OPINION:
Aram Bakshian’s review of Bryan Caplan’s book, “The Case Against Education: Why the Education System is a Waste of Time and Money” (“The educator has no clothes,” Web, March 7) is on the money. In particular, I can attest to Mr. Bakshian’s point that, as a copy boy, he “absorbed enough good writing and learned enough about the process itself” to build his own writing career.
I learned more being paid to write than I ever did as an English major at the University of Virginia, and I am a proud graduate of that university. As an example, it is incorrect to say, “We have over 2,000 cars in stock.” It should be “more than” because “over” denotes a spatial relationship (as in “He hit the ball over my head.”). I learned that from my boss, the editor of a magazine I was hired to work for. It is also incorrect to write, as many do, “We have a myriad of choices.” It should be, “We have myriad choices.” I learned that from a writer with years more experience than I had.
It is one thing to write for a grade; it is another thing to write for a living. (Note the correct use of the semicolon.) In the latter case, if you don’t learn and improve, you don’t keep the job.
BRUCE G. KAUFFMAN
Alexandria, Virginia
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