Episode 578 Show Notes- Self-Reliance, Personal Responsibility and the American Way

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Episode Description

On this special Thanksgiving episode of The P.A.S. Report Podcast, Professor Nick Giordano exposes how the American education system has abandoned its purpose. Some of our most prestigious institutions went from institutions of rigorous learning into daycare centers that prioritize feelings over facts. From grade inflation to speech codes and victimhood indoctrination, Professor Giordano breaks down the toxic culture that has stunted individual growth and created fragile people with inflated egos. He explains why we must recommit to uphold the principles that have made our country great – liberty, freedom, self-reliance, merit, capitalism, and personal responsibility.

Episode Highlights:

• The decline of standards and rise of fragility throughout America.
• How the entitlement culture is costing businesses billions annually.
• Recommitting to the principles that have made America great, especially through self-reliance and personal responsibility.

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Show Notes- Self-Reliance, Personal Responsibility and the American Way

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Welcome to The P.A.S. Report Podcast

[Intro Transcript]

Hello everyone, and welcome to The P.A.S. Report Podcast. I’m your host, Professor Nick Giordano, and before we dive into today’s topic, I want to take a moment to wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving. This is a time to reflect on our blessings, express gratitude, and, of course, enjoy some great food and company. I hope you’re all spending the day with loved ones and indulging in all the fixings.

Thanksgiving is also a good time to think about the values that make our country great – liberty, freedom, opportunity, and resilience. Unfortunately, those values are being eroded largely due to the breakdown of the family unit and a failed education system, especially within our institutions of higher learning. And that’s exactly what I want to talk about today. The decline of our colleges and universities and how they’ve transformed from pillars of intellectual growth into daycare centers for overgrown children. I wrote an article about this for Campus Reform, so check it out at campusreform.org. I have links up in the show notes.

Let’s start with the basics. Institutions of higher learning have always played a critical role in our society. These are the places where young adults are supposed to develop into capable citizens and the leaders of tomorrow. They’re supposed to create, innovate, and solve problems. But instead, today’s colleges are coddling students, treating them like fragile children instead of the adults they are. They’ve abandoned the principles of knowledge, merit, and critical thinking in favor of victimhood and entitlement.

The 2024 presidential election is a great example. Campuses around the country were struggling with how to cope. Truly pathetic. Rather than treating the results of a free and fair election as a valuable lesson, many colleges treated it like a traumatic event. They offered counseling sessions, therapy animals, and even milk and cookies. Some professors even canceled classes. Let’s be real, this isn’t just pathetic, it’s a complete disservice to the students and our nation. These institutions should be embarrassed.

Guess what? Life is full of challenges and disappointments. If we don’t teach young adults how to cope with adversity, how can we expect them to succeed in the real world?

The reaction to President-elect Trump’s victory isn’t just an embarrassment to my profession, it’s an indictment of how far higher education has strayed from its mission. When professors coddle students with grief to cope with the outcome of an election or openly vilify students over political beliefs, it’s clear that these are not professors or education professionals, they are ideologues.

Now, I know I am generalizing and this isn’t all classrooms, professors, or students. For instance, In my classroom, there was no therapy needed. For the two weeks leading up to the election, we discussed the election, the personalities, the electoral college, and campaign strategies.

Following the election, my students were able to engage in a constructive discussion that challenged assumptions prior to the election. While some were happy with the election outcome and others were disappointed, they all left with a deeper understanding and appreciation for the American political system and our democratic process.

And while the coddling doesn’t reflect all college campuses, there are far too many out there that engage in stupidity. Imagine paying $30, $40, $50+ grand a year only for your tuition dollars to be spent on milk and cookies and petting animals. Insane.

This culture of coddling doesn’t just harm students. It harms our entire society. We’re seeing a generation of fragile, weak-minded individuals, who are unable to handle opposing viewpoints or any beliefs that differ from their own, emerge from some of our finest institutions. They are unable to handle criticism or failure. Grade inflation has given them a false sense of achievement where many believe they are smarter than they are, and these institutions have left them ill-prepared for the real world, especially the workplace. Employers now spend billions of dollars annually on remedial training for graduates who lack basic writing skills.

But it gets worse. The mental health crisis among young people is at an all-time high, with anxiety and depression rampant. And while colleges claim to be helping, their policies are only making things worse. Safe spaces, trigger warnings, and speech codes don’t teach resilience. It teaches them the exact opposite. They reinforce the idea that emotions and feelings should be put above reality, reason, and logic. This is the exact opposite of what students need to thrive.

