A COMMENTARY by peter kadzis '71

I live in Boston by choice. My wife and I want to raise our three sons - ages seven and two (that's right, twins) - in a culturally rich setting where ethnic, racial, sexual and socio-economic variety are the norm, not the exception. That's why we settled in Jamaica Plain, Boston's most tolerant and diversified neighborhood.

There is another reason we live here: Boston Latin. Next to being born into a loving family, going to Latin was the best thing to happen to me. As a blue-collar kid from Dorchester, it broadened my horizons, taught me to think, equipped me to compete and instilled an identification with an historic tradition, which bolstered my confidence.

Would I send my children to Latin? If the school maintains its standards, if they made the grade, had the temperament and desire I certainly would.

Would I send my boys to any public school? The answer, sadly, is no. Even after several years of Superintendent Thomas Payzant's progressive and energetic stewardship, the Boston public school system remains fragile. To be sure, pockets of educational innovation, professional dedication and student achievement are expanding.

But until greater progress is made, sending a child into the system is largely a role of the dice. That's why so many with the will or the means opt for private or parochial schools. That's also why a program like Metco, which channels African-American, Asian and Hispanic students into the schools of affluent suburbs, exists and flourishes.

It is difficult to weigh the future of Boston Latin, or the city's two other exam schools, Latin Academy and O'Bryant High, outside of the context of the larger public system.

Perhaps that is why the decision by a US Appeals Court striking down the admissions policy at Boston Latin School raised such anxiety. In the 24 years since federal courts intervened to force the desegregation of a racist school system, Boston Latin strove to balance its 360-year-old tradition of excellence with the goal of offering broad opportunity to a wider pool of students. The US courts ruled, however, that the means chosen - a race-sensitive formula that also took academic performance into account - was unconstitutional.

With the question of how to respond still hovering, it's instructive to weigh how successfully that quota system worked. The results were mixed. Of the African-American and Hispanic students who were admitted under traditional policies, two-thirds graduated; of the students enrolled using racial and ethnic set-asides only one-third finished at Latin School.

It's possible that a more supple and broadly construed affirmative action policy could pass federal muster. Methods that weigh socioeconomic rather than racial or ethnic factors might work, as could admission interviews such as those conducted at private schools.

But no system of affirmative action can take the place of deep, broad-based reform. As system-wide standards declined over the years, placements at Boston Latin became even more precious commodities. It's not just that the school offers a solid education and a chance to get into a good college - but that the alternatives at most other high schools are so dismal. In short, Boston Latin and the two other exam schools shoulder a disproportionate share of the city's educational responsibilities.

When the courts struck down Latin School's admission policy, a front-page news analysis in the Boston Globe asked: "Should the priority of the school system be to offer equal opportunity to all, or to offer a shot at maximum achievement to a relative handful of high-performing students?" That is a stark and phony choice. The schools must do both. Leveling in the name of equality is no more acceptable than restricting opportunity to a few.

It may seem a tall order, but the mission of the Boston schools should be to afford all students the opportunity to do their best, whether they are educationally challenged, average or academically superior. Latin's standards set a high bar for the system to meet. By better training all students to compete for seats at Latin, the system would be better serving all.