For a quarter of a century, Republican presidential candidates have uttered variations of George H. W. Bush’s high pitched pledge: “I want to be the education president.” It has gotten them exactly nowhere. So far, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is trying a different approach, one that dovetails interestingly with some surprising changes in how colleges run themselves. Simply put, Governor Walker urged universities in the badger state to teach more and spend less. Now, universities far from badgerland are actually trying, in their academic way, to do just that. For example, just about every issue of the GW Hatchet at...