Dennis Prager on the Danger of Lowering Standards | PragerU

Hey, Dennis, I missed chatting with you last week, but I have to say, I had a lot of fun watching you and Alan banter in the last episode of Dennis's Latest Thoughts. So hopefully nobody missed that one. I thought it was really, really special. Brought me back to those old days when I would visit you at the studio and hear the two of you converse. That's right. It was nostalgic. Yeah, it was really fun. And Alan did mention to me that he promises to come back again because he enjoyed it too. And I also want to give another shout out as he had done to the Prager United members who make everything here possible by donating to us $35 every single month. They keep the lights on, they keep the show going on. And usually we don't share with the audience what's in their surprise gift box, but I got special permission this time around to show that we're actually sending a pickleball set. A PragerU branded pickleball set has become one of the most popular games in America right now. And we love the Maha element of it where people can be outside and exercise. And so if you haven't signed up for Prager United yet, and you want to receive our next shipment and box, now you know what the special surprise is going to be. And of course, the greatest part about it is that people can send in questions and I'll be reading these questions to you at the end of this segment. So given that we have some time, Dennis, I would love to find out what's on your mind right now. The only tear I have is whether to talk about some, what I call ultimate issues, happiness, religion, morality, et cetera, or about something in the news. A lot of the times I work in both. That's what I'm going to do today. The University of Michigan, I wonder if you heard about this. The University of Michigan has announced that it will not be giving grades to freshmen, to first year students anymore. They will only get pass or not even fail, of course not. Pass or incomplete or didn't take the course. There'll be no record of what grade they actually got. It will be hidden. And the reason that they gave was, and this is why I'm talking about it. The reason the University of Michigan gave is that there is so much mental illness among young people in America and so much stress that they want to minimize freshman year stress in order not to exacerbate the amount of mental issues that young Americans have. On every level, this decision is worthy of the University of Michigan and many other universities because it is truly, truly destructive and foolish. In no order of importance, telling young people that they have mental problems is about the worst thing you can do to anybody, especially a young person. Forming his or her self image, self-perception, mental illness because they're stressed over grades. Oh my God, think about that. What a message it is. So a lot of kids were perfectly normal while starting to think they have mental issues. Number two, where does this come from? This comes from a desire to have young people avoid any pain. This is what we call the feminization of our culture. Women are nurturers by instinct. That is the way they think. Men are not nurturers by instinct. Men are standard bearers. You have to achieve something. You have to live up to something. If you lose, you pick yourself up and you go on. But that's not the way women think. I'm not talking about every woman. I'm not talking about every man, but the overwhelming majority. It is not a coincidence that UCLA, for example, University of California at Los Angeles, the incoming class is 60% women. That's incredible. 60, 40 female to male, and it's going to keep going up. Men don't think it's a spot for them anymore. And by the way, they're right. To a large extent, they're right. This reminds me, I covered this on my radio show many, many years ago when Massachusetts, which figures, Massachusetts decided that I think young people, I don't remember till what age, would not have scores in their soccer games because they didn't want any team to lose or any team to win, lest the losers feel bad. This is the feminization of our culture. We don't want you to feel bad. So we will give you great grades. We will not flunk you. And you will not lose in the game. Men love winning and losing. Competition is what makes us tick. I have an older brother, five and a half years older than me. I remember when we lived together in my parents' house. Philly went to college. He would compete with me on anything. Who can blow the most bubbles in their soda? Who could drink a cup of water faster? I mean, it didn't matter. Everything was a competition. This is the way men think. If you lose 25-0, then what you do is you figure out, why did we score no goals? That's all. That's what you do. You don't sulk the rest of the week. You don't get into a depression. This is what is happening in our country. And what we do is we drop standards. Now, it's interesting. I was thinking about my own freshman year, which was at Brooklyn College. I went to Columbia for graduate school, but I went to Brooklyn College and the University of Leeds, England for undergraduate. And I remember I got an A in freshman English. I think the teacher gave two or three students A's. I considered it an achievement. But if everybody got an A, or if there were no grades at all, I wouldn't have had an achievement. By the way, why work hard? If you can't get a reward, if you can't get a grade fitting to your work, why work hard? There is literally nothing good about this decision of the University of Michigan. And I don't know what's happened to Michigan. I don't know what's happened to the Midwest. You would have thought the University of Minnesota would have come up with this first. It's a disaster. No grades. So what's going to happen? This is what I'd like to know. What's going to happen in their sophomore year? If they can't deal with a bad grade or God forbid failing in their first year, why will they be able to do it in their second year? Why won't it go through four years? Right? Think about it. All of a sudden, some magic. Oh, now I can handle it. It's like participation trophies. Just make kids feel good. No pain. By the way, this is what is the root of the radicalization of so many young people in our country. The desire to avoid pain, the incapacity to deal with it. They can imagine a world which is pain free to each according to his needs, from each according to his ability. Everything will be taken care of. I have debts for college. Well, the DSA people, democratic socialists say, oh, we'll take care of your debt. Oh, we'll take care of your medicine. Oh, we'll take care of your education. We'll take care of the affordability of apartments and houses. We'll take care of it for you. These are the origins of that horrible idea. You don't have to take care of you. We will take care of you. And this is the great temptation. This is the great tragedy inherent to democracy. When people, why was it somebody said this in ancient Greece? This is not a new revelation. When people start understanding that they could vote for leaders, we'll give them things for free. That basically ends democracy because then all people will do is vote for free things. So this is where it begins. They envision, you know, who's voting for the radical left? It's all basically white liberals with a higher education. That's who's voting, not the working class, not black