I’m so tired of the federal government coming up with bonuses, penalties, obligations, contests — I think they are called nudges — to make colleges and universities (and other institutions) do what federal officials want them to do. The latest: According to Inside Higher Ed, the administration will create new rules to make education schools increase the quality of their entering students.
Of course, education schools need to be more selective! But it’s not the federal government’s business to pressure them to meet some arbitrary standard — and history shows that such arbitrary standards become evasive, politically determined standards, as in No Child Left Behind.
As a great document said of a king, “He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.” That’s what the federal government is doing constantly, and it isn’t just the Obama administration, although its officials seem to have perfected the technique.
It is rather foolish to believe that there's an army of bright individuals who are suddenly going to flock to ed schools if the admission standards are raised. But I do like that the administration is openly admitting that one of their core constituencies is riddled with morons. In a sane world, we'd exploit this to sow dissension on the left.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseYes, admitting the fact is a positive step. Trying to "correct" the problem from Washington, D.C., is what disturbs me.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse