In 1969, under John Lindsay, New York City instituted "open admissions," meaning that anyone who graduated from high school could enroll in a college of the CUNY system. Since this coincided with a drastic decline in the City's elementary and secondary public schools, the result was a number of freshmen who, as WFB puts it, "couldn't read or write well enough to profit from higher education" (cf. Firing Lines #S277, #S1039). Comes now Herman Badillo--a veteran New York politico, born in

Puerto Rico but educated in New York City (before the decline)--with a resolution to end open admissions. His main opponent is Mr. Sullivan, Chairman of the Assembly's Committee on Higher Education, and they have at it here, civilly but passionately. ECS: "One of the things Mr. Badillo has done ... is to try to denigrate a degree from City University. Did you know that John Jay College, which specializes in criminal justice, was voted by the peers around the country as the finest college in criminal justice in the United States? Harvard was second...." HB: "But let me give you another figure which is very depressing. ... At City College, which was the flagship institution, over 60 per cent of the students who get a bachelor's degree or a master's degree in education to be teachers, they get a degree and they cannot pass the teacher's exam."