Newmark's Door

"The claims that organic food is safer, healthier, and better for the environment are simply false."

The admissions process at our leading colleges and universities is either very funny or very sad. Probably a mixture of both. Here, in the Chronicle of Higher Education[!], is a look at the incredible arrogance of some the admissions folks.

For instance, one recommendation is for admissions to begin “Assessing Students’ Daily Awareness of and Contributions to Others.” It is a subtle mystery how an admissions office would discern an applicant’s daily awareness of anything, let alone of “others.” . . . .

The reformers’ big idea is to take a process defined by unwonted nosiness and presumption and make it nosier and more presumptuous. . . .

Real reform would make the process simpler and less time-consuming, less mysterious and morally presumptuous. As I mentioned above, a lottery stands out as a good option. Admissions bureaucrats faced with thousands more applicants than they can accept soon reach a level of arbitrariness. At that point, they launch an inquisition of their applicants’ souls. This makes little sense academically but allows them to stage a powerful, utterly undeserved disciplinary claim on the inner lives of teenagers — that is the abiding scandal of college admissions.

Noted economist Scott Sumner offers five predictions. Here's #4:

For many lower-skilled younger people it will be the best summer of their life. Three months without having to work and without the fear of Covid, all paid for by Uncle Sam.

Michael Barone explains.

One good thing to come out of the pandemic.

Related: "Star Brooklyn student pleads with state politicians to expand charter schools".

When do Illinois voters simply insist on substantial change?

A concise exposition of the reasons why it has lost credibility.

See also "Death and Lockdowns: There’s no proof that lockdowns save lives but plenty of evidence that they end them" and "The Failure of Imperial College Modeling Is Far Worse than We Knew".

Related: "Corona-Recapitulation" and "‘Pause’ on Johnson & Johnson Vaccine Reveals One Systemic Flaw Plaguing the FDA".

Kevin Williamson, doing what he does so well.

He insists that young Americans are being crushed by student-loan debt “that they can never hope to repay,” when in fact the average student debt is about as big a burden as buying a reasonably well-appointed Toyota Camry, something young Americans manage to do with some regularity — without the benefit of federally subsidized interest rates and a very long repayment schedule.

The average monthly student-loan payment is $393. Pardon me if I don’t sing a number from Les Misérables.

A powerful piece by economist Glenn Loury.

An African-American professor looks at the United States and sees the greatest force for human liberty on the planet.

Yow.

The MBA isn’t what it used to be. . . .

But after 2020, the MBA meaning has been downgraded even further. For a growing subset of employers, a MBA degree on a resume may potentially pose a negative signal.