THE END OF INTEGRATION

We are all Americans, not African Americans or white Americans but just American brothers and sisters living together in the same country [NATION, April 29]. Kids going to school, any school, are America's kids. We need to try to give them the same education, no matter how much money their parents make or what what color their skin is. Until we can look at ourselves and recognize this truth, we will never be able to make things better. BRIAN THOMAS Virginia Beach, Virginia

You repeat Kenneth Clark's question, "If they're going to be equal, why are they separate?" My answer is simple: If people of different races and cultures wish to maintain their own distinct identity, they should be allowed separate schools. Of course there still needs to be equality in levels of resources. Integration can be obtained only in exchange for sacrifices in cultural identity. For many individuals and for many culture groups, that price is too great. The costs of integration are not spread evenly; it is the dominated minority cultures that must do most of the adapting. It is absurd to homogenize all schools and thus suppress the cultural richness of society for no reason other than to create the appearance of equality. We need to respect and honor differences, not try to melt them away. GEORGE KENT Honolulu

I am sick of reading about desegregation programs designed to entice those privileged white children back into the very neighborhoods their parents abandoned. Let's see programs that upgrade every city school to meet or surpass the physical and academic standards of the best of the suburban public schools. Next let's end the court-ordered busing. Then we'll see how many white parents who have used education as their excuse for fleeing to the suburbs move back into the city. After all, that way their children could live in the multicultural environment they claim they want. Just don't hold your breath while you wait. We will not have integration in the schools until we have integration in the neighborhoods. We will not have integration in the neighborhoods until we end racism. Racism costs society; society should pay for the damage. AGNES MCKERNAN St. Louis, Missouri Via E-mail

I applaud the end of school integration. Children should go to neighborhood schools. My six youngsters were bused 15 miles to classrooms where children were grouped by their achievement and skills. The result was that black and white children were separated anyway, for the most part. Before the busing was implemented, the local schools were 30% black; all busing achieved was to make them 50% black. Housing is the key to natural school integration. NICK RUSHAY Newport News, Virginia Via E-mail

Middle-class whites (and blacks too) are running not from skin color but from a particular behavior. We are only guilty of loving our children so much that we will not allow them to be around weapons, gangs, hate-filled kids using speech peppered with four-letter words, and total disrespect for teachers. We want our children to learn in a positive environment, and will do whatever is humanly possible, even borrow money, to make sure they can. THERESA GANGLER Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

The schools white and black children attend in the U.S. remain not only separate but horrifyingly unequal. In most of America's cities, there has been no influx of money for nonwhite children; Kansas City, Missouri, is a notable exception. Youngsters continue to attend school in ugly, decrepit buildings that mock the educational process. Classes are taught in closets, in gymnasiums and in rooms with crumbling ceilings. There are brilliant students and some excellent and dedicated teachers in these schools. The youngsters' talent and ambition, however, are quashed by the depressing environment in which they must study. The de facto segregation that exists in schools today is more brutal and makes them more unequal than the segregation of yesterday. MATTHEW AMSTER-BURTON Seattle Via E-mail

Most of us, black and white alike, are racists. I see this every day as a teacher in a high school. If I discipline a black student, a response I frequently hear is, "It's because I'm black." Well, maybe it is. Because I am white, the only value system I know how to teach is "white.' While I enjoy having students who come from a variety of backgrounds, I expect behavior culturally appropriate to a learning environment. That is my bias. LAURA MOE Zanesville, Ohio

Whether a school is all white, all black or integrated, the courses remain the same. Reading is reading, math is math, and science is science. It is not the predominant color of the students that matters; it is the pursuit of knowledge. A lack of ambition and an unwillingness to learn won't earn a high school diploma in any school. BUTCH MCCAMY Columbus, Georgia

It was a pleasure to see my niece Jessica Marie Ryan on your cover. I see many things in Jessica's photograph, especially her late grandfather's eyes, eyes that had the ability to look deep into a person's soul and assess what was there. Jessica's skin color is a product of our global society. Not only is she African American, but she is also of Irish, Polish and Cherokee descent. It was wonderful to see her image used in such a poignant way to illustrate a critical issue. VICTORIA RYAN-BAILEY St. Louis, Missouri

