Re: Richard Larsen’s Jan. 31 essay, “On the trail of America�:

Mr. Larsen decries the outsourcing of jobs to India and China as the reason our students do not have good math or science skills, but he has placed the cart before the horse. If our public school system did a great job teaching these skills, maybe we would not be outsourcing. Companies will follow where the skills reside. If we do not teach, there will be no jobs to have.

— William F. Klepper, Simi Valley