Dear Weekend Jolter,

Thanksgiving weekend is a time to reflect on family, food, good fortune, and the cultural inheritance we as Americans enjoy and pass on.

But the compact between generations may be breaking down in important ways. Michael Brendan Dougherty recently took the Boomers to task, faulting them for rising pessimism about the attainability of the American dream and for the conditions that feed into it. When it comes to failures in the education system, however, we Millennials and Gen Xers (who make up the lion’s share of teachers) share blame — and this may prove a more challenging problem to solve than even the U.S. housing market.

The Atlantic recently flagged a report from UC San Diego on the sharp decline in math skills for incoming freshmen, an issue seen, albeit to lesser degrees, throughout the University of California system and beyond. The findings should set off alarms.

The university report found that between 2020 and 2025, “the number of students whose math skills fall below high school level increased nearly thirtyfold; moreover, 70% of those students fall below middle school levels, reaching roughly one in twelve members of the entering cohort.” The number of incoming students placed in a remedial math course surged in that period, as instructors noticed a “marked change in the skill gaps.” While that course originally was designed to cover high school math, “now most students had knowledge gaps that went back much further, to middle and even elementary school.”

The authors drew a connection to the education-related side effects of Covid policies, “the elimination of standardized testing, grade inflation, and the expansion of admissions from under-resourced high schools.” They called, among other things, for the UC system to consider reinstating standardized testing, as other institutions have done, and to investigate “disparities” in high school grading standards.

But as The Atlantic noted, tightening up admissions will not address the general and growing problem of innumeracy: Relaxed standards, the pernicious influence of smartphones and social media, and an attitude that AI simply obviates the need for young people to learn math all require close examination. So, for that matter, does the fact that elements of the American education apparatus are fixated still on ideological pursuits when more traditional, apolitical instruction is so obviously needed to arrest and reverse these trends.

Daniel Buck published a startling report on NRO last weekend on the persistence of progressivism in K–12 schools and beyond:

Most everywhere you look in American education, the very “radical indoctrination” that Trump supposedly banned persists, and it’s not even particularly hidden: Major districts push pride curricula; leading professorial associations endorse Hamas by hosting roundtables such as “Intifada isn’t a Metaphor,” and prioritize research focused on identity and equity instead of classroom management and instruction; and major educational publishing companies feature glorified agitprop in place of actual instructional materials.

While he notes efforts to counter this kind of activism in the schools, it has a stubborn grip. Even in the Trump era, reading, writing, and arithmetic compete for attention with race, class, and gender. Haley Strack reported on a planned National Education Association training for “Advancing LGBTQ+ Justice and Transgender Advocacy” that, as the title implies, emphasizes the latter trio. Materials uncovered by the group Defending Education found “that America’s largest teacher’s union intends to train teachers to dismantle ‘systems of privilege and oppression as it relates to LGBTQ+ educators and students’ and ‘deepen skills and strategies to confront implicit bias, micro-aggressions and stereotypes.’” Terms you might have thought had been retired by now — Latinx, Two-Spirit, Gender Unicorn, etc. — make an appearance for good measure.

How any of this helps the next incoming freshman class catch up on mathematical readiness is anyone’s guess.

At Ivy League institutions, meanwhile, reports of grade inflation, specifically at Harvard, raise further questions about the quality of education the next generation is being provided at even the most elite levels. Here’s Christian Schneider:

Recently, a study group at Harvard released a 25-page report detailing the grade inflation occurring at America’s most storied college. According to the report, over 60 percent of the grades handed out to Harvard undergraduates were A’s, up from only 25 percent just two decades ago. The report concluded that the current systems were “failing to perform the key functions of grading” and were “damaging the academic culture of the College.”

One of the most enduring Bushisms is the gem, “Is our children learning?”

That question are as relevant as ever.

NAME. RANK. LINK.

