I'd missed this: outgoing chair of Chamber of Commerce comments

I haven't gotten all the way through the Sunday paper yet, so I just caught this now:

4. Insist on excellence in public education.

“The business community needs to insist on it,” he said. Then he said this: “We need to restore the public preparatory school system in the Worcester public schools if we want to have the middle class in our schools.”

Boston has such a system, and its schools are a case of the haves and have nots. A tiny sliver of the best of the best public school students pass the entrance exam to Boston Latin and Boston English, the two preparatory schools for public school students in Boston. They get into some of the best colleges and universities in the country. The vast majority of Boston’s public school students are left behind, with minimal skills. If Worcester is going to pursue a preparatory school system, it should create a new model, one that includes charter schools, pilot schools and other school types that do not require exams for entrance.

This isn't the first time I've heard this...