The celebration of mediocrity is on full bloom at Cuesta Community 67. ______ College in San Luis Obispo, Calif. Cuesta has instituted a lottery system for admission to it’s nursing program. This semester, 38 names were pulled 68. ______ at randomly from 156 "qualified applicants" —those with at least C averages 69. ______ in core courses. According to the chancellor of California’s community colleges, grade point averages are an "artificial barrier" to professional school admission. "We can’t discriminate in favor of students who get A’s over students those who may be getting B’s," says Amy Grant, dean of 70. ______ nursing instruction at Cuesta. Prior this year, nursing school admissions at 71. ______ Cuesta were determined by grade point average, recommendations, medical experience, and an interview. College officials deny that they are attempting to circumvent California’ s Proposition 209. which bans affirmative action in state hiring and admissions. There is a substantial anti-elitism in American life. Job applicants are 72. ______ ejected for being "overeducated" or "over-qualified". David Halberstam 73. ______ wrote scornfully of "the best and the brightest" and the "whiz kid" who got 74. ______ us into Vietnam. The intellectual inclined arc dismissed as "eggheads." 75. ______ Many college students wear Homer Simpson T-shirts: "Underachiever and proud of it." NBA players who threaten to kill their coaches earn more in two weeks than many educators earn in a decade. And Dan Quayle or Ronald Reagan certainly didn’t win admission in Phi Beta Kappa. The Cuesta 76. ______ lottery admissions program is consistent with the ration’s revolt against academic standards.