[Yet more relief from the bailout woes, this for Mark Krikorian.]

Mark:

Credit may not be a civil right, but apparently algebra instruction is.

Robert Moses ratcheted up the significance of the issue by labeling algebra “The New Civil Right,” thereby highlighting the social consequences of so many poor and minority students taking remedial and general math courses instead of algebra …

Ever eager to do what I can to promote the cause of civil rights, I have asked my publisher to arrange for packing-crates filled with copies of Unknown Quantity to be air dropped into the nation’s ghettoes and reservations. That way we may pre-empt the ugly spectacle of demonstrators filling the streets of our cities, the air ringing with angry cries of: “No quadratic equations, no peace!”” and “Factorize, Baby, factorize!”