On the Right

National Review, Sept 29, 2003 by William F. Buckley, Jr.

Educational Blues

NEW YORK, AUGUST 26

There is some gloom in the land, expressing doubts as to whether the good old USA can successfully contend with all the burdens we face. At one end, there are the negative fiscal figures. The morning news tells us that the federal budget deficit next year may exceed the $500 billion anticipated.

We hear from Sen. John McCain that we are critically shorthanded in Iraq. And we learn incidentally that Iraq's police-training institutes just can't handle the 28,000 Iraqis we proposed to train as policemen.

We are told in a front-page story in the New York Times that President Bush's "compassion" agenda has fallen gravely short of expectation, and that, in the words of one plaintiff, "[Bush's] policy has not come even close to matching his words." That, of course, should not be surprising -- that there should be a disparity between the unburdened rhetoric of the politician, and the downed ducks spread out on the floor for us. But there is a special exasperation tracing to the paradox of high unemployment, and work undone.

On education, the indictment becomes fervid. A Times editorial speaks of straitened state budgets resulting in underfunding of education. Legislative "indifference" has led to raised tuition rates. "Some universities have begun to cannibalize themselves by increasing class size and cutting course offerings, making it difficult for students to find the courses they need to graduate." This "downward spiral" began in the 1980s "when many state legislatures began to back away from their commitments to public higher education."

That is not the view of things held by the California Association of Scholars, a branch of the National Association of Scholars. Their spokesman, professor and author Thomas Reeves, sends out what he terms "Heretical Thoughts for a New Academic Year." These thoughts look at the doomsayers on U.S. education and ask truly subversive questions.

Professor Reeves gives some figures. "In Michigan, Colorado, Texas, and New York, academic tests have been altered or thrown out because of low scores." But some data cannot be hidden. "A third of the freshmen at the relatively select University of Wisconsin-Madison do not return for a second year. I toiled for decades on a Wisconsin campus on which a mere 18 percent of the entering freshmen ever graduate." That's one problem, those who undertake to go to college but drop out.

The suspicion grows that the emphasis should be on reforming the work done in secondary education. High-school dropout rates have been sharply reduced, from 27 percent in 1960 to 11 percent today. But SAT scores move in the opposite direction, and professors addressing matriculated freshmen are often dismayed not only by the lack of preparation, but by the lack of genuine interest. "The most well- intentioned professor cannot educate those who refuse to be educated. All too often, such students demand that they be passed through the system and awarded a diploma, as they were in high school."

America is a can-do society. We educate tens of millions and fight successful wars and create poets and musicians. But one reason we prevail against bad winds is that we isolate our shortcomings and criticize them, and end up coping simultaneously with college standards in Wisconsin and terrorists in Iraq. This aptitude for finding a way to do it is the American thing that most annoys our European friends.

Yale's Capitalist Swine

NEW YORK, AUGUST 29

At this writing, Senator Joe Lieberman is scheduled to appear at Yale to give a speech supporting the strikers. It will be called, "Why Politicians Running for President Support Your Strike." Jesse Jackson was already there. Say what you will about the wilting Jesse, he still has the power to bring listless partisans to their feet. What was his theme? You can get an idea from the name of the strikers' tax- deductible organization. It is called "Hungry for Justice," and they have a tame bishop there to handle contributions. What would you say if you were dispatched to New Haven to side with the strikers?

You would not be able to use the language of Tobacco Road . No, something less than that. The 4,000 strikers, who provide for the maintenance of the university including clerical aid and library and dining-hall service are paid an average of $32,000 per year. But that's hardly all, Yale's administration stresses in full-page ads. The employees are getting, or are offered in the contract they rejected over the weekend, raises which, cumulatively, would yield a 44 percent salary increase in five years. The two striking locals get pension benefits which, by Yale's arithmetic, when combined with Social Security yield about 85 percent of their salary. Note: They kick in after 30 years' work. It is hard to remember when 30 years' work was on the order of a full career. Americans used to start work at 20 and quit at 65, which is 45 years later.

The employees and their families have free health care, to which they contribute no deduction from salary. They have a minimum of seven weeks of paid vacation. Yale will subsidize up to $46,460 worth of college bills of employees' families, and help ($25,000) in getting mortgages in neighborhood housing.