The Editor, Sir:

I am a graduate of the City University of New York and I must point out that this mass exodus of men from our nation's educational system is also very prevalent here in the United States. As one young man I spoke with pointed out, "Education takes too long and the schools have you taking classes you don't even need in the real world just to get more money."

While he might have a good point pertaining to the extra clas-ses, the other areas of his argument I found lacking, as an education is an investment in one's self and potential family to come. It is one of the means of finally turning one's life around if you are a person who has to scrape the bottom of the barrel to survive.

Sometime ago, Medgar Evers College (CUNY), where I obtained my bachelor's, developed a programme to tackle this "Gender crisis in higher education" the universities in Jamaica are currently facing. The programme involved creating a scholarship geared toward single custodial fathers who had the proven academic records and potential to make a difference in their communities through that of a college education.

Information on the Male Development and Empowerment Center (MDEC), which was born out of the discussions to combat the 'Gender crisis in higher education' can be viewed at www.MEC.CUNY. EDU/MDEC.

Should Professor Barbara Bailey of the Gender Studies Centre be interested in speaking to a colleague within higher education who is at the forefront of dealing with this problem, President Edison O. Jackson can be reached at (1718) 270-5000.

It is important for every man no matter what his financial status to know that he is needed and valued, he has the potential to make it and an education is a major key. This is just one of the ways in which we (women, educators and fathers) hope to impart this message to our young men. Together, we can help our sons, brothers, husbands and uncles to be the man they were called to be. The potential to achieve is already there; now let's encourage them to try.

I am, etc.,

C. MAYNARD