Mixed up with the question of fairness to individuals and groups has been the explosive question of whether individuals and groups have the innate ability to perform at the same levels, if they are all treated alike or even given the same objective opportunities. . . .

Achievement gaps between students of different genders and racial, economic, and linguistic groups are large and persistent for the nation’s top-performing students, even as they seem to be narrowing for K-12 students as a whole, according to a new report. . . .

President Obama last Friday elicited snickers from some members of the House Republican Conference when he declared, "I'm not an ideologue." . . .

Unlike this president, John Kennedy was an ironist who never fell for his own mystique. . . .