Education

God knows how reliable this sort of sillyness really is (not very, probably) but: Students at many of the country’s most prestigious colleges and universities are graduating with less knowledge of American history, government, and economics than they had as incoming freshmen, with Harvard University seniors scoring a “D+” average on a 60-question multiple-choice exam about civic literacy. According to a report released yesterday by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, the average college senior at the 50 colleges and universities polled did not earn a passing grade. You can take the test yourself here. I confess I did so with much trepidation. It turns out that I don’t know much about

I have no interest whatsoever in health policy, but I am interested in education. Paul Krugman’s column yesterday mocked one strand of conservative (libertarian actually) education thinking. So let’s end this un-American system and make education what it should be — a matter of individual responsibility and private enterprise. Oh, and we shouldn’t have any government mandates that force children to get educated, either. As a Republican presidential candidate might say, the future of America’s education system lies in free-market solutions, not socialist models. Isn’t this a transparently ridiculous argument he suggested, before going on to say, well, that’s what we currently have in health care. But of course Krugman’s

Ah, August. Season of twits and sillyness. How else would the papers ever be filled? Even so, I confess to being mildly startled to discover that a story headlined “‘Chav Chasing’ public schoolboys criticised” concerned my own dear old alma mater. But yes, as this video demonstrates, it seems some public spirited members of the college community been spending their time clearing vermin from the woods (home of many a fondly remembered smoking den back in the day). This will appeal most to the decent working class and the smugger elements of the state-educated middle classes who can have the pleasure of scoffing at the toffs and chavs alike… (Clive?