Rotten words

I did not appreciate Walter Williams' Dec. 24 article, ''Democrats played 'racial rope-a-dope' to the hilt.'' I read Mr. Williams' column every week and have in the past considered his views on a variety of issues to be refreshingly candid and reasonable.

However, throughout the past year Mr. Williams' columns have transformed from sounding logically conservative to radically degrading. He has gone on an unabashed verbal tirade against a variety of government programs and institutions, including public education. At times, he has sounded like a virulent, flag-burning radical.

In the aforementioned column, Williams denounces the Democratic Party and its ''staunch support for public schools and the rotten education they produce.''

I am a public school teacher. I teach in an excellent school district that serves its community extremely well. I also have many friends who are teachers in other superb public school districts.

The problem with Walter Williams and other members of the GOP is that they go out of their way to magnify the problems of struggling urban public schools such as those in Duval County, Florida, and ignore or belittle the success that the majority of our public schools have achieved. Unfortunately, they also do little to help solve these problems.

I pose a challenge to Walter Williams: Leave your ivory tower at George Mason University and apply for a teaching position at one of the local, urban public schools in your area. Better yet, apply for the superintendent's job. Since you're an economic genius, we'll see if you can run an effective school with a disadvantaged student body or balance an already underprovided budget while paying for a charter school that opened within your district's boundary.

I guarantee that if you attempt any of these challenges, Mr. Williams, you will change your ''rotten'' choice of words.