Goldman

Education and the Democratic Ideal By Steven M. Cahn Nelson-Hall, 111 pp., $8.95 (paperback)

Few Americans have any idea just how low their institutions of higher learning have sunk since they were struck by the Sixties. Obtaining a degree these days is much like getting a driver’s license. The toughest part is waiting in line. In Education and the Democratic Ideal, Professor Steven Cahn examines some of the bizarre ideas that crept into quasi-acceptance with the Age of Aquarius—that standards are snobbery, grading an insult, exams an imposition, required courses repression, the pursuit of excellence narcissistic decadence of the worst kind. Standardized tests show where all this is taking us. Thus many educators, embarrassed by the scores, are trying to do away with the tests.

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Ivan Goldman

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Education and the Democratic Ideal By Steven M. Cahn Nelson-Hall, 111 pp., $8.95 (paperback)

Few Americans have any idea just how low their institutions of higher learning have sunk since they were struck by the Sixties. Obtaining a degree these days is much like getting a driver’s license. The toughest part is waiting in line. In Education and the Democratic Ideal, Professor Steven Cahn examines some of the bizarre ideas that crept into quasi-acceptance with the Age of Aquarius—that standards are snobbery, grading an insult, exams an imposition, required courses repression, the pursuit of excellence narcissistic decadence of the worst kind. Standardized tests show where all this is taking us. Thus many educators, embarrassed by the scores, are trying to do away with the tests.