Domestic Glance
Everything modern civilization has built rests on two modest skills: Reading and arithmetic. America spent two centuries showing what they make possible. It is now showing what their absence does.
The news from American classrooms is, for lack of a better word, depressing. Reading and math scores have been declining for more than a decade. Some of the fall predated the pandemic, which made matters considerably worse. The latest chapter in the story is the strangest, and perhaps the most disturbing. Professors report freshmen who cannot read basic sentences, let alone finish books. They struggle to follow arguments from beginning to end, as though every paragraph should arrive with a skip button.
The usual suspects line up for blame. Smartphones capture attention before the day even starts. Social platforms tuned to drip-feed dopamine and keep users hooked. Academic standards lowered until failure itself becomes increasingly rare. Grades inflated until everyone graduates feeling truly exceptional. All of it matters, but none of it gets to the heart of the problem.
That’s because the problem in the classroom is civilizational. For most of the last century, IQ scores rose across the rich nations. Each generation outscored the one before. Researchers called it the Flynn effect, after the man who clocked it. Better food, more schooling, smaller families, and greater mental stimulation all contributed to the cumulative gains. The brain had a tailwind, but that tailwind has turned. Studies in the U.S. and beyond now show scores dropping among the young. For a century, the line went up. Now it goes down.
At least 12 people in a crowd on a Chicago street suffered gunshot wounds after an SUV pulled up and two people inside the vehicle started shooting, police said.
On Thursday, New York City fans came out in droves to celebrate the New York Knicks' first NBA championship win since 1973. The ticker tape parade started in Battery Park, traveled down Manhattan's famed "Canyon of Heroes," and ended at City Hall, where Mayor Zohran Mamdani gave a speech praising the Knicks team.
Rick Brunson and Jalen Brunson of The New York Knicks celebrate winning the 2026 NBA Championship with a ticker tape parade at City Hall.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani celebrates the New York Knicks winning the 2026 NBA Championship during a ticker tape parade at City Hall
Jose Alvarado of The New York Knicks celebrates winning the 2026 NBA Championship during a ticker tape parade at City Hall.
Defense attorneys for Luigi Mangione are now withdrawing plans to argue at his state murder trial that he was suffering from "extreme emotional disturbance" in the alleged killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City, according to reports.
Attorneys for Luigi Mangione will pursue a mental health defense at his upcoming murder trial in state Supreme Court in Manhattan, the judge overseeing the case revealed at a pretrial conference Wednesday.