EDITORIALS

“The most consequential Islamist movement in modern history” earned this designation: Trump’s Terrorist Designation of Muslim Brotherhood Sends Right Message

The CDC website edit could do real harm: RFK Jr. Takes a Dangerous Step on Vaccines

What was it all for? Farewell, MTG (for Now)

We are grateful: Thanksgiving Day in America

ARTICLES

Andrew McCarthy: Georgia Drops 2020 Election Interference Case Against Trump

Audrey Fahlberg: Exclusive: White House Asks Pro-Life Groups to Keep Quiet in Obamacare Subsidy Fight

Dan McLaughlin: No, Ken Burns, the United States Is Not an Iroquois Nation

Jim Geraghty: Remember, Vladimir Putin’s Promises Are Worthless

Charles C. W. Cooke: Witness the Catastrophic Results of Identity Theft by Illegal Immigrants

James Lynch: Meta Researchers Privately Compared Instagram to Addictive Drug, Bombshell Court Filing Shows

James Lynch: Judge Throws Out DOJ Cases Against James Comey, Letitia James

Noah Rothman: The Trump Administration Is Really Bad at Retribution

Noah Rothman: A Terror Attack in Washington, D.C.

Brittany Bernstein: The House Speaker Who Transformed Mississippi

Brittany Bernstein: Some of the Loudest Voices Yelling About America’s Decline Online Don’t Even Live Here

Yuval Levin: Limping into Another Health Care Debate

Julie Hartman: Dennis Prager’s Unbreakable Spirit

George H. Nash: Maestro of American Conservatism: The Enduring Relevance of William F. Buckley Jr.

LIGHTS. CAMERA. REVIEW.

Brian Allen serves up a very holiday-appropriate art column: A Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving

Armond White, with an anniversary piece: Our Movie Heritage at 70

EXCERPTS SO BOUNTIFUL THEY’RE SLOSHING OVER THE SIDES LIKE GRAVY

Audrey Fahlberg scoops a development surrounding health care negotiations:

White House officials have spent recent days asking some prominent pro-life groups to hold off on wading into the tense ongoing debate around Affordable Care Act subsidies, preferring instead that the groups keep their concerns about the subsidization of abortion coverage private as Republicans navigate a path forward on a particularly fractious issue.
One prominent pro-life leader who received a phone call from administration officials was left with the impression that the White House wants breathing room to negotiate with Democrats, who may be spooked from the negotiating table if Republicans kickstart talks with abortion-related concerns as the top priority in a prospective bipartisan health care plan.
Another pro-life advocate was told by administration officials that it’s far from clear that a Trump-endorsed health-care proposal would gain Democratic support anyway, and White House officials would prefer that the package’s failure be attributed to Democratic opposition rather than conservative infighting over the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal funds from being spent on abortion. The groups requested anonymity to speak freely about their dealings with the White House as negotiations unfold.
The messaging guidance urging some pro-life advocates to stay quiet in this week’s ACA subsidy debate is the latest sign that the White House is looking to tamp down public conservative concern over a sensitive policy issue at a critical time when Republicans are discussing how, or even whether, a bipartisan health-care package is the best legislative path forward.
The White House did not respond to National Review’s request for comment about administration officials’ recent outreach to pro-life groups.
While most congressional Republicans are wary of supporting even a reformed ACA subsidy extension with reforms, there’s widespread agreement that nixing or weakening Hyde protections would prompt major pushback from pro-life lawmakers. The challenge for Republicans, of course, is finding a proposal that won’t alienate Democrats, for whom Hyde Amendment concerns aren’t a top priority.
As hardline anti-Obamacare conservatives point out, Republicans are under no obligation to do anything to save Obamacare subsidies which were passed — and then extended — by Democrats and are set to expire at the end of the year. But many Republicans, particularly those in swing states and districts, are wary of the impact that increased health care costs will have on their midterm prospects.

