CHARLES MURRAY is the author of two of the most widely debated and influential social policy books in the last three decades,iLosing Ground: American Social Policy 1950–1980/iand, with the late Richard J. Herrnstein,iThe Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life/i. He is the W. H. Brady Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C.With four simple truths as his framework, Charles Murray, the bestselling coauthor ofiThe Bell Curve/i, sweeps away the hypocrisy, wishful thinking, and upside-down priorities that grip America’s educational establishment.brbrAbility varies. Children differ in their ability to learn academic material. Doing our best for every child requires, above all else, that we embrace that simplest of truths. America’s educational system does its best to ignore it.brbrHalf of the children are below average. Many children cannot learn more than rudimentary reading and math.iReal Education/ireviews what we know about the limits of what schools can do and the results of four decades of policies that require schools to divert huge resources to unattainable goals.brbrToo many people are going to college. Almost everyone should get training beyond high school, but the number of students who want, need, or can profit from four years of residential education at the college level is a fraction of the number of young people who are struggling to get a degree. We have set up a standard known as the BA, stripped it of its traditional content, and made it an artificial job qualification. Then we stigmatize everyone who doesn’t get one. For most of America’s young people, today’s college system is a punishing anachronism.brbrAmerica’s future depends on how we educate the academically gifted. An elite already runs the country, whether we like it or not. Since everything we watch, hear, and read is produced by that elite, and since every business and gover@*³33333 ¾Û€