Lucas Tomlinson reports on America's education crisis, where women now outpace men in high school and college graduation rates. Richard Reeves notes education has become'female-coded,' while Dr. College graduation speeches say a lot about the state of higher education — sometimes without intending to. The report has prompted swift reactions from officials and advocacy groups alike.

Background

This situation has been building for some time, shaped by a series of interconnected events.

Such is life on campus today: A few schools overperform and offer students a meaningful experience but far too several award young Americans with little more than expensive disappointment.

HIGHER EDUCATION IS FAILING STUDENTS — CONGRESS IS RIGHT TO ACT For those who think that critique is overstated, consider the chaos surrounding graduation ceremonies in 2026.

Adding to the complexity of the situation, at New York University, students unironically booed and some walked out on Jonathan Haidt, the social psychologist whose work has exposed, among other things, the cancel culture entrenched in higher education.

International Reaction

Those following the situation closely say this marks a meaningful shift.

As a distinguished cadre of researchers, professors, and college presidents explain in Higher Education in America: It ’ s Worse than You Think, ideological disagreement is too often met with cancelation, intimidation, and even violence.

Alongside the primary story, meanwhile, the overwhelming ideological conformity among college faculty has starved students of rigorous debate and the honest pursuit of truth.

Meanwhile, sources familiar with the matter indicate that as noted in the volume ’ s introduction,'' The great project of liberal education, designed to inculcate knowledge of the truth, appreciation of the beautiful, and the civic virtue necessary to advance both, has been replaced by bureaucracies, activism, anti-Western ideology, and empty credentialism.''

What It Means

The broader implications of this development are already coming into focus.

Colleges and universities should inspire students to seek truth.

Significantly, lawmakers can pass reforms and police can remove agitators, but campus culture will not recover unless university representatives themselves are committed to defending truth and rejecting every form of racism.

Meanwhile, sources familiar with the matter indicate that we have each served in different capacities in higher education, Kevin as professor and college president and Chris as a board member.

In a detail that has not gone unnoticed, that starts with restoring high expectations for academic performance ( notice Harvard ’ s recent choice to cap the number of A ’ s that will be awarded to students next year); the utter and complete rejection of racial discrimination on campus; and the ongoing simplification and eventual sunset of the federal student loan system.

Further developments have shed additional light on the matter. rebuilding those institutions must begin now.

Next Steps

The implications of what has transpired will take time to fully understand. In the interim, this development stands as a significant moment in a story that is still being written.