Scruton on Egalitarianism

Scruton’s peculiar logic astounds. He proposes that as a white, conservative intellectual in Britain he feels “scoffed at, harangued, and deprived. . . .” He employs some statistics from California schools to show what happens to people like himself when “disadvantaged minorities” (a term he does not accept) are given help and special treatment by educational institutions.

We must assume that Scruton would also reject the message in your lead editorial on the same day: With ethnic minorities in California approaching 50%, the alternative to special treatment of high-risk students, whatever their ethnic background, is frightening.

Scruton’s paranoia permits him to see a different world--one inhabited by any group less fortunate than himself--one with no blacks, no illiterates, no Palestinians, no Kurds. Let us hope that the “scoffing and haranguing” from which he suffers is fruitful and multiplies as other human beings move in the direction of solving the real problems in education.

JUNE MAGUIRE, Mission Viejo