Chart of the Week:
The Big 10:
1 in 3 students say some level of violence acceptable to stop campus speech: survey | The College Fix
The sensational—and somewhat misleading—headline aside, the environment for free speech on campus is not encouraging. Of 257 schools sampled, 166 received an “F” for promoting dialogue about divergent views, with just 11 schools receiving higher than a “C.” As Abraham Lincoln said, “I don’t like that man… I must get to know him better.”
Too many college students | The Washington Post
Degree inflation and fading rigor are turning “college for all” into credentials over competence. Study time and expectations are down while GPAs float up…perverse incentives dressed up as progress. We need to steer more students to skills-first pathways and measure colleges on learning and outcomes, not marketing.
A Blueprint to Save College Athletics: Add More Athletes | Next Up With Adam Breneman
Interesting perspective from the CEO of IMG Academy, Brent Richard, which works with over 300K high school athletes. IMG Academy, sold to Nord Anglia in 2023, not only has 1,600 boarding student‑athletes but also offers online coaching, camps, and recruiting services. Richard’s and former Florida State QB Drew Weatherford’s solution to the chaos in college sports is to lean in and increase the supply of college athletes.
Don’t Learn to Code, Learn to Think and Adapt | Minding the Campus
For the past twenty years, the advice from the smart people was to learn to code. Now, with technology replacing the technologist, there is a glut of people with programming skills and a dearth of people who can think on the fly. With the half‑life of skills going from 30 years in 1980 to 5 years today—and technical skills having a half‑life of 2.5 years—the most important thing to know is how to learn.
5 takeaways from another round of disappointing NAEP results | K-12 Dive
So seriously, what is it going to take for America to stand up and take dramatic action to improve learning in our public schools? We wring our hands and blame things like COVID as the reason the test results are a train wreck, but at some point, we need to take responsibility and make changes urgently. As a nation, when you have the worst 12th‑grade math scores in history, it stops being just an “isn’t it a shame students aren’t doing better” issue and becomes a national competitiveness and security issue.
Why We Need New Ways To Invest in Education Organizations | The Future of Education
To be clear, we are for all of the above as long as it has a positive impact for learners. Different organizations have different goals, time horizons, and realities to their offering that may require alternative funding strategies. That said, we believe the great organizations of tomorrow will combine “purpose” with “profits” for sustainability and scale…having the ambition of a for‑profit with the heart of a not‑for‑profit.
Today is Constitution Day | Forza…for Education
Founder of Washington, DC‑based Center for Education Reform, Jeanne Allen has been a powerful advocate for dramatically changing our public schools for over 30 years. The disastrous NAEP scores last week became a five‑alarm fire: fewer than 35% of 12th graders are proficient in reading; the gap between top and bottom science scores is the largest ever; 12th‑grade math scores are so bad that there isn’t enough lipstick to make the data look better. Control‑Alt‑Delete—and we don’t have another day to waste.
2026 College Free Speech Rankings: America’s colleges get an ‘F’ for poor free speech climate | FIRE
As referenced in article #1 above, the protection of free speech on college campuses is a gigantic problem. Not surprising, given the chaos we saw on TV: Columbia was ranked the worst school in the United States for protecting free speech…but, surprisingly, Indiana University was right there with them. Best schools were Claremont McKenna and Indiana’s other Big Ten university, Purdue. Also listed as one of the best schools for free speech was Vanderbilt, which—if you haven’t noticed—is doing a lot of things right.
Small, Rural Central California High School Continues To Defy Standardized Education | Getting Smart
Necessity is the mother of invention. Faced with a “do or die” ultimatum, Minarets High School in Central California became one of the most innovative and award‑winning by going all‑in on being digital, being different, and being desperate. Project‑based learning, personalized education through technology, creativity, and real‑world experience are all hallmarks of Minarets’ success.
The Exponential Enterprise…AI and the Flourishing Workforce | ASU+GSV Summit
Conversations about AI fixate on the future of work, but the real debate is about the future of mankind.
Will AI accelerate job loss and displacement, or unlock humanity’s pull toward purpose—freeing time for deeper creativity, innovation, and meaning at work?
Join us to explore how enterprises can move beyond “the future of work” toward an era of human flourishing on Monday, Sept 22 at 11:00 AM ET / 8:00 AM PT.
Register for free here.
