The clever fool syndrome would explain why one controversial study of Harvard Business School students found that, after a flying start, the alumni (presumably among the ablest young men of their day) gradually slipped back to the general level inside their chosen management ＿＿（11）＿＿ . A Harvard graduate has no reason at all to suppose that he will manage more effectively than a less instructed contemporary. The Harvard man can only claim that he is more highly educated; and high education and high achievement in practical affairs don't necessarily go together. John F Kennedy found that assembling America's brightest brains in Washington neither got bills ＿＿（12）＿＿ Congress nor avoided the Bay of Pigs; and many companies have discovered that business school diplomas are a thin ＿＿（13）＿＿ against incompetence. An overwhelmingly large proportion of the highest and best American executives did study business. All this proves that an overwhelmingly large proportion of business-minded undergraduates got the real message, which is that a diploma will be good for their careers, starting with starting salaries. It does not follow that the education was of any other direct benefit either to the executive or his firm. ＿＿（14）＿＿ , of course, that the schooling was wasted. As a general rule, the wise man recruits the finest intelligence he can find; and good minds are far better for good training. The question is only whether academic training in subjects that seem to have some connection with management ＿＿（15）＿＿ the best education for managing, and that is something that nobody can prove either way.