We’re going to take a short break, but when we come back, I’ll dive deeper into how this coddling culture is eroding academic integrity and turning our colleges into ideological echo chambers. So hang tight, and we will be right back.

Break

The Collapse of Integrity

Welcome back to The P.A.S. Report Podcast. So, I am talking about how coddling students on college campuses has created a generation of weak-minded, fragile individuals who are ill-prepared for the challenges of adulthood. Now, let’s take a closer look at how this culture is systematically eroding academic integrity and has permeated our academic institutions pushing themselves toward irrelevancy.

For centuries, American colleges and universities were the bedrock of intellectual inquiry. They were places where students learned to think critically, debate rigorously, and engage with ideas that challenged their beliefs. Our universities were some of the finest in the world, and some still are, but we are losing our footing. For five years straight, our university system has dropped in the global rankings as China continues to gain.

We led in achievement, innovation, and engineering, but sadly, those days seem to be becoming a distant memory. Today, many institutions have traded the pursuit of knowledge for the pursuit of feelings.

One of the most alarming trends is grade inflation. In the “everyone gets an A” era, academic rigor has taken a backseat to preserve students’ self-esteem. The self-esteem craze of the 1990s and 2000s has done immense damage. Instead of keeping it real, teachers were forced to pretend little Jimmy was smart because if little Jimmy didn’t get good grades, mommy would call and complain even though little Jimmy was an imbecile.

Children were indoctrinated with the belief that winning isn’t important. They all got trophies despite whether or not they put any effort into anything, and this mentality has led to this false sense of achievement where some believe they are much more capable than they are.

And this mentality leaves students unequipped to handle failure, an inevitable part of life. I always say that success isn’t measured by having things handed to you and simply cycling people through life. Success is when you fail and then work hard to overcome that failure. If you never fail, you can’t possibly know what success is.

Instead of instilling self-reliance and resiliency, many graduate with unrealistic expectations about the world and their place in it. And when those expectations clash with reality, they crumble.

Grade inflation is only one piece of the puzzle as our education system, from kindergarten through college, adopts equitable grading systems that prioritize emotional considerations over academic merit. At institutions like Rowan University, meritocracy is deemed a “microaggression.” Think about that for a moment – merit, the very foundation of achievement, is being dismissed as offensive. The result? Students are no longer judged by the quality of their work but by arbitrary standards like race, gender, and ethnicity.

But it even goes beyond merit and grade inflation. Many universities have implemented speech codes and bias reporting systems, fostering an environment of surveillance and fear. These systems encourage students to report peers and professors for perceived ideological infractions. They want to create a nation of narcs. Adult hall monitors that have no life except to find everything offensive. This mentality is more reminiscent of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq or any other totalitarian state.

The chilling effect on free speech is undeniable. Intellectual debate – the lifeblood of higher education – has been replaced by a culture of conformity. Students now equate disagreement with harm, creating an echo chamber where only approved viewpoints are allowed. This has led to a culture where 80% of students self-censor out of fear that they will be attacked by the mob according to a College Pulse survey.

Look at what happened to Riley Gaines, a guest speaker who faced physical intimidation and assault at San Francisco State University. Instead of engaging in respectful debate, some students resorted to violence, and this wasn’t an isolated incident. It’s the logical outcome of a culture that prioritizes feelings over facts and victimhood over personal responsibility.

And then there’s the issue of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) requirements. These courses compel students to view the world through the lens of oppression and identity politics. Everything is seen through the prism of race. Rather than preparing students for real-world challenges, these programs reinforce a mindset of grievance and entitlement. This shift from education to indoctrination is not only eroding academic integrity but also undermining the purpose of higher education itself.

The consequences are staggering. Colleges are no longer producing capable, well-rounded graduates. Instead, they’re churning out fragile individuals, entitled, and poorly equipped to navigate the complexities of life. Worse, this culture of fragility is spreading beyond college campuses and infiltrating society at large.

We have to take a quick break, but when we get back I will explain how this toxic mindset is affecting the workplace, costing billions of dollars in productivity, and threatening America’s global competitiveness. So, hang tight, and we will be right back.

Break

Where is the self-reliance and personal responsibility?

Welcome back to The P.A.S. Report Podcast. So, I explained how academic integrity is being eroded on college campuses. Now, I want to explore how this culture of fragility and entitlement is spilling over into the workplace. More importantly, what it means for America’s future.

