Critical Mass

David French, over at NRO's The Corner, knows what I'm talking about. I couldn't agree more with the following, and, in fact, have said precisely this before:

I think we’re less than ten years away from having a presidential nomination or a serious run for House or Senate derailed by an ill-considered Facebook entry.  If hazy high-school yearbook photos can cause weeks of angst for a Senator, think of the impact of the typical in-living-sound-and-color Myspace site.

Well, that's not exactly what the folks over at OpinionJournal are arguing, but they do make a case similar to it. The writers assert liberal lifestyles in college (and by liberal I mean how one acts regarding sex, drugs, alcohol, etc., not necessarily one's political views) tend to lessen the amount of actual learning taking place; while the same is true in high school, students there are often focused on presenting a good college application, or at least are forced to behave by their parents, to the point that high school students are forced to gain actual knowledge:

[C]ollege increasingly offers a crazed social experience at the expense of rigorous study. But high school does better: It is often the last time that students are forced to learn something. Parents make their kids show up at school. More than a few teachers convey basic skills and knowledge. After-school life centers on burnishing a college application, not binge drinking. AP courses, where they exist, exploit these structured years for maximum learning.

Critics will say that "rat race" kids no longer play soccer for the joy of the game or master the violin for the beauty of the music or study history for the love of learning. Maybe. But who cares? At least something worthwhile is going on. These kids have four years of college ahead of them during which they may take as few classes as they like in subjects that require no difficult exams. They can spend their time outside the classroom drinking and "dating." They can opt out of the rat race, and they do.

Be sure to read the full story. I'm not sure I buy the whole theory, but it is an interesting concept.

Harry Messel writes on On Line Opinion (an Australian social and political debate site) of the overwhelming tendency toward mediocrity by mass educational institutions.  In the name of egalitarianism, he argues, huge schools have lowered educational standards to the point that a tertiary degree is often no more meaningful than a secondary one.  Though speaking specifically of Australia, Mr. Messel believes the same is true of countries like Canada, Britain, and the United States, who have enacted similar measures to the Aussies'.  From the story:

Australia must seriously question whether it should continue to spend a couple of thousand million dollars a year on a school system which appears to be turning out an ever increasing number of undisciplined, irresponsible, greedy, often near-illiterate, lawless individuals who don't give a tinker's curse for the country, their mates or anyone else.

It appears that Australia is on the road to turning its school system into poor-quality child minding as both parents, in thousands of households, have been forced to take up jobs in order to eke out an existence. One outcome is that universities now often have to teach what was formerly taught at the senior school level. The value of a bachelor's degree from many institutions has been devalued and often fails to impress employers. Students who wish to get ahead now require a higher degree or several degrees or to go on to a second university.