'Gen Z has been priced out of a future, so we invest in the present'

'Creating pleasure in the present is paramount'

Kofi Mframa at USA Today

For many in Generation Z, the "American dream has been recalibrated," says Kofi Mframa. "With a financially stable future out of reach," the generation has "adopted a sort of economic nihilism," which prioritizes "splurging on little luxuries now, instead of saving up for a future that may never come." With "financial stressors coming from all directions and a recession looming, one would think Gen Zers would lead lives of frugality," but the reality seems to be the "exact opposite."

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'Outsourcing one's homework to AI has become routine'

Bloomberg editorial board

For "many college students these days," there is "no need to trudge through Dickens or Demosthenes; all the relevant material can be instantly summarized after a single chatbot prompt," says the Bloomberg editorial board. Too many schools have "hazy or ambiguous policies on AI," and "many seem to be hoping the problem will go away." Instead, they "must clearly articulate when enlisting such tools is acceptable" and "what the consequences will be for misuse."

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'A country enamored with populist wealth elected a Rococo president'

Emily Keegin at The New York Times

President Trump has been "spending quite a bit of time redecorating the Oval Office," the results of which "can only be called a gilded rococo hellscape," says Emily Keegin. But "whatever Mr. Trump is doing to the walls of the Oval Office is not French; it is deeply American." American Rococo "hits when the 1% is thriving, when government leaders are overconfident." In Trump's America, "everything is gold," yet "time always reveals that Rococo is just gilded plaster."

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'The era of DEI for conservatives has begun'

Rose Horowitch at The Atlantic

Conservatives "make up only one of every 10 professors in academia," and "some university leaders worry that this degree of ideological homogeneity is harmful both academically" and "in terms of higher education's long-term prospects," as being "hated by half the country is not sustainable," says Rose Horowitch. As a result, Johns Hopkins University's latest diversity initiative is aimed at attracting new members of this "minority group" — and it is "part of a growing trend" among "red-state public universities."

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