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Great article Mona. Have you perhaps ever heard of Stuyvesant High School in New York City? My alma mater (circa mid 90's) and strikingly similar to the school you refer to in Fairfax county. The numbers at my school were even more skewed in the way you speak: 60% Asian 30% White 2% Black & Hispanic 8% Other (Ditto: bless their hearts. I myself always identitfied as an other too...) Stuyvesant consistently ranks as one of, if not the top schools in the country. Entrance is based strictly on an exam (covering math, reading, writing, logic, etc...) and determines whether a prospective student gains entrance to one of NYC's three "specialty" high schools (Bronx Science & Brooklyn Tech being the other two lower on the tier, good schools as well). Literally tens of thousands of NYC 8th graders take this exam and they only accept approximately 700 people. It has nothing to do with grades, recommendations, money, lineage, neighborhood, class, race, gender (Stuyvesant is actually 55-60% Female typically, in case anyone cares). It's strictly if you can excel on this skills test (or not). We can debate the value of a single test being so important or recognize that not everyone is a good test taker (but may still be a good student). I think that can be put aside for the moment however and we can say that "merit" is the true goal of these top high schools. If it just so happens that Asians or females or whomever work harder, study harder, learn to take tests... then they deserve and have earned a chance at top flight (and incidentally free) education. Quit whining and study indeed! Get your kids off the computers, TV's, games, etc... and put a darn book in their hand. I didn't come from a rich family (or even middle class frankly), but I was encouraged to have a love of the written word from a young age. It started with the Daily News sports section (biggest 4 year old Yankee fan of course, but where you start is irrelevant) and continued with books such as the Narnia series, Judy Bloom, Beverly Clearly, et al.. til I was 11 years old, locked in a room (by choice) polishing off Stephen King's The Stand. I dont relate that to impress anyone, but rather I truly believe that if our kids read, our country succeeds. It opens up all the doors, gives you all the keys... and is pretty handy when taking scantronic bubbles tests too (hint, 2 answers are almost always obviously wrong). Reading is power, reading is fundamental. Whether its math, science, art, history, gym (ok, not gym maybe) it's a gift that'll serve you all your life. If some groups are underrepresented at these particular public schools, then we should take steps to improve circumstances in those communitys. Not lower the bar on merit. "Elite" is a dirty word in today's political climate, but none the less, elite is a good thing and should always remain where it belongs: at the top. The only question is can we get most or all of our kids there? I think yes... just ask the Japanese, Korean and Chinese kids who typically dominate our merit institutions. Thanks again for the interesting read Mona, keep it up! Cheers, Matt Biondo NYC