Murray on Education

After reading Coming Apart, I looked into more of Murray's work and found that he also wrote a book on American education titled Real Education: Four Simple Truths for Bringing America's Schools Back to Reality. The four simple truths are:

1. ability varies
2. half of children are below average
3.too many people are going to college
4. the future of the nation depends on how we educate the academically gifted

Murray argues that people without above average abilities are not fit for true college level education and that many children cannot learn more than rudimentary reading and math. He argues that very few people actually benifit from a BA. He also proposes that America's future depends on how we educate the academically gifted who will run the country. He talks briefly about these views here and less briefly here.

I find it interesting that Murray supports views on education that could further stratify the nation by accelerating the class formations identified in Coming Apart. A large part of what differentiates Belmont from Fishtown is quality and level of education. Murray's views seem as though they support the disparity. Although it is not certain that Murray is completely against class formation, he is certainly worried about the trends that have declined especially in Fishtown. These trends have been witnessed in a time of increasing seperation between the upper class and the lower class. So although his views on  education and social trajectory do not conflict, I found them to be a curious combination. I am interested to hear what you guys think.