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based on a poll about racial divisions still persisting in New York. But there was a second piece on the suburbs also.

But one of the fears expressed on the part of some, if not many of the black families that moved into the suburbs, particularly around New York, was that they perceived a decline in the quality of education, whereas that was one of their main motivations for moving to the suburbs, to get better education for their children. Others say that they don't think that there was a decline.

Have you felt that there has been a decline, at least in some areas, or that these are just perceptions and misperceptions?

I understand there has been a decline in suburban schools. My daughter and my grandchildren have gone to schools in the suburbs of New York, in Hastings, and while it's true that I sent my son to a New England prep school, it was because he was getting away with murder. He was so charming, you know. The teachers liked him. And my wife and I thought he was getting higher grades than he was earning, because of his charm.

My daughter, on the other hand, worked very hard in the Hastings High School and went to Oberlin fully prepared. Our grandchildren-- it's interesting that my daughter is sending one of our grandchildren to the Master's School in Dobbs Ferry. I don't think these are indicative-- this is just one family-- indicative of a decline in the quality of the schools. It may be, I don't know, and I'm confessing that I have not paid any serious attention to quality in schools in castings [on Hudson]. In fact, I sort of look on Hastings as a place