What I Tell These Young People Is,

A Culture In Which Guilt Is Automatically Assumed To Be Neurotic And Unhealthy Has Devised A Remarkably Clever Way Of Protecting Its Self-interest.

If You Grow Up In The South Bronx Today Or In South-central Los Angeles Or Pittsburgh Or Philadelphia, You Quickly Come To Understand That You Have Been Set Apart And That There's No Will In This Society To Bring You Back Into The Mainstream.

You Have To Remember. . .that For This Little Boy Whom You Have Met, His Life Is Just As Important To Him, As Your Life Is To You. No Matter How Insufficient Or How Shabby It May Seem To Some, It Is The Only One He Has.

I Do Get Scared About The Physical Danger From Drug Dealers. But It's Not In The Same League As The Danger I Feel Eating An $80 Lunch With My Privileged Friends To Discuss Hunger And Poverty. That's When My Soul Feels Imperiled.

If We Allow Public Funds To Be Used To Support Our Relatively Benign, Morally Grounded Schools, We Will Have To Allow Those Public Funds To Be Used For Any Type Of Private School.