They can learn in class even if they aren't doing homework"--what educational philosophy is this? College preparation or adolescent latchkey? Just keep the kids in school (especially the blacks). They're money in the bank. Cha-ching. Typical high school. What a joke! JAMES R. DE LUCA St. Louis, Mo.

I'm no Dr. Laura devotee, but as I read your article, I could hear the ranting and raving she would have for Webster Groves. Parents "allowing" kids to live as a married couple; Mama and her bowl of condoms. I'm not that old, but my high school sure wasn't like this. Could we send the adults back to school? I think we need a refresher called Parenting 101. LOUISE SIMSON Burlingame, Calif.

If Webster High represents the American high school, and I sincerely hope it does not, we are in deep trouble. This school is about everything except education. The pictures of students either sleeping or comatose in class speak volumes. If this is typical, there is no hope. It sounds as if the teachers are caretakers rather than educators. By declaring that Webster is typical, TIME does a disservice to schools across the country that are educating students. GEORGE CONKLIN Riverhead, N.Y. In the post-Littleton era, teachers and administrators no longer look the other way. Students begin to realize that cruelty has consequences. Gym class no longer means a risk of physical assault whenever the coach isn't looking. Cries for help are finally being listened to. Humanity begins to shine a feeble light down the corridors of what to many students has felt like a concentration camp run by sadists. No wonder all the disenfranchised kids in high school feel safer! It's not about metal detectors and searches--it's about finally stopping the bullies. STEPHEN KROH Dallas

Webster Groves students' approach to romance may puzzle their parents, but it is familiar to any student of anthropology. Childhood friendships that naturally flow into sex as girls and boys mature are a common pattern in tribal societies, in which everyone knows everyone else and sexuality is taken in stride. So are sexual practices designed to avoid pregnancy, and a lack of desire to spend time with one's partner to the exclusion of other young people--just as at Webster Groves. Dating is a modern invention, which makes sense only among large groups of people who do not know each other very well and/or denounce premarital "experimentation." MARK VORONTZOV Brookline, Mass.

Except for the security guard roaming the hallways and the extended vigil kept by the staff, the environment described in your article is very reminiscent of what I remember from the early '80s. Kids are kids wherever you go. They just need a little more protection these days--sometimes from themselves. I am glad to see that Webster Groves High is trying to be proactive without creating a police state within the school. STACY DURAN GOLDEN Valley Village, Calif.

I found the statistics for academic achievement among Webster Groves' African-American students particularly disheartening. It is very sad that the school would place the academic success of its black students, particularly its star athlete, so low. Athletes are to be thanked for the many hours of enjoyment they bring us. Our greatest achievements, however, have been directed by those who possess powerful analytical skills for critiquing both our culture and the nature of man's existence. Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X--none of these men came to prominence by way of athletics. They wielded great intellect and organized passion. We must make the creation of great minds our charge and our goal. "A mind is a terrible thing to waste." DARRELL DORSEY Los Angeles

OTHER STORIES TO TELL

Since the tragedy at Littleton, people have been searching for indicators that identify "troubled teens," such as black clothes, "hard" music, dyed hair and body piercing [SPECIAL REPORT, Oct. 25]. When will people realize that subscribing to such stereotypes will only exacerbate the problems already present in our high schools? I have dyed my hair many times since I began my freshman year. I have a nose ring, and I enjoy wearing black clothes. I also have a 3.88 G.P.A. We should be focusing our diagnostic attentions on the problematic sources that lurk at levels far below the superficiality of clothing and hair color. SARAH GORDON Bellevue, Wash.

Students at my school are members of the Youth Coalition and Hands Are Not for Hitting, as well as gay-straight alliances. One friend is starting a program to help needy children, and another volunteers as a translator at a low-income medical clinic. Last summer I spent eight weeks in Latin America as a public health worker. Yes, a lot of teenagers do use drugs, need antidepressants and flunk out of school. But what about the rest of us? Why not pay attention to the simple, progressive things teenagers are doing? Have a little faith in the up-and-coming generation. ERIKA LINDEN Capitola, Calif.

VEIL OF ARTIFICE

Larry Sirinsky's comments concerning Dutch, Edmund Morris' biography of Ronald Reagan, reflect a common confusion about the nature of fact vs. fiction [LETTERS, Oct. 25]. As a bookseller, I face similar misconceptions from the reading public every day. As a student of history, I have long pondered the line between fact and fiction. And as a writer of fiction, I have crossed that line innumerable times. Sirinsky says, "The interweaving of fact and fiction has no place in a biography." That's fine if you imagine that biographies are by and large truthful. They are not. As anyone who has ever attempted to write a "true" account of an actual event knows, the very act of putting pen to paper creates a veil of artifice that is drawn over the subject in question. If anything, Morris' technique strikes me as honest. He views his subject through the veil of fiction. It is truth that has no place in a biography. History is a consensual lie. ALEXANDER M. STERN Rochester, N.Y.

TRICK OR TREATY?

Critics of the Senate's rejection of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty have their head in the sand [NATION, Oct. 25]. We have not used nuclear weapons in more than 54 years, and we need not use them if we maintain Ronald Reagan's very simple, commonsense strategy whereby we will always be the biggest, fairest kid on the block. ROBERT H. BICKMEYER Troy, Mich.

A defeat of the Test-Ban Treaty affects our nation's economy as well as our national security. Without strong international controls on proliferation, to which the treaty can contribute, there will be limited trade in the peaceful uses of nuclear technology. This multibillion-dollar industry has become important to the U.S. in many areas, including energy, medical uses and industrial applications. We need to have the maximum number of U.S. government-supported controls on weapons development. This will increase our security and our level of comfort with the continuing trade in and information exchange on the peaceful uses of nuclear science. Both of these are important to the entire world as we enter the new millennium. EDWARD (TED) L. QUINN Laguna Niguel, Calif.

AT THE HEART OF TOYS

TIME suffers from the same vision problem as the toy industry when it inadvertently elevates Eric Johnson, "professor of management at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business," to the level of toy expert [BUSINESS, Oct. 25]. As an independent toy designer, I believe emotion is the true heart of all toys. To become healthy again, the industry must return control to the real experts, the entrepreneurs, inventors and designers who are intrinsically connected to this emotional dimension. As long as the M.B.A.s hold the toy-industry reins and the stock market is God, Toys "R" Us will remain a boring place to shop, and our children will continue to be the big losers. TIM EFFLER S.O.E.D.A., Inc. Cincinnati, Ohio

THE ECO-MOGULS

You have to give Douglas Durst credit for building a very interesting skyscraper [HEROES FOR THE PLANET, Oct. 18]. If builders can construct more of these environmentally friendly buildings, it would reduce the energy used in cities, thus saving our natural resources. ADAM J. TREXLER Columbia, Ill.

Developer Douglas Durst built an amazing structure over Times Square. I thought it was the best-looking building I'd ever seen. I agree that the architecture of the '90s going into the 21st century is supposed to show some style. GREGORY GERMAN, AGE 11 Brookline, Mass.

Many important people in the world don't care about the environment as long as they make money. We need to realize that if we keep polluting our environment, it won't be worth living in. ERIC S. STECHMESSER Columbia, Ill.

QUEEN OF THE HOARD

Martha Stewart's success may be due to a keen business mind [NOTEBOOK, Nov. 1], but I'd say it's because she never discards anything. Once she told us not to toss the toilet-paper roll because it would make a dandy bird toy. Next I fear she'll say, "Wait, don't flush..." TOM MURRAY San Luis Obispo, Calif.