Some Hope for the Schools Three reasons for optimism.

SOME HOPE FOR THE SCHOOLS

Martin Mayer wrote, at the end of his book The Schools, that “Excellence cannot be produced in the high schools any more than sanctity in the theological schools.” But, he continued, that is no reason not to demand excellence from students, because “In the effort to do their work better than they think they can, people acquire competence; and excellence is nothing more than the most precious by-product in the large-scale production of competence.”