Ways to Change the World with Krishnan Guru-Murthy Why America’s higher education is broken - Rebecca Kuang
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Dec 26, 2025 
Rebecca Kuang, a bestselling novelist and PhD student, dives deep into the fractures of America's higher education system. She argues for debt-free access and academic freedom, highlighting how censorship stifles critical thinking. Kuang critiques the policing of campus discourse and connects her work, especially her novel Yellowface, to contemporary issues like anti-Asian sentiment and cultural appropriation. She also defends the originality of literature against the rise of AI, asserting that true creativity can't be mimicked.
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Political Attacks Meet A Broken Funding Model
- Attacks on academia combine new censorship with long-term erosion from rising costs and distrust.
- The tuition and student-loan crisis made universities easy targets for political critique.
TA Suspended After Political Complaint
- A TA who graded a paper down for failing to meet the prompt was reportedly suspended after a student complained to the governor.
- This illustrates the chilling effect and surveillance climate professors face in classrooms.
Silencing Hurts Teaching Quality
- Silencing and self-censorship make teachers worse at educating because they can't present contested materials in full nuance.
- Classrooms must remain spaces for contested debate, not ideological dogma.
