Christine Parker errs in her claim that Columbia Law School’s 2010 employment rate “dropped” from 98.6% to 96.5% (“NY Law Schools Inflate Job Figures,” March 11).
Organizations compute the rate differently, depending on how they treat full-time students and graduates whose status is unknown. Our rate is 98.6% if students are treated as employed and unknowns are excluded (as the National Association of Law Placement computes the rate) and 96.5% if students and unknowns are treated as unemployed (as US News computes it).
Parker questions why we report 282 graduates from 2010 working at NLJ 250 firms, while the National Law Journal reports 239. We spoke to the NLJ about this difference for the Class of 2011 (but not 2010) — 24 firms did not participate and it omitted some first-year associates awaiting bar admission.
Elizabeth Schmalz, Executive Director, Communications & Public Affairs, Columbia Law School, Manhattan
Drama divas
I was moved to tears by the plight of the “Sex and the City” acolytes who, their Carrie dreams dashed, have fled to the easier clime of the City of Angels (“Carrie’d Away!” PostScript, Julia Price and Julia Allison, March 11). After all, why shouldn’t every woman have access to Manolo Blahniks?
Paul Bloustein, Cincinnati
Young women should never try to emulate a TV show, and I find “Carrie’d Away!” to be an unfair misrepresentation of the city I call home.
Tolerating dinners with men for their connections doesn’t make you patient, it makes you shallow. Being let into a club without waiting on line because you’re with the right people or wearing the right clothes doesn’t make you powerful, it makes you superficial. Mr. Big may not leave his wife, but Mr. Right isn’t married.
Manhattan is not exhausting, but always having to “fake it until you make it” certainly is. The city is culturally enriching, enlightening, energizing and fun, but you won’t see that unless you are all of those things first.
I, too, have a message for a new generation of women: You can have it all in New York City. Real women find power within themselves, not by trying to benefit from others or looking for superficial validation.
Ashley LeBlanc, Manhattan
Not a total failure
Criminal offenses committed at school, such as assaulting a police officer, should have serious consequences, including jail time (“Halls of Hell at NY’s Worst High School,” Maureen Callahan, PostScript, March 11).
The best solution is not one size fits all. The worst offenders need suspension or jail. Other at-risk students need programs to improve their study and social skills. Finally, the school system should include both small, specialized schools and well-run large schools.
Anything less is just a political quick-fix doomed to failure.
Evan Lowenthal, Jersey City
What about the large percentage of students at Murry Bergtraum who attend class daily, work conscientiously, participate in school activities and do not take part in fights and riots?
What about the honors students and the young men who proudly wear gray slacks and navy sports jackets every day? What about the proud parents and the hard-working teachers?
I am an art teacher at Murry Bergtraum, and my door is never locked. If there are problems, like most teachers I try to protect my students.
Jennifer Cole, Manhattan