Bret Stephens is a mainstream Republican and a conservative, and well educated to boot. Of course this essay was highly ironic - we all (many of us anyway) know that our laws forbid banishment of citizens for any reason.

I agree that our nation needs better educated citizens, yet we know that you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. In other words, the student has to be willing to study. Many of our poor students come from generations of uneducated ancestors; their families may not see education as a necessity. The current generation of illiterates probably can't be saved. The road to respect for education may take generations to travel. On the other hand we can quickly get educated willing workers with immigrants, as Stephens points out, and Stephens is also right that immigrants both legal and illegal commit crime at a far lower rate than citizens do. Public works jobs may be needed to help our most afflicted communities in the meantime.