The president was on television announcing the formal entry of Education Secretary Margaret Spellings into his Cabinet a few minutes ago. The theme of the president’s remarks was educational accountability. Alright, let me expand on my earlier suggestions for a new system of accountability in federal aid to programs of area studies. Why not offer students receiving aid under Title VI a formal chance to commit to government service after graduation. Maybe give them a financial bonus for making the commitment. We already do that for many other sorts of government aid. Then make the number of students actually signing up for government service one criterion by which programs getting federal funding are judged. That’s accountability. If readers have any other ideas on how to make programs of area studies accountable, let me know. Better yet, send your ideas to the Department of Education or Congress. I’m going to make a point of sending in this suggestion myself.