Comments Elsewhere

Come on Max, everyone knows that what strapped government schools in low-income areas need is standardized tests. Piles and piles of standardized tests, day in and day out. Nothing inspires a love of learning like endless scantron paperwork.

In all seriousness, I think this is a great idea, both for high schools and for colleges. High school students get systematically exposed to a much richer set of options and experience a certain amount of the freedom and responsibility that comes with a college setting. Colleges, hopefully, get the joy of fewer students showing up at the age of 18, allegedly for full-time college work, while still needing a couple semesters’ worth of remedial training in basic English composition skills. (Of course, they would have to deal with 14-16 year olds showing up while still needing a couple of semesters’ worth of basic English composition skills, but that means less time wasted on the stupid stuff when they’re actually settling in to make college their full-time gig.)