Her parents, who lived in an
affluent neighborhood of Long Island's Suffolk County, found her in the shower when they heard the water running
too long.
In the bad old days, before statewide standards,
affluent communities tended to ask their kids to shoot for the moon (or at least 3s, 4s, and 5s on a battery of Advanced Placement exams), while
too many schools in low - income
neighborhoods were happy with basic literacy and numeracy.