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I spent 30 years in academia. Here are my observations about my students. Toward the end, I was teaching “Gen Z." These students combined ignorance with strident moral certainty. They seemed to have had no general education at all, and lacked the most basic knowledge of history,… pic.twitter.com/wKLc6hbVaN

— Collin Cleary (@collin_cleary) September 9, 2026

I spent 30 years in academia. Here are my observations about my students. Toward the end, I was teaching “Gen Z." These students combined ignorance with strident moral certainty. They seemed to have had no general education at all, and lacked the most basic knowledge of history, even recent history. They were immature and emotionally fragile.
Many could not handle criticism, no matter how sugar coated. It took very little to reduce them to tears – or to send them into a fit of narcissistic rage. They were shockingly bereft of intellectual curiosity, and many gave the impression of having no internal life at all.

Yes! Ive been saying this for years as well. The combination of absolute moral certainty and having zero actual knowledge or understanding of anything is remarkable. Ive seen Gen Z get upset over the mere mention of a demographic statistic or differing fatality rates of a disease… pic.twitter.com/p7cDqUpU6L

— Choice Architecture Sci-Op (@PoetofLaw) September 9, 2026

All true your observations! I was in and around Higher Ed for over 50 years, and assure you that you have understated the catastrophe and laughingstock that Higher Ed and Schooling in the USA has become (with the notable exception of Home Schooling)! And it all unfolded as well…

— Sidney אוֹר (@einsophaur) September 9, 2026

Similar experience… good capture. I taught mostly millennials and early Zs. Early millennials were ok, not as bad, still had some critical thinking abilities. But some time around 2010-2011 the lights got turned off. It was hard to describe as it was happening. I just remember…

— S.C. Byrd (@sbyrd223) September 9, 2026

Similar experience… good capture. I taught mostly millennials and early Zs. Early millennials were ok, not as bad, still had some critical thinking abilities. But some time around 2010-2011 the lights got turned off. It was hard to describe as it was happening. I just remember…

— S.C. Byrd (@sbyrd223) September 9, 2026

Agree - as a former mental health counselor in higher ed, the majority of my clients had no coping or resiliency skills; suicidal ideation increased with each year; many had perfectionism and were devastated by receiving less than an A; pressured into both college and a major…

— Elisa Sperduto, MSW (@eduto60) September 9, 2026