Regarding "A salute to service" (Page B8, Wednesday), I enjoyed reading your editorial about Rick Perry and his tenure as governor. The paragraph stating that Texas is "50th in the nation in the number of residents with a high-school diploma by age 25" caught my attention. Last I checked, a free high-school diploma is available to all residents of Texas. Whether or not these young people choose to take advantage of that opportunity is another matter. Why is Rick Perry being held accountable for a low high school graduation rate? Where are the parents and families of these students who choose to drop out? Apparently there are many in our state who don't value education, and that is their choice, but they also will reap the results of those choices.

Our lives are shaped by the choices we make, and successful people don't point the finger of blame at others.

You write that Texas has a high level of poverty. Perhaps if these families valued education and pursued all that was available to them, they would be in a better financial position. My husband paid for his engineering degree without a cent from his parents. His six siblings did the same. Education should be a priority for all, but I know of teachers at "good" schools like Lamar High School who talk about their students laughing and throwing away their homework sheets as they leave the classroom for the day, rather than taking them home to complete. Is that Rick Perry's fault, too?

Ingrid Keating, Bellaire