Higher Education

Charles Sheffield & Jerry Pournelle

Rick Luban is in a high school in the not-too-distant future of the United States. The school system has gotten to the point where there are cameras in every room to protect everybody's rights, students and teachers. Also, to be fair, education and tests have been made to not overchallenge. It has evolved to the point that when a student graduates from high school s/he is lucky to be able to read two syllable words or basic math. But it is fair to everybody...

Teens are still teens, though. Rick and his group pull pratcical jokes on teachers. Unfortunately, he was caught on one prank that got out of hand. He was expelled. A teacher followed him and gave him a lecture and a job lead. Rick accepted both, and soon finds himself in a competition for a job working in the mines in space in the asteroid belt. How is this supposed to be better than school? Here they can't sue somebody if their "rights" are violated - they have signed away their rights to the privately owned company.

Rick wants to quit, but can't decide what else he would do. If he returns to his old life, his "stepfather" would kick him out. The job situation is dim with a high school diploma, and worse without one. Besides, he is in competition with another trainee. He wants to prove himself.

Although I didn't see any designation as such, this enjoyable novel reads like a young adult book. It is a space thriller, using the tones of the science fiction of the 1950's. It starts with a scary statement of how our school system could progress downwards. It changes gears halfway through and turns into a space opera with some interesting twists as the antogonist(s) of the story become involved. I didn't have a clue before the final denouement. This is a fun novel.