Peter Wood writes here about a new report entitled โ€œA Crucible Moment: College Learning and Democracyโ€™s Future.โ€ The report runs to over 130 pages, so think twice before hitting the โ€œPrintโ€ button.

As Peter argues, the premise of the report is highly dubious. Why does โ€œengaged citizenshipโ€ require a college degree? Many high-school graduates are at least as, if not more, โ€œengagedโ€ than people with college degrees.

Furthermore, the college experience often leads students into foolish beliefs and useless if not destructive โ€œengagementโ€ โ€” such as the โ€œOccupyโ€ protests. Apparently, the administration wants more of that.

Whatever it cost to produce โ€œA Crucible Moment,โ€ it was infinitely too much.