(Oxford, England) So here I am in Harry Potter land, the medieval college town of Oxford. Very old buildings, tons of pubs with names like "The Fainting Goat" and "The Depressed Sparrow." Exteriors of the Potter movies were often shot here because 16th-century buildings are all over the place, and Harry is wild about them.

German bombers avoided Oxford during World War II because the Nazis wanted to occupy the city once they vanquished England. Didn't work out, of course. Henry the Eighth shut down some of the schools here because they were run by Catholics. Didn't last long. The friars outlasted Hank.

The magic of Oxford is somewhat subdued by this fact: only about 23 percent of British students get a college degree. That low number is because access to higher education depends on how the teenagers score on their "A-Level" exam. Since the semi-socialist government in London pays for college, it keeps the university population down. And most high school students can't compete with the brainiacs. So, they learn trades and become working-class adults.

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In the USA, students have much more opportunity, with close to 60 percent having some college credits. But the government does not pay your way. Check that. President Biden will if you borrowed money from the feds to go to school. The catch is he wants you to vote for him.

As Harry Potter well knows, Oxford is one of the top higher educational systems in the world. But most Brits can't get near it, just as most American students can't get into Harvard. Unfair?

Not in a meritocracy where smarts and skills dictate outcomes. However, there is something very unfair about using a test for teens to define a life, is there not?

Many of us kicked into gear later than age 17. That was my situation. In America, potential is not suppressed by a single test. In Britain, it is.

Just another example of a very important thing: the United States has more opportunities to pursue happiness than any other place in the world.

The progressive totalitarians might not care about that, but the poor person wading across the Rio Grande certainly does. Maybe their kid may one day attend Oxford, as my son is doing.

But, trust me, he wouldn't be here if he were a British subject.

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