The challenges facing the American education system continue to spark heated debate, with critics arguing that it is falling short in delivering the fundamental skills students need. Instead of focusing solely on essential subjects such as reading, writing, mathematics, and science, some believe that schools are increasingly veering into partisan territory. This includes teachings that portray America in a negative light, focusing on issues of systemic racism and imperialism, along with discussions on gender identity and pronoun usage. One prominent conservative figure recently painted a stark picture of the current educational landscape.

In a recent episode of his podcast, “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words,” the esteemed conservative commentator reflected on his experience teaching at California State University, Fresno. He shared insights from his early career, revealing that many students were not adequately prepared for the rigors of higher education or the demands of the real world. In conversation with his co-host, Jack Fowler, Hanson provided a vivid depiction of the educational challenges he witnessed.

Reflecting on his teaching career, Hanson recalled assigning classic texts such as Homer’s “Odyssey” and works by Sophocles. However, by the end of his 21-year tenure, the curriculum was reduced to just these two readings due to students’ struggles with comprehension. He recounted an incident with a student who, unable to keep up with the reading, sought to withdraw from the course. Concerned about the student’s lack of preparation, Hanson invited him to discuss the issue further, only to find the situation was more dire than anticipated.

Hanson noted that as far back as 1984, students were already struggling with basic English vocabulary, unfamiliar with words like “wrath” or “active.” Fast forward nearly four decades, and questions linger about the current state of education. Are classic literary works still part of college curricula, or have they been sidelined in favor of contemporary topics like gender identity and climate change? The pressing concern remains: have educational standards declined further, leaving more students unable to tackle even fundamental reading and writing tasks?

— T (@Rifleman4WVU) January 11, 2026

READ MORE: Dumbing Down Education in America: Alarming Number of College Students Need Remedial Math. Now What?

Recently, on an episode of his podcast, “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words,” Hanson recounted his early days of teaching at California State University, Fresno, and how students weren’t just ill-prepared for higher education, but for life in general. Hanson told his co-host, Jack Fowler: 

I taught for 21 years at a California State University campus. And when I started, Jack, in 1984, I taught a course called Introduction to the Humanities. I had nine readings. And it started out with Homer’s Iliad, Homer’s Odyssey … Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, Euripides’ Bacchae, Aeschylus’ Orestia, selections from Thucydides and Herodotus. This was the ancient part of the first semester. And I ended with Plato’s Apology and Crito. I might have had Aristotle.

Granted, that’s heady stuff. I read Homer’s Odyssey for a class, and I would be lying if I said I never looked at a Cliff Notes. But that’s not what was going on here. Hanson continued, saying that at the end of his teaching career, 21 years later, the same class had just two readings, Homer and Sophocles. The reason: college-aged students simply could not read the assignments. Hanson then told the story of a student who requested to drop the class. The student was flunking and could not keep up with the reading. Hanson stated that he didn’t believe the student was studying and asked him to come to his office. Things got worse from there. Hanson said.

So he came in. And I gave him the Iliad. And I said, “Can you read?” Sing maiden, the wrath of Achilles. He said, “What does wrath mean, honestly?” And he said, “What does sing mean?” And I said, “It means to sing a song. It’s an active verb.” “Well, what’s an active mean? What’s a verb mean?”… I said, “‘Could you read this out loud? And I’m going to time you to see how long it takes you to read.” Well, it took him 10 minutes to read the whole one page. So I said, “Well, we’ll say half, five minutes it will take you to read these short pages of hexameter translated by Richmond Latimore.”

As far back as 1984, American students did not know the basics of the English language. They did not know the simple meanings of words like “wrath” or “active.” That was 40 years ago. What might that same class look like today, dumbed down for the average college student? Are the classic works of Homer and Sophocles still taught, or have they been thrown out for more “important” topics like transgenderism and climate change? Have they been thrown out because even more college students cannot read or write, and can’t grasp the meaning of easy words? 

We’re dealing with students who don’t even know how to research using the web browsers.. don’t know how to use a search engine, identify proper links & read articles bc they rely on ChatGPT to give them a direct answer. Haven’t read a full book in years. Can barely use a pen…

— Tori Wan Kenobi (@MajestyRia) August 23, 2025

Hanson tacked on the fact that he would receive directives from the Equal Opportunity Program (EOP) about football players needing to pass the class, or students who were the first in their family to go to college, and if they flunked the class, it might affect their EOP eligibility. It was there that Hanson decided to call it quits, saying, “I said, ‘I don’t care. I can’t take it anymore… You people are letting in people and they can’t read, they can’t write… I can’t do it anymore.’” 

We can only imagine what America’s future might be like when the education system is not only failing students, but it’s failing good teachers, too.

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Editor’s Note: President Trump is fighting to dismantle the Department of Education and ensure America’s kids get the education they deserve.