Everyone is drawing his own lesson in respect of the drama over Diana Lam. For some, the conclusion is simply that the city should have offered Mrs. Lam’s husband a job when they asked his wife to uproot herself from Boston and move to New York. For others, it is that the school should have told the truth when our Kath. Lucadamo first asked the school what was going on in respect of his employment (and they are certainly right about that). Still others reckon the real issue is the matter of the curriculum, while others see the issue is not only the curriculum but the testing and results used to evaluate the curriculum.

Reflecting on this matter, we are stuck with the fact that none of the above lessons really accounts for all the heat that has been generated by this affair. People are genuinely angry about this. Some predict the chancellor will lose his mandate, though we, for one, very much hope not. Enormous acreage of newsprint is being devoted to the story. There has already been one official investigation, and there are those who would actually like to see yet another investigation, on the theory that there are others involved, down the line, in the attempt to dodge the truth in respect of the hiring of Peter Plattes.

Our own theory about why there is so much heat in this story derives from the fact that most New Yorkers are trapped in these schools. All they see from the teachers union is more of the old cynicism. The United States Supreme Court has ruled that vouchers are permissible. The attorney general of the state of New York has opined that vouchers do not violate the state constitution. But while these theoretical liberties are dangled before them, all parents see is a school reform designed to tinker with a system that isn’t working and a political leadership opposed to choice.

The best way to build support for New York City’s schools is to end the monopoly and give parents a choice. The chancellor has been arguing for two years now that choice isn’t the answer because the private and parochial systems don’t have the capacity. But capacity isn’t the issue. Choice is the issue. At the moment, unless parents are rich, the only option is to send their children to public schools in the city or get out of town. So they are not inclined to give much quarter, no matter how honest and committed and caring and brilliant the mayor and his chancellor may be. It’s a simple point and one we’d like to think it isn’t too late to learn.