ABSTRACT
Universal education is a precondition for both upward mobility and for productive labor and high wages. Immigration is one of the defining issues in America today. The deficiencies of American education are not confined to the elementary and high schools. The vagueness of intellectual standards— or in many cases the near absence of standards— found there may be inevitable consequences of the freedom that higher education requires. The torrent of illegal immigration and the obvious indifference of our elected leaders—"indifference" being perhaps a too kind word for their reaction— casts doubt among the public. The immigration that is not enhancing our productivity, but that causes our fellow citizens to be left behind and their ambitions thwarted, is primarily legal immigration. The vast variety of subjects that a university offers, and the extreme diversity of programs that the students follow, makes any kind of simple "standards" program unfeasible.
