Three education stories -- two interesting and one important

Matt Yglesias and Brad DeLong have an interesting exchange about competition in higher education. I'm not sure either nails it but both make some good points.

Another qualified recommendation for this Salon piece. There's not much here that hasn't occurred to almost everyone who ever taught high school English or freshman comp. For everyone else, though, it's a useful glimpse into the reality of these classes.

And a recommendation without qualifiers for Dana Goldstein's 'The History of "LIFO."' Goldstein shows how a term that was up until recently an obscure piece of accounting jargon has become a powerful rhetorical tool in the reform movement.