SNAP, CRACKLE, CRUNCH

In your story on the price of breakfast cereals [BUSINESS, April 29], a company executive says, "People are predisposed to buy the cereal they prefer. Why should we do anything?" He might want to come grocery shopping with our family. Once the cost of a box of cereal rose above $4 a pound, we discovered that we prefer muffins, pancakes and scrambled eggs. Only when I can use coupons and buy on sale, so the price is below $2 a pound, do I buy cereal. Today I purchased three 17.2-oz. boxes of shredded wheat on sale for $1.35 each. I used coupons to bring the cost down to 35' a box. Then at the cash register, I got another coupon for $1.50 off my next purchase. Hurrah for the cereal wars! I'm ready for battle! KATHLEEN WILLIAMS Baltimore, Maryland Via E-mail

At last the cereal killer has been identified: it's the companies themselves that made unreasonable price increases. ARNOLD THURM Stamford, Connecticut

CITY IN RUINS

Margaret Carlson's article about Washington, "District of Calamity" [NATION, April 29], was a concise litany of the District of Columbia's saga of failure and mismanagement. The root cause of these deplorable circumstances is not just the mismanagement of Mayor Marion Barry, nor is it the lack of sufficient revenue. Rather it is a misguided belief in the fundamental role of government. The city has gone broke trying to create the quintessential welfare state when it should have been plowing the snow, picking up the trash, ensuring the safety of its drinking water and giving the next generation a decent education. Until the city's leaders abandon their Great Society mind-set, little will change in the "District of Calamity." THOMAS N. EDMONDS Washington

Spare no pity for district residents and their pothole woes. They've brought this disgrace upon themselves by continuing to elect incompetent, corrupt politicians who seem unable to comprehend the sacred trust placed in them as custodians of our national capital. CAROLYN HOROWITZ Camp Hill, Pennsylvania

QUARANTINED FOR SAFETY

Your article on the Texas Primate Center here in Alice, Texas [MEDICINE, April 29], reported on the strain of Ebola virus that infected monkeys shipped from the Philippines. However, you failed to note that as required by federal and state health guidelines, the monkeys had already been quarantined prior to the discovery of the virus. The staff, owners and operators of the primate center deserve credit for their professional, efficient and safe handling of the incident. DAVE CICH, Executive Vice President Chamber of Commerce Alice, Texas

WRATH AND BLOOD

Although I understand why many are angry with Israel for killing Lebanese citizens [WORLD, April 29], I feel that many have forgotten it was Hizballah that, after first firing into Israel, chose to hide behind its own countrymen. JACOB NELSON LURIE Greenwood Village, Colorado

After two decades of blood and death, a war longer than both world wars combined, we Lebanese finally dared hope for a brighter future for our nation and progeny. We cannot psychologically or emotionally endure any more. Now the Israelis have crushed our fragile, newfound sense of security. The horrifying, familiar sounds of missiles and bombs are echoing round Beirut again. Nearly half a million Lebanese civilians have been forced to flee their homes, and the blood of hundreds of innocents is being spilled. While the methods employed by Hizballah aren't exemplary, the fact remains that it is the only resistance to the illegitimate Israeli occupation in southern Lebanon. DANA BEYDOUN Beirut Via E-mail

Hizballah uses civilians as shields. Its terrorists live in schools and hospitals and launch their missiles from their cover, knowing that Israel does not like to bomb schools and hospitals. Ambulances flying white flags are used to ferry men and supplies. The regrettable shelling of a U.N. shelter is typical. But there are questions to be asked: Why didn't U.N. troops prevent the terrorists from using their camp as a firebase? Why didn't the civilians stop the terrorists from using them as human shields? At the very least, Israel should be commended for giving warning to the villages and letting the civilians have a grace period of several hours to pack their belongings and leave. DAVID HOLTZER Negev, Israel Via E-mail

While Israel may have the right to defend itself, neither it nor any other country has the right to kill innocent civilians. Its actions put it on a par with Hizballah's bombers. LUIS DAS SERRADAS VIEIRA Parede, Portugal

