On the Scene: Will They Ever Learn?

Washington, D.C.

No WONDER senior Administration officials looked for technical grounds to suppress the report altogether and, when that gambit failed, dispatched only a veteran civil servant to the press conference and crafted the education secretary’s bland statement to make as little news as possible. The news was none too welcome at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue: the first report on U.S. school performance during the Clinton Presidency showed that students are learning less. High-school seniors, in particular, could not read as well in 1994 as in 1992—and the results were far from satisfactory in 1992.

About the Author

Chester E. Finn Jr.

Mr. Finn is the president emeritus of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute and a senior fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution.

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Washington, D.C.

No WONDER senior Administration officials looked for technical grounds to suppress the report altogether and, when that gambit failed, dispatched only a veteran civil servant to the press conference and crafted the education secretary’s bland statement to make as little news as possible. The news was none too welcome at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue: the first report on U.S. school performance during the Clinton Presidency showed that students are learning less. High-school seniors, in particular, could not read as well in 1994 as in 1992—and the results were far from satisfactory in 1992.