After reading August Cho's My View column "Exclusion by Design" (CHN April 15) and then Sara Johnson's response "Exclusion by Necessity" (CHN April 29), I surmise that Ms. Johnson missed his point.

I believe Mr. Cho's main point was that individuals tend to isolate themselves by ethnicity, creating division within society. In closing he suggested that we focus on being Americans instead of hyphenated Americans. He did not criticize nor address the African-American and Hispanic students' lower reading performance. However, Ms. Johnson's response buttresses Mr. Cho's point that exclusion based on race is being practiced even by the local school district. In trying to solve inherent problems, organizations tend to create groups -- often by ethnicity -- instead of one group to address the problems faced by all.

In her column, Ms. Johnson attempts to justify the need for specific parent groups to assist students who have performed poorly on required state testing, thus creating groups for African-American and Latino parents. She states passing rates on both reading and math tests as follows: African-American, 37 percent; Hispanic, 50 percent; Asian, 92 percent and white, 93 percent. Although, the passing rates for Asian and white students are high there remain a percentage of failures [8 percent and 7 percent respectively] that get neither assistance nor a parent group. Why the inconsistency?

Using Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as a reference:

The African-American and Latino parent groups could feel discriminated against by having their children singled out publicly as needing special assistance. Equally, the Asian and wite Parents could also feel discriminated against for not having a parent group to assist their students with low test scores. From that, it seems all races have been discriminated against according to the law. A better and more equitable alternative is to create one group of parents for all students needing assistance. Then, the criteria for establishing the group is based on students' needs instead of creating groups based on race where assistance may be equitable within each group and then again may not be.

An aside: Ms. Johnson infers that Mr. Cho's son or daughter is thriving in school. On what does she base this -- parenting skills, Asian stereotyping, or both?

While individuals may have specific views or preferences, discrimination occurs when an individual or organization acts upon those preferences by including or excluding persons purely based upon race or any of the additional Title VI categories and other OCR referenced Civil Rights laws, particularly one that is public or receives any public funding. In keeping with the above context, would a school have an American Indian Honor Roll, an African-American Honor Roll, Asian Honor Roll, a Hispanic Honor Roll, a Multi-Ethnic Honor Roll and a White Honor Roll? Hardly, most often the preferred recognition is "A" or "B" Honor Roll by name in alphabetical order without reference to ethnicity.

Suppose the two aforementioned groups at Phillips Middle School had been organized as one -- including students, staff, and parents of all races -- to produce solutions for all students and ultimately higher test scores? Then, students will benefit from seeing role models of all ethnicities working together for the greater good. To do otherwise is un-American and perhaps illegal.

What a concept.

Melodie Parrish is a retired school administrator and testing director. She lives in Chapel Hill.