George agrees with Charles Murray, as do I, that individuals entering the workforce should be judged by employers on their actual knowledge and skills rather than on whether they have a bachelor’s degree and where it was acquired. But any and every call for this radical reform ought to be accompanied by a resounding demand that K-12 students receive a stronger grounding in basic knowledge and that a rigorous core curriculum be required of all students pursuing a bachelor’s degree.

Although I know George and Murray concur, my point is that the need for more “knowledge rich” education for all students is more urgent than Murray allows. The argument for more in-depth education in non-vocational areas needs to be constantly made, and less tepidly than Murray has done (for example, in saying that his “beef is not with liberal education” and that “most 18-year-olds are not drawn toward academics”).

How poorly our common welfare will be served if, in the end, the nation merely becomes more efficient in shoe-horning ignorant and docile people into the workplace.