Education: Back to Jefferson

President Colgate W. Darden Jr. of the University of Virginia fired a resounding blast last week against an old U.S. ideal. "In our enthusiasm for mass education," said Darden, "we have overdone it. By keeping inferior students in high school, we have watered down the educational job we could do for good students . . . We imposed on the teaching profession a grand and glorified day nursery. They are not running scholarly institutions." Darden's recommendation: "Return to public education as Jefferson saw it... Teach every child to read and write. After that ... we must leave public education open to the competent students . . . But we need not coddle the incompetent."