Higher Education’s Identity Crisis

Radio Atlantic

The Atlantic

Politics, Society & Culture, News

4.3 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 21 May 2026

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Universities tried to be all things to all people. That model may not be working anymore. Adam Harris is joined by Ian Bogost, Atlantic contributing writer and a professor at Washington University in St. Louis, to discuss the state of higher education. On campuses across the country, students are graduating into a job market with questions on their mind. What kind of career is stable in 2026? Will AI make it even harder to get an entry-level job? Was my education worth all the money it cost? For universities that are already facing federal funding cuts and enrollment declines, the identity crisis their graduates are facing is an extension of their own: Is the purpose of college just to get a good job, or is there more to it? Colleges have been in rough spots before, but is it finally time to start rethinking their entire model? - - - Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/Listener. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:56.5	It's graduation season. That means celebrating with family and friends, sweating through outdoor ceremonies that may have been better held inside, inspirational graduation speeches,
1:02.4	and in a lot of cases, the beginning of the job hunt. But this year, a subpar economy,
1:08.7	constricting job market, and the uncertainties around how AI might be killing entry-level jobs have combined to make that search particularly precarious.
1:18.2	Now, it's not the first time students have graduated into a bad economy.
1:23.6	In 2010, then-President Barack Obama told graduates at the University of Michigan that they
1:28.6	may be in for a tough time ahead.
1:30.2	The fact is, when you leave here today, you will search for work in an economy that
1:35.9	is still emerging from the worst crisis since the Great Depression.
1:39.5	And the economy has gotten better and worse in some ways since then.
1:43.7	But AI presents new challenges that some graduates are sneering at, sometimes quite literally.
1:50.4	Like last week, when the former Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, mentioned AI in his commencement
1:55.7	speech at the University of Arizona.
1:58.2	I know what many of you are feeling about that.
2:01.1	I can hear you.
	...

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