"there was no real system to prepare students for college. the colleges themselves were run for the benefit of the professors, who taught whatever they wanted to and declared students to be educated merely because they had signed up for and passed a certain number of courses. even so, most students who entered college didn't graduate. and of the college students who did finish, the very worst went on to become teachers."--nicholas lemann in "
the big test," describing american education circa the 1920s.