What I find most shocking about Israel's latest hostilities against Lebanon is that they could be an attempt by Prime Minister Shimon Peres to increase his chances of winning Israel's next parliamentary elections. That this bloody attack on civilians should satisfy the Israeli voters tells us much about the nature of Israel. For a people who are supposed to be fleeing from genocide and racism, they seem to have a very strange attitude toward their neighbors. It is sad that countries that claim to have a genuine democratic system, like the U.S. and Britain, support such blatant acts of aggression. The Israeli raids are not a military operation against Hizballah but a vicious attack on Lebanese citizens and the Lebanese economy. KARL SHARRO Beirut

Allied forces that bombed Europe during World War II killed innocent civilians of many nationalities; the responsibility for their deaths lies fully with the Nazi regime. During the Persian Gulf War, American forces killed innocent Iraqi civilians, and Iraqis continue to die as a direct consequence of the American-sponsored economic boycott. The responsibility for their deaths lies fully with Saddam Hussein and his men. Israeli forces have killed innocent civilians in Lebanon; the responsibility for their deaths lies fully with Hizballah, its Syrian and Iranian sponsors and the regime in Lebanon. BENJAMIN REISER Haifa, Israel

Israel mercilessly kills women and children and then blames the victims themselves for their ghastly deaths because they refused to yield to Israeli threats and leave their homes and their land. A people who never allow the Holocaust to be forgotten now find it "acceptable" to murder as horrendously as the Nazis murdered them. SAFA JAWAD MEKKAOUI Saida, Lebanon

Here in Israel the population was shocked and saddened by the terrible disaster in Qana, and nobody danced with joy, as Palestinians did after a "successful attack" on an Israeli commuter bus. And the officer responsible will be called to account, not made a hero. That's the difference. RUTH FALK Haifa, Israel

Are there no limits to how far Israel and the world are prepared to go to safeguard Israel's sacred-cow security? Whether it is compassion or simply a stand-fast-by-an-ally determination, isn't it time the West's adoration of Israel took a dose of reality? For a semblance of peace and justice to exist, all nations' rights to security, and the lives of both Jews and Arabs, have to be equally recognized, and protected. RAJA KHOURI Scarborough,Ontario

I couldn't stand looking at the maimed bodies of the innocent civilians in your photographs. Of course Israel is right in seeking to nip in the bud terrorism and suicide bombings. Nothing, however, can justify such brutal and blind attacks by Israel against Lebanon. Get those gangsters from Hizballah, but spare other people's blood. SLAVA YURTSABA Kiev

WHY THE GERMANS?

How could Daniel Goldhagen in his book Hitler's Willing Executioners, Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust [BOOKS, April 1] come to the conclusion that Germans are the only ones capable of such atrocities as the Holocaust? Not to belittle the World War II experience in any way, but when Rwandans butcher half a million of their own, and when the pictures of concentration-camp prisoners from Germany look quite similar to photographs from Bosnia, it appears this is not just a Teutonic aberration. MIKE MITCHELL Szentendre, Hungary Via E-mail

I am a 24-year-old German student of history, and I would like to say it is just not true that Germans today spend their lives avoiding the problem of Nazism. Many of the facts presented by Goldhagen in his book have been known in Germany for some years and have led to heated and prolonged discussions in the media. The younger generation in Germany today are not blind to the sins of their forefathers. Growing up in this country means living in constant awareness of the crimes and aberrations of the recent past. After all, it is our parents and grandparents who are concerned, and believe me, we have tried harder to understand them than anybody else has. It is our responsibility, more than anyone's, to prevent any further horrors of that kind in the future. IRJA FROHLING Wurzburg, Germany

History should teach us to improve our positive points as well as learn from negative events. People sometimes seem to forget that there is much more to German history than the 12 years of Hitler's dictatorship. Besides neglecting centuries of great history and German achievements, some observers do not view these 12 years objectively. It seems as if people even in Germany think Germans have to feel guilty forever. No post-war German can be expected to feel responsible or even guilty for something he or she had no chance to prevent. For the most part, we can be proud of our country and our history; our only responsibility is not to let a genocide happen again anywhere. HENNING TABBERT Usingen, Germany

