Autumn, season of mists and mellow fruitfulness (Keats), is also when too many young Americans head to college, where too many of them will study too little under the undemanding supervision of faculty who teach too little. Colleges illustrate the seepage of rigor from American life.

Since 1990, college enrollment has increased by 6 million students (29%). Reasons for this include government tuition subsidies and "college for everyone" rhetoric. And "degree inflation": irrational requirements for job applicants.

Preston Cooper, then of the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, reported in 2023 that applicants for a $35,600-per-year job driving an Oscar Mayer Wienermobile (a 27-foot-long motorized hot dog) had to have a bachelor's degree. In 2000, only 16% of prime-age workers ear

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