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ON FEBRUARY 25th Rick Santorum, the second-ranking Republican presidential hopeful, calledPresident Barack Obama a snob for advisingeveryone to get themselves a college education.America, apparently, is a nation of snobs. In arecent poll 94% of parents said they expected theirchildren to go to college. And in January almost60% of Americans aged 16 to 24 were enrolled inone, an all-time high for that month. 2月25日，美国排名第二的共和党总统候选人瑞克?桑托伦声称奥巴马总统鼓励每个人接受大学教育为势利之举。显然，美国是势利之国。最近一项投票显示，94%的家长希望他们的子女能上大学。1月份，将近60%16-24岁的美国人被至少一所大学录取，创造了空前的记录。 Enrolment has been rising for decades, egged on by parents, presidents of both politicalstripes and the rising wage premium thatcollege graduates command. The recession added an extra kick. Enrolment rose from 57%in the 2007-08 academic year to 59% in 2010-11. 几十年来，大学录取率持续攀升，这不仅得益于学生家长、两派总统们的大力支持，亦归功于大学毕业生所得工资奖励日益升高。经济衰退增加了这一趋势。录取率由2007-08学年的57%上升至2010-11学年的59%。 Unemployment always hits the young particularly hard, reducing the opportunity cost ofgoing back to full-time education. An expansion of both federal Pell grants, from 5.5m in2007-08 to 9.6m in 2011-12, and of college tax credits has helped defray costs, which mayhelp explain why the share of students holding down jobs also dropped sharply after 2008. | 
