Which students work hardest?

A few days ago, the Times ran a story about New York City students who wake up early, and travel long distances to choice City schools. We're introduced to two students at Bronx High School of Science who leave their homes before 7 a.m. and aren't back until after 5 p.m.

Sound grueling? Well, no, not to anyone who attended an Orthodox Jewish school. To their credit, the Times printed the following rejoinder today:

To the Editor:

As I read “The Trip to Bronx Science: A Long Ride to a Choice School”, I could not help but chuckle to myself. As a student at Ramaz Upper School, a Jewish day school in Manhattan, for me the day described would be an anomaly if it ever happened.

I am one of Ramaz’s many commuters, and I make the trip from Teaneck, N.J., to the Upper East Side daily. Though I board the bus at 6:50 a.m., I am lucky to be home by 5:30. This is on a day when I do not choose to stay for extracurricular activities.

On the two or three days a week when I stay for an activity, I am lucky to be home by 7:15. Once I get home and eat dinner, I am able to begin my formidable amount of homework at the earliest, 7:35.

Aaron Marans
Teaneck, N.J., Feb. 13, 2008

Well, fair is fair, so I must concede that even the hard-working Mr. Marans looks like a slacker next to the average yeshiva student. Suppose one of them read the Times.... what would his reply sound like?