It turns out Meta researchers considered their own product to be as harmful as parents assume it is. James Lynch reports:

Meta knowingly downplayed the addictive nature of social media products that its own researchers privately compared to drugs as part of a broader effort to conceal the impacts of its platforms on teenage mental health, according to an explosive new court filing.
The brief was filed as part of a years-old lawsuit brought by school districts across the country alleging that social media companies including Meta, YouTube, TikTok, and Snap knowingly designed products that would addict teenagers and otherwise harm their mental health. A judge ordered the 5,807-page filing to be declassified on October 30.
The filing includes troves of internal communications showing that Meta conducted numerous internal studies that confirmed Instagram and Facebook created negative outcomes for teens, including addiction, sleep deprivation, anxiety, depression, and body image issues.
“[O]h my gosh yall IG is a drug,” an internal user experience researcher wrote in a chat with a colleague, according to the brief.
“We’re basically pushers,” another researcher responded.
The brief references numerous examples of researchers noting the addictive nature of Meta’s products dating back to 2017. Researchers discussed how teenagers were developing incredibly high reward tolerance and could not stop themselves from spending time on social media, behaviors they shared in common with addicts.
“Teens talk of Instagram in terms of an ‘addicts narrative’ spending too much time indulging in a compulsive behaviour that they know is negative but feel powerless to resist,” reads another statement from a researcher cited in the brief.
Meta began investigating what it dubbed “problematic use” shortly after it became known in 2017. The brief summarizes internal comprehensive studies Meta oversaw in the following years to better understand the prevalence of social media addiction and user well-being. Meta’s studies found sizable portions of users were addicted to their platforms and many suffered worsening mental health impacts from social media use.

ICYMI, Julie Hartman last Sunday penned a heartfelt tribute to Dennis Prager, her former co-host:

Some days divide a life into before and after. For Dennis Prager, that day fell a year ago this month: November 12, 2024.
That morning, I woke to a text from his wife, Sue. Dennis had taken a terrible fall getting out of the shower and was in an ambulance.
“He’s going into surgery,” she said, when I called her later that day.
“Surgery?” I repeated. “How bad is it?”
“We may be dealing with a possible paralysis situation.”
“Really?”
“Really,” she said.
There was nothing to say. I let her go.
That night, he underwent spinal surgery. By morning, what we all feared was confirmed. Dennis was paralyzed from the shoulders down. One function, however, remained completely intact: his mind.
For decades, Dennis used that mind to elevate millions of people’s lives. Mine is one of them. As a college sophomore in 2020, I discovered Dennis through his media company, PragerU. His clarity and wisdom facilitated my journey from liberal to conservative, from skeptic to believer in God. After sending an over-the-transom email, I became his intern, and by graduation, his co-host. He became one of my dearest friends.
Dennis exhorted others to live by guiding principles: gratitude, resilience, and courage. Now in the quiet crucible of his own suffering, all he had taught was put to the test. Unable to move, and for months, to speak, Dennis could communicate only through a painstaking process of spelling out words, nodding or shaking his head as someone moved a pointer across letters of an alphabet chart.
Oftentimes, a cataclysmic event serves as a catalyst for spiritual transformation. We’ve heard the narratives: “This awful thing happened to So-and-So, but he’s stronger and more grateful because of it.”
After months in the hospital, the most remarkable observation about Dennis’s personality is not that it has changed — but that it hasn’t.
Almost a year later, Dennis — still navigating grueling, debilitating challenges — retains nearly the same spirit he had the day before the accident.

Honorable Mention

A bit of house business: NRPLUS has a special sale going on for the holiday weekend: $3 a month for the first year. This deal doesn’t come around often. The subscription offers full access to all our digital content, including the magazine online and our archives, as well as access to our members-only Facebook group and special conference calls. The offer lasts through Monday, so get it while it’s hot.

CODA

Before it was a maudlin Covid-era slogan, Alone Together was an album by Dave Mason. Hopefully, you didn’t have to be alone together this past Thanksgiving, but even if you were, the songs on that record are reason for cheer. “Look at You Look at Me” is a high point.

Thanks for reading — this, and whatever else you consume at NR — and enjoy the long weekend. Unless you work in retail, in which case I realize that might not be in the cards. Either way, Happy Thanksgiving.