Answers to these questions are obvious, at least in outline. Sound, informed choices regarding the above issues would have required an understanding of the fundamentals of economic theory, an understanding of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and the evolution of these documents, and an understanding of the differences between the methods of scientific reasoning and the pseudo-scientific methods favored by some Virginia (and non-Virginia) politicians.

Even this brief list illustrates the betrayal of public trust, for the new curriculum does not require W&M students to take a single course in any social science, including economics, or a course in American history or government. It probably will not require a course in natural science, depending on decisions yet to be made (and any reduction in scientific literacy is problematic, given the anti-intellectual culture we live in). And this brief list generalizes; the skills and knowledge integral to self-governance are no longer required at W&M.