“I have joints! Come sit. Let’s smoke.” Words I never thought I'd utter in my 25 years in education. However, desperate times call for desperate measures. Determined to engage with the Gen Z protesters outside my apartment window in Soho—chanting “there is only one solution, intifada revolution!”—I decided to take a different, more “alternative approach,” a peace offering if you will.
Since April 10, 2024, I’ve made it my daily goal to talk to at least one pro-Palestine NYU student or professor. Living on Mercer Street in NYC, the site of the NYU encampment, I’ve witnessed firsthand the intense anger radiating from these students. (Though, in retrospect, some–if not most–of the protestors may not have been students, according to arrest records.) But I get the anger. Gen Z has a lot to be angry about. They will earn less than their parents and are already navigating a world fraught with uncertainties. They have also been guinea pigs in the grand experiment of the digital revolution and are arguably the most socially isolated generation.
And I say these hard truths with love. I know Gen Z well—I practically raised them, starting my career in elementary education when they entered kindergarten. I graduated alongside them and even started a college when it was time for them to leave the nest. Gen Z has inspired my personal and professional achievements, and I have great admiration for them. They have taught us about equity and made us rethink “established” societal norms.
With this knowledge and respect for Gen Z, I confidently approached the encampment to engage in dialogue. Little did I know that, days later, I would have to bargain with weed just to ask a question. When it was finally my turn (sometimes waiting an hour to get someone to speak to me), I asked what I thought was a fair question about their demands: “Will you also be calling on the University to divest from Qatar, Russia, and other countries, as well as Israel, if this is about your tuition dollars not fueling countries in war?”
The response I got was being labeled first an “agitator,” then a “Zionist agitator,” for what I considered a non-hostile query and attempt to have real dialogue about their demands.This question not only angered the students but resulted in my prompt ejection from the encampment. I was surrounded by umbrellas and pushed outside an artificial barricade on a block where I reside and pay taxes.
As an educator, I was heartbroken. The entire purpose of education is to engage in dialogue. Where did we go so wrong?
Public trust in higher education has been rapidly declining over the past decade, with 80% of Americans questioning the value of a degree. Many students and parents rightly question the monetary return on investment of college, but they are not the only ones. Hiring managers report that only 11% of their college graduate hires are work-ready. It’s clear that higher ed no longer serves the twenty-first-century economy nor its students.
In 2019, I attempted to update the system by founding MYX, the first hybrid skills-based college. By leveraging technology and bringing top international instructors (from the University of Sydney to Harvard) directly to our students’ laptops, MYX could focus on what really matters: community, real-world skills and application, and critical thinking. More than ever, students need critical thinking skills as the rapidly changing world with AI will require even more intellectual skepticism and thought.
But even this education reformer was surprised this past spring by the lack of independent thought, critical thinking skills, and moral clarity on our campuses. These are the skills institutions have always prided themselves on teaching, despite the critiques about cost and other issues. But watching my favorite generation, which prides itself on individuality, chanting like indoctrinated, misinformed sheep, made it clear we have failed them here as well.
As someone who attempted dialogue daily, I can say with confidence that these student protesters weren’t there to end a war or achieve peace for others—I saw zero evidence of that. By the end of April, I didn’t even see one “ceasefire” poster in the encampment; if anything, the dialogue was about “violence being justified.” Yet, when approached, they were convinced they were the human rights activists of the world.
I tried several times to have a student point out where Gaza is on a map. Only three students would even engage the question. Never once were they successful.
As someone who has spent years with Gen Z, I can say with my own data that 90% of them had never thought about Gaza before October, but now it is the most important piece of their identity. So let’s be clear, this protest wasn’t about the Middle East; it was about protesting in general. It was about Gen Z and their anger at a failing system and being beyond susceptible due to this anger to be indoctrinated.
Gen Z is hurting, angry, and misguided. I worry about what other “truths'' they'll start to identify with as they lose their ability to think and reason independently—and what kinds of businesses, governments, and families they’ll help shape. Universities have needed reform for some time, primarily to meet the needs of the modern economy. But now they MUST reform to meet the basics of their goals: fostering critical thinking skills.
We must act now, not only to save higher education but to save a generation from losing their ability to reason, debate, and think critically. The future depends on it.
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