Quote: "The notion of a single exam implies there are national standards, and that implies a national curriculum. Then we are on the way to a centralized Prussian education system." David Warren, president of the National Association of Independent Colleges, in the New York Times.
Figure of Speech: Slippery Slope, the fallacy of dire consequences.
A presidential commission has recommended standardized tests for college students, similar to the national exams that torture high schoolers. David Warren's response -- a dark vision of a goose-stepping educational future -- constitutes a perfect Slippery Slope. The fallacy assumes that a decision will lead to disaster.
Gun nuts love the Slippery Slope. Ban bazookas, and pretty soon feds in black helicopters will be targeting innocent quail hunters! It's a rhetorical fallacy because it assumes that precedence dictates everything, that people are incapable of making one rational choice at a time.
Not that Figaro would want to be tested himself. The results wouldn't be pretty.
Snappy Answer: "As a Prussian-American, I am offended by that ethnic slur."