The habits and attitudes students develop in college don’t stay on campus. They follow them into the workforce and our communities, with devastating consequences. Employers are now faced with a generation of employees who lack basic skills, have breakdowns at the slightest criticism, have difficulty interacting with other coworkers, and don’t respect things like seniority where they can learn from those who have been in the business for decades and hold a wealth of knowledge and experience that these new employees can learn from.

They are also very demanding as if employers and small business owners should bow to their needs. Many are under the false impression that the world stops for them whenever they face an obstacle. Not only is it frustrating, but it’s also expensive.

Take productivity, for example. According to one survey, recent college graduates spend nearly an hour of their workday watching TV or engaging in other non-work activities. This costs employers over $8,000 per employee annually. And it doesn’t stop there.

Poor writing skills, a fundamental competency that should have been learned in high school and honed in college, cost businesses $3.1 billion each year in remedial training. They have to bring in outside writing experts to teach new employees, many who are recent college graduates, how to write. Only 37% of graduating seniors can read, write, and do math at the college level, and only 36% of college graduates have the ability to think critically.

Small business owners are taking notice. A whopping 68% of them say recent college grads are unreliable employees who create division and toxicity in the workplace. Think about that. More than two-thirds of small business owners are essentially saying this generation is a liability, rather than an asset.

And then there’s the jaw-dropping statistic that 26% of Gen Zers have brought a parent to a job interview. Biden C’mon Man.

This perfectly illustrates the extent of the coddling and lack of independence among today’s young adults.

The costs go beyond economics. This culture of entitlement and fragility stifles innovation and collaboration. When employees prioritize their feelings over the demands of the job, it’s impossible to maintain a productive work environment. Many young employees will call in and say that are not coming to work because they need a mental health day.

Now, I am sympathetic to those who suffer from anxiety and depression. I know it’s hard, but at the same time, life is hard, and the world doesn’t stop. You have to keep moving forward, and you cannot let your depression and anxiety cripple you.

I truly believe that depression and anxiety are off the charts because so many young people, and even older people, believe they lack a sense of purpose. Unfortunately, we define success by the amount of stuff someone has. That if someone has money and stuff, they’ll be happy. But the truth is that people have more stuff than ever before, and yet, they are more miserable than ever. It turns out that stuff doesn’t make you happy. Stuff doesn’t equate to purpose and fulfillment.

I would argue that if we help people see their self-worth. That they have a purpose. I will bet that depression and anxiety rates will drop significantly. I know it’s easier said than done, but what we have been doing has not been working. It’s just made things worse.

And all of this undermines our competitive edge on the world stage. We simply can’t afford to fall behind because our workforce is ill-equipped to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

So, how did we get here? A big part of the reason is that higher education has abandoned its mission of preparing students for the real world. Instead, it has created an environment where victimhood is celebrated, and personal responsibility is not only ignored but demonized in favor of the collective. Personal responsibility and self-reliance are the antithesis of the Marxist ideology that plagues many college campuses.

The implications for our society are profound. If we don’t reverse this trend, we risk becoming a nation of mediocrity. A nation of people who are dependent on the government for their survival. Dependent on a system that determines if they succeed or fail, rather than the individual.

The further we continue down this road, the closer we are to living in an authoritarian society.

With that being said, we can turn things around by demanding accountability from our higher education institutions. This means raising academic standards, enforcing discipline, and teaching students the value of resilience and hard work.

We must also encourage open debate and intellectual diversity on college campuses. This is essential not only for the health of our republic but also for the development of well-rounded, capable individuals. We need to challenge the entitlement mentality and instill a sense of responsibility in our young people. And this goes for all you parents out there as well. Stop coddling your children. Stop telling them how great and special they are. Instead, teach them about life. Teach them about relationships. Teach them about faith. It’s time for a cultural shift that prioritizes competence, critical thinking, and personal accountability.

Thank you for joining me on this Thanksgiving episode of The P.A.S. Report Podcast. As we reflect on what we’re grateful for, let’s also commit to uphold the principles that have made our country great – liberty, freedom, self-reliance, merit, capitalism, and personal responsibility. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and I’ll see you next week with another great episode of The P.A.S. Report Podcast.

To listen to the full episode, click play above or visit your favorite podcast platform!

Click here to read Professor Giordano’s latest piece at Campus Reform

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