Why US colleges are lowering academic standards to accommodate Gen Z?
Generation Z is often labelled as one of the most “entitled” generations. They are frequently sobriqueted with names such as “too sensitive,” “too impatient,” and overly accustomed to accommodation. It is a charge echoed by employers, older academics, and cultural critics alike. But here is the uncomfortable truth now surfacing: universities themselves are lightening academic curricula for this so-called “entitled generation,” according to a report by the New York Post.Across the US, colleges are quietly lowering academic standards, not because students are excelling, but because institutions are afraid to ask more. Afraid of disengagement. Afraid of poor evaluations. Afraid of confronting how much academic ground has been lost. The message increasingly sounds like this: if you are failing a subject, don’t worry, you don’t need to study harder, we will change the syllabus. As unreal as this may sound, it is fast becoming the reality at elite colleges in the so-called “land of opportunities.”
When reading one book becomes a semester-long task
Start with reading. At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a flagship public university, students can enrol in a three-credit course titled One Big Book That’s Worth It, as reported by The New York Post. The catalogue promises to guide students “slowly and carefully” through a single long book, reassuring them that the effort will, in fact, be worthwhile.That reassurance is the tell.UNC is not alone. Smith College offers similar single-book courses. The University of Pennsylvania’s “One Series” revolves around one text per semester: Moby-Dick, Richard III, and Invisible Man. These are serious works. But once, they were part of a demanding reading list, not the whole list.There was a time when Columbia University’s core curriculum expected students to read up to 150 pages per class per week. No framing, no coaxing. Reading was not an accomplishment; it was the entry price.So what changed? And why are universities pretending that sustained attention is now an unreasonable demand?
Remedial Math at Harvard Should Alarm Everyone
The softening doesn’t end with literature. Earlier this year, Harvard introduced Math MA, a course designed to provide “extra support” in algebra, geometry, and quantitative reasoning. This is remedial math at a university that admits roughly 4% of applicants as reported by the New York Post article.Harvard framed the move as inclusive. But the question writes itself: if students admitted to the most selective institution in the country need high-school-level math support, what exactly does “elite” now mean?Is the problem that students can’t meet the standard, or that universities no longer believe standards matter?
Teaching sentence structure after admission
Writing offers an even starker picture. At Fairleigh Dickinson University, students can earn credit for Fundamentals of Writing, a course meant to teach “college-level literacy skills” and the conventions of Standard English. At the University of Nevada, students who struggle with sentence structure and paragraph development can take Preparatory Composition.These are not advanced academic skills. They are prerequisites.How did students who need instruction in sentence construction write their admissions essays? How do they pass courses built on argument, analysis, and clarity? And how much of that work is now quietly being outsourced to AI?
When remedial becomes the degree
Some universities have abandoned remedial courses altogether. Not because they are unnecessary, but because too many students need them.In 2018, the University of California system eliminated non-credit remedial classes. Instead, students were allowed to stretch a semester’s worth of material across two semesters, while still receiving credit. CUNY followed a similar path when remedial classes became so crowded they were effectively the norm.When CUNY began phasing out remediation, the system reported that 78% of incoming associate-degree students required remedial coursework when the process began in 2016.That is not remediation disappearing. That is the baseline being redefined.
This didn’t start yesterday
Former Duke professor Stuart Rojstaczer, a longtime critic of grade inflation, has argued that colleges have always graduated disengaged students. In most classes, he noted, about 20% of students are serious and driven, while another 20% barely open a book and still walk away with a degree.What has changed is how openly universities now design their systems around the latter group.The justification is always framed as empathy. Students are anxious. The pandemic disrupted learning. Attention spans have collapsed. All of this is true.But here’s the harder question: At what point does empathy turn into academic dishonesty?A recent UC San Diego study found a 30-fold increase over five years in the number of students unable to perform basic arithmetic. That is not a temporary dip. It is a structural failure.Lowering standards doesn’t repair that failure. It conceals it.
What are colleges actually preparing students for ?
College was never meant to be easy. It was meant to be demanding. It was where students learned how to read long texts, think deeply, write clearly, and persist through discomfort.When institutions remove those demands, they don’t protect students. They mislead them.The real world does not offer “slow and careful” guidance through one task at a time. Employers do not hand out credit for effort alone. Deadlines are real. Expectations are fixed. Attention is assumed.So what happens when students raised in a softened academic environment collide with a world that has not lowered its standards?Gen Z is often accused of entitlement. But entitlement isn’t born in students. It’s taught by institutions that reward minimal effort, cushion every failure, and redefine rigor downward.The real question isn’t why students struggle. It’s why colleges are so unwilling to let them struggle and grow at all.
