With everything boiling over; with everyone rapping, yakking, or latrating, it would restore dignity to a number of America’s newspapers if the objectivity of their reporting would harden in direct proportion to the subjectivity of the story being reported.

The process of credential inflation is largely self-driven; it feeds on itself. A given level of education at one time gave access to elite jobs. As educational attainment has expanded, the social distinctiveness of that degree and its value on the occupational marketplace have declined; this in turn has expanded demand for still higher levels of education.

The wind kited us toward shore.

But like a foul misshapen stigmatic,