This episode of Uncommon Knowledge features Andrew Ferguson, a former speechwriter for President George H. W. Bush and the current senior editor at the Weekly Standard. The author of Fools’ Names and Land of Lincoln, Ferguson’s most recent book is entitled Crazy U: One Dad’s Crash Course in Getting His Kid Into College.
What does the experience of getting our children into college tell us about the state of higher education today and about ourselves? Recounting his experience in guiding his son through this process, Ferguson discusses the voluminous amount of information available today about colleges and universities (from the U.S. News rankings to the glossy brochures sent out by admission departments) but insists that it remains impossible to get an answer to the one essential question that every parent has, “Is there any learning going on at this school?”
