Tenured sociology professor Mark Horowitz explains why falling preparedness, grade inflation, and perverse incentives are eroding college standards—and why “broke, woke, stroke” helps describe the pattern.

GUEST BIO: Dr. Mark Horowitz is a sociology professor at Seton Hall University and co-author of a survey-based study of tenured faculty perceptions about academic standards, grade inflation, student preparedness, and institutional incentives in higher education.

TOPICS DISCUSSED IN ORDER:

• Why the authors ran a higher-ed “crisis” survey (faculty perspectives vs pundit/parent narratives)
• Horowitz’s “honors student with junior-high-level writing” anecdote
• Key survey findings: perceived decline in preparedness, increased pushback, grade inflation
• “Broke, Woke, Stroke” framework: market pressures, egalitarian/compassion impulses, therapeutic ethos
• “Most shocking” claim: some functionally illiterate students graduating (and why that happens)
• Which factor matters most: Horowitz argues “broke” (economics/market incentives) is decisive
• Admin growth and student-support infrastructure; retention/compassion language vs rigor/merit
• Taboo around ability/intellectual differences; political psychology and educational romanticism
• Concern about watering down harming gifted students; standards vs equity tensions
• Potential solutions: admissions tests, exit/credentialing signals, eliminating student evals; bigger structural funding conversation

MAIN POINTS:

• Many tenured faculty report signs of a standards problem: lower preparedness, more grade pressure, more pushback.
• “Broke” incentives (enrollment/revenue pressure + reduced public support + debt-financed model) push institutions toward admitting and passing more students.
• “Woke” sensibilities (egalitarian compassion for disadvantaged students) can combine with market incentives to reduce rigor and resist sorting/standards.
• “Stroke” dynamics (therapeutic/mental-health framing, protecting student feelings) further discourages hard grading, failure, and frank talk about ability.
• The result is a weakened “signaling function” of the degree: if everyone gets A’s/B’s, employers learn less from credentials.
• Fixes are hard because incentives punish the people who enforce standards (evals, backlash, institutional pressure), but small reforms could still matter.

TOP 3 QUOTES:

• “We use that kind of cheeky mnemonic of broke, woke, stroke.”
• “We think the incentive structure in higher ed right now is perverse.”
• “It’s kind of a tragedy of the commons in a way. No university can afford to raise standards, but if none do, the long-run tendency is to have the system collapse.”

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