Anyone who teaches in an American college or university and is over 50 knows – but may not admit or confess – that the average freshman is below, often far below, what was average even as recently as 20 years ago. The deficiencies are in math skills, history, knowledge of science and, of course, in the ability to write or comprehend real English. Nor are theses deficiencies necessarily corrected by the time the freshman has become a senior.

The “Common Core” movement is the latest panacea and is financially backed by the federal government. It is in operation in some states and debated with increasing anger in all of them.  Here, drawing from the recent book in which they debated whether the common core should be implemented or discarded, are two leading conservative observers of the educational scene. On the “pro” side is Sol Stern of the Manhattan Institute. On the “con” side is Peter Wood, President of the National Scholars Association. The disagreement is intense and the stakes are very high for a country that spends more than any other on education and yet is exceeded in educational attainment – and, perhaps even in the essential skills of literacy – by half of the rest of the world.

We drew together two members of our “A-Team” and a major Democratic strategist. They are: old friend and regular Chris Robling; the Chicago Tribune’s great editorial cartoonist, Scott Stantis: and joining us for the first time, Kevin Lampe who really is and has long been an election manager and consultant for Democratic party candidates.

Our friendly combatants zero in on a number of expected and unexpected issues and questions.

Among them are:

• T-Tip. Whazzat?
• Obama’s personality as a factor in the great humiliation of his party;
• 32 million green cards for illegals and Republican responsibility for encouraging border-jumping;
• As campaigners, all new Republican Senators  called for full repeal of Obamacare;
• How the life of one of the discussants may have been saved by Obamacare;
• The banning of the  pipeline and the planned death of coal;
• Hillary as failed campaigner;
• The continuing war within the Republican Party;
• Obama’s penchant for “executive actions” and what the new majority (and the Supreme Court?) might do about it;
• Racism, sexism, homophobia and the minimum wage as worn-out Democratic ploys;
• And, oh yes, our problems elsewhere, including Iraq, ISIS, Putin and Ukraine, the Chinese challenge

This was based on a prediction from, of all people , George Will. The 2001 conversation deals with “the psychology of religion,” a course that I was teaching at the time. Some 13 years later Cardinal George was about to retire but remained one of the great intellectual presences within the Catholic church.

That can easily be said of the most actively litigious member of the Harvard Law faculty. Though as an old friend – we came from the same Brooklyn neighborhood – I can fault him for his participation in the defense of O.J. Simpson, he is always worth close attention. Whether telling tales from the courtroom or clarifying the politics of the Middle East or the U.S., his presentation is inevitably fascinating. Here he is in full form in a 2000 conversation.

Was it the worst week since 2009? Chris Robling and Charles Lipson do so aver as they examine:

• the new civil war in Iraq and how we helped bring it on;
• the flooding of the border with some 60,000 Latin American children;
• the dysfunctionality of Obamacare;
• the edging toward crime by the IRS;
• and the many other crises and regressions of prior weeks that are now obscured by those that hit the air-circulator this last week.