Police on wartime duty in occupied territories, unless restrained by their governments, tend to become overzealous and conduct themselves with murderous brutality. This unpleasant fact should not be laid at the doorstep of any particular nationality. Goldhagen trivializes the Holocaust and plays into the hands of Nazism when he blames German culture for the mass murder of Jews during World War II. Hitler and his associates were skilled terrorists who held the German people hostage through a combination of hope, guilt, deception and fear. Surely these men were vicious criminals and not just ordinary folks. CINNA LOMNITZ Mexico City

In addition to the millions of Jews put to death, thousands of Germans, communists, Social Democrats, pacifists, trade unionists, liberal Christians and others were killed or perished in Nazi concentration camps. We should not lose sight of the fact that 200,000 young Germans were sentenced to death for deserting the Wehrmacht or refusing to fight for the Nazi regime. Throughout human history, whenever horror and terror come to the fore, there will always be those flowers of humanity who resist, regardless of the cost to themselves. So it was during the time of the Hitler terror. ARNOLD SELBY Berlin

LETTING CHILDREN FLY

The tragic death of seven-year-old pilot Jessica Dubroff focused our attention on the reckless parents who let their young daughter attempt to fly a plane across the U.S. [NATION, April 22]. She died after she was given only 35 hours of flying lessons. I cannot understand why the parents allowed her to make this trip. Were they so concerned with her gaining the record of being the youngest cross-country pilot that they did not think of the consequences? CLAIRE SZE-CHUNG YAM Hong Kong

Although Jessica's death was tragic, the reality is that licensed pilots are also killed every year because they get themselves into weather beyond their and their aircraft's capabilities. Jessica's age makes for a good story, but it has nothing to do with the crash. The real problem was the instructor's decision to push on in weather clearly unsuitable for flight by the small and possibly overloaded aircraft. Instructors fly with "Jessicas" every day when they take a student up for the first time. Changing the government requirements will not make flying any safer. You can't legislate good judgment. PAUL PLESMAN Unionville, Ontario

LEARY'S LAST TRIP

Thanks for your story on the final days of Dr. Timothy Leary [SOCIETY, April 29]. At a time when many Americans are living into their 80s and 90s, it looks like Leary will be forced to cash in his chips at 75. That tells us something about the true cost of drug abuse. EDMUND J. FOUNTAINE Newtown, Pennsylvania

Sometime before Leary's "Last Party," he should question his view that he has "led the league as a human being over the last 30 years." Many who decided to follow him and "turn on, tune in and drop out" must continue the brain-damaged journey to their own last party. THOMAS A. ANDERSON Sun City, Arizona Via E-mail

GAY-RIGHTS BATTLE

Thank you for helping to expose the abject hatred exhibited by supposed Christians who are campaigning against the rights of gay and lesbian Americans [LAW, April 29]. I find the behavior of the Christian right to be disgusting and abhorrent. But I would never attempt to deny them their right to teach, to marry each other--in short, to exist. DONNA M. PROVENZANO San Francisco

The holy books of Christianity, Judaism and Islam are all in agreement that homosexuality is a sinful state. Matrimony, on the other hand, is a state consecrated by all three religions. To say that opposition to homosexual marriage comes only from the religious right is misguided at best. The only fringe group in this debate is the "secular left." STUART MCCUTCHAN Manassas, Virginia

CHINA'S PRICELESS LEGACY

Robert Hughes in his review of the show at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, "Splendors of Imperial China" [ART, April 29], unfortunately slipped in some doubts about the provenance of the art from the Taipei National Palace Museum in referring to Chiang Kai-shek's rescuing and bringing the imperial collection to Taiwan as "an act of cultural looting." During World War II, the government of the Republic of China had moved the imperial palace treasures from Beijing to safety in the south. The entire collection survived several years of intense fighting. At the height of the civil war that broke out in China after 1945, the treasures were again moved, with the Republic of China government, to Taiwan. The accusation that this was "looting" originates in Beijing. In the 1960s, Mao Zedong urged the Red Guards to destroy anything from the imperial era; one is horrified to think of the irreparable damage that might have been inflicted if the art had remained in the People's Republic of China. Over the past decades, the Taipei National Palace Museum's staff has overseen the birth of an internationally renowned institution. Without their efforts and the crucial support of the Republic of China leaders, the world would be without its best window on the priceless legacy of Chinese art. PAI YUN-FENG, Director Information Division Taipei Economic and Cultural Office New York City