Schools: Help Yourself Learning

On a Monday night in the Sunday school room of a Los Angeles church, 19 children looked at pictures of snakes and toads—symbols not of sin but of science. The mostly Negro and Japanese kids, who had already put in a full school day, were starting a six-week course (tuition: $6) in "The Exciting World of Plants and Animals." For 75 minutes, they tackled all kinds of questions: What is a reptile? What does "coldblooded" mean? Flaunting new words from habitat to hibernate, the kids—second, third and fourth graders —will soon take...