Is college even fun any more?

# A personal starting point

# From discovery to business decision

# Politics and campus culture

The author contends that most universities are now dominated by left-leaning ideology and DEI priorities. He describes an environment where censorship is common, speech is constrained by the need to avoid "harm," and social enforcement of political norms is routine. According to the piece, this environment reduces opportunities for robust intellectual debate and turns college into a place where students are expected to show contrition for historical injustices and yield advantages to certain groups.

# Gendered career pathways (author's view)

In the essay, the author outlines a view of how career choices have polarized by gender: he says many men are pushed toward practical majors like engineering and computer science, while women are steered toward fields such as gender studies and sociology. He presents this as a symptom of a broader shift where degrees are chosen primarily for employability and earnings rather than intellectual curiosity.

# Demographics, curriculum, and alternatives

The author argues that demographic change has altered campus communities, bringing many different cultures together and diminishing shared traditions. He also claims that core Western civilization courses are increasingly seen as problematic. As a result, some advisers and families he describes now recommend alternatives to a liberal arts path, such as trade schools or direct technical training, which they view as more practical and career-aligned.

# Parental anxiety and the modern send-off

Where the author remembers a bittersweet parental farewell in 1979, he now sees anxious parents and hesitant students preparing for college. Rising costs, career uncertainty, and concerns about campus culture have changed the emotional tone around the decision to attend.

# Closing perspective

The piece reads as a personal lament for a different era of college life and a practical worry about whether the modern institution still serves the exploratory, formative role it once did. The author suggests that for many families, college is now a financial and career calculation more than a formative social experience.