At the time of William Bennett’s Senate confirmation (93 to 0) as Education Secretary two months ago, public praise for the youthful, rumpled intellectual ran high. Conservatives welcomed the ex-football player with two doctorates (philosophy and law) as the savior of U.S. education. Even Teddy was moved to remark about Democrat Bennett: “He has the capacity to be a great Secretary of Education.”
That was before the budget. Since then, Washington has witnessed the battle of Jericho, with Bennett as Joshua sounding the reform trumpet—a 25 per cent, $2.3-billion cut in grants, loans, and other aid to college students. All the myrmidons of the status quo have sprung into action: the National Council of Higher Education, the American Council on Education, the Consumer Banking Association, the American Bankers Association. Bankers and educators, hitherto wary sparring partners, have leaped into bed together, bankers being loath to lose their $200 million in federal interest subsidies (on $8 billion a year in loans to students).
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