Education: Irony in Poland

Of all the universities in Poland, none is held in higher esteem among true scholars—and none is in a sadder state of repair—than the Catholic University of Lublin. Its run-down main building still bears the pockmarks left by World War II shells. Its students live five to a room, and the thin stew they get for lunch could well stand more meat. But as all Poles know, there is one thing that Lublin has in abundance. "Throughout all the difficult years." says the rector, Father Marian Rechowicz, "we survived on spirit."

The only private university in the Communist world (it is under...