Education

Klein's self-narrative appears intended to convey the image of a poor inner-city kid being saved from a life of poverty and crime by the encouragement of an inspiring teacher.

But according to the article, Klein -- who was born in Brooklyn in 1946 -- was the son of a solidly middle class family, lived in a project consisting of such families, and went to the schools that served such projects.

I'm Klein's age, and I remember going with my parents to visit the family of some friend or relative of theirs when I was perhaps 11 or 12 in what was probably a very similar project. The place seemed a little tacky to me -- small rooms and the windows were the inexpensive type that slid to one side instead of going up and down -- but it was certainly not slum-like.

I think many of us had an inspiring teacher who pushed us to go further than we thought we could. In my case, there was a friend of my parents who taught at Bronx Science and who insisted when he heard my PSAT scores that I needed to go somewhere more selective than City College.

But that's very different from Klein's claim that good teachers alone can lift kids out of poverty and that if the kids fail it's their teachers' fault.