Whatever mantras Christine Blower and the NUT trot out primly, there is nothing in a dumbed down, low grade degree from a second rate university which automatically creates a good teacher.
We want to turn first-rate universities into second-rate businesses.
But we waste time and effort debating the merits of the second-rate research of second-rate applied mathematicians in second-rate universities.
In reality, France has two-tier higher education: its world-class grandes écoles cater to a tiny elite, and its broadly second-rate universities fail the masses.
Thus in a state that became known for first-rate universities, it was illegal to buy a cocktail for most of the 20th century.
If U.S. Steel was to keep its Pittsburgh executives happy, and if it was to attract new ones from elsewhere, it needed a city with first-rate universities, the Steelers and the Pirates and -- oh, yes -- a symphony orchestra.
Of course Chinese education is still hobbled by rural mud-brick schools that are in a shambles, by peasants who pull their daughters out of school, by third-rate universities.
With that kind of money, plus the federal matching dollars it would bring, Texas could have several first-rate universities, strong public schools and community colleges, and health and human services that aren't an embarrassment.
