Pious Ali, Ben Grant and Erica King were wrong to write that school board member and City Council candidate Roberto Rodriguez doesn’t represent toxic politics (Oct. 13). This kind of language won’t close the racial achievement gap and ignores core performance criteria. Rodriguez was trying to cancel someone for saying claims of systemic racism are exaggerated, in a nation that has made great progress, and in which 1 in 7 marriages are now interracial and income gaps are narrowing.

Let’s close the achievement gap by focusing on the most immediate factors that we can control. Most kids spend 40 hours weekly on TV, video games and social media, a choice they can change.

We know from a recent Brookings report that girls are studying significantly more than boys, African American kids average four hours per week studying from age 5-17, whites just under six hours per week, and Asian Americans, as well as Nigerian, Cuban, Persian, Ethiopian, Lebanese, Jewish Americans, over 13 hours per week.

Let’s stop blaming society as a whole and help individuals thrive to close the gap. Let’s take specific action as City Council member Tae Chong suggests in his essay “Portland Public Schools shortchanging Black students, those in poverty” (Sept. 24). Let’s pay teachers bonuses for high test scores, provide charter schools sufficient to meet demand, pay for free SAT prep classes for all, hold seminars to convince children of the relationship between 13-plus weekly study/reading hours and economic success, provide free paid and volunteer tutoring, require summer/Saturday school for all kids not testing at grade level, and teach that opportunity in America exists and income as an adult is largely based on behavior during childhood.

Justin Van Zandt
Falmouth