America, not Hispanics. No, it's the white overeducated, really the white indoctrinated. You don't get an education, get an indoctrination. When you drop standards, you end your society. University of Michigan is in the forefront of dropping standards. Dennis, I have a pretty hard question because many parents who are watching this agree with you. They think that participation trophies are ridiculous. They think that University of Michigan dropping grades is absurd. But what is your advice to parents who have college age students? Where should they go? What should they do? I've been asked this for 40 years on my radio shows because for 40 years I have warned people. I know you've heard it. Everybody's heard it who's ever heard me. Sending your child to college is playing Russian roulette with their values. That's what I've been saying for 40 years. The only difference is now it isn't one chamber in the gun that's loaded. It's more than half loaded. That's the difference. I'm not sure you should send your kid to college. I mean, if they study STEM, science, technology, engineering, math, then there may be no choice, obviously for certain things. But otherwise, it's a big gamble unless you send your kid to a college that you know is dedicated to truth, beauty, and goodness. Truth, beauty, and the good. Hillsdale is devoted to that. PragerU is devoted to that. But obviously we don't give degrees. But I tell you, more and more do I believe. I'll never forget when I met a Princeton graduate about 10 years ago, and he said he learned more at PragerU than at Princeton. Now it's doubly true with all our five-minute videos, the amount you could learn watching all 600 or 700 of those videos, and what kids could learn with the kid stuff that we put out. But I'll tell you, not just that. Because of my inability to travel now, I watch YouTube a great deal during the day. I mean, it's unbelievable what you can learn. It's sad because there was something to be said for the college experience, making friends, being in a fraternity or sorority, rooting for your football team, and the culture of the college. But it's not worth it. It's a very big risk. And so many parents are convinced their kid won't be poisoned until six months later. Like I just was told by a couple, six months their daughter was of college, called them up and said she can't talk to them anymore because they voted Republican. I visited a college actually this past week, total coincidence that you bring this up. And I'll tell you, I was pleasantly surprised when I heard the professor, now this is the professor at a business school, stand in front of the class and said, I am not going to worry about hurting your feelings. This is a place where you're going to hear alternative perspectives, and that's what college is about. And if you have a hard time listening to things that may upset you, just leave right now. He literally stood up and said it. I actually walked up to him afterwards and I introduced myself and I just told him that I was relieved to hear that professors are now starting to speak this way with their students as they begin their college education. And I just think it's really needed. It's shocking that it's needed, but at least we're now seeing some professors actually stand up and move away from this politically correct culture and remind students that they need to hear ideas that they might be a little uncomfortable with. So maybe the pendulum will swing. Maybe, maybe. I don't know how many professors are going to say that. And I don't know how many students are going to give this guy a bad grade in the ratings of professors. And they're afraid of that because, you know, it's like Yelp. So true. The people are guided by that. So true. All right. So Dennis, I have some Prager United questions for you. It was very, very difficult to pick the best ones. They are coming in from all over the world, different ages. This one is from Alberta, Canada, Luke, 18 year old. If you were 18, again, Dennis, knowing everything you know about women, marriage and life, what would you work on yourself first? Thank you so much for your ongoing commitment to goodness in the world. The truth is that when I was 18, I think I would have given the same answer as now. So I'm going to say something that will be so foreign to so many young people. When I was 18 and I was girl crazy, like most guys at 18, I believed that the way I would attract women or a good woman is to develop myself as much as possible. I remember when I studied piano in my teens, I thought, you know what? That is one good way to get a girl interested in me. And by the way, I was right. I would invite them to my apartment when I was in graduate school in my early 20s, play the piano for them. And it worked out well. I even thought that about my learning languages. I'll never forget. So, you know, I learned a few foreign languages. So I remember one of them was Russian. When Steve Marber, who you know well, and many people do, the professor of psychiatry, UCLA, whom I've been close with for 40 years, we were on one of the Prager cruises. This one was the Baltic to St. Petersburg. And when we walked off the ship, it was a pretty woman, young woman. And I started talking to her in Russian. And he walks over to me and he says, now I get it. He saw, you know, I just thought the more I develop. But the reason I'm mentioning this is this is like dead. It's quaint almost to say that men would try to be as worthy a man as possible to attract a woman. I don't think a lot of men think that way anymore. I'm not even sure a lot of women think that way anymore. But that is, I was not alone in that way. That's the way men were raised to think. Become impressive and you will attract a woman. We didn't have video games. But if a guy did play video games much of the day and didn't develop, he would not have attracted a woman in my generation. And it wasn't what do you make for a living? It wasn't the be all and end all. Do you have an ambition to be successful in life, not just monetarily, as a father, as a husband, as a leader in your community, as an intellectual, as so much. And so if I were 18 again, that's exactly what I would think. And that's exactly what I would do. Gosh, what another profound example of lowering standards. Everybody needs to elevate their game, both the men and the women. I have another question coming in. This one is from Andrew 36 from Bochum, Germany. Dennis, where would you say is the best place for Jews to live? I live in Germany with my family. And this question seems to be at the center of our Shabbat table every week. The future in Europe looks Muslim and the Christian world seems to hate Israel. Where would you go as a father of two Jewish boys? I have a number of answers, oddly enough, even though you should have one answer to the question, what is best? The obvious answer is Israel for so many reasons, although October 7th shattered one of the big reasons that there's one place Jews are safe. That was part of the horror of October 7th, the greatest loss of Jewish life in one day since the Holocaust. Nevertheless, that's where Jews are building a Jewish future. That's where the language of the Hebrew Bible is spoken, et cetera, et cetera. However, and this is a big however, as committed as I am to that, I do believe that it is very important for Jews to be all over the world. I do believe that it is good for Jews and good for non-Jews. It is the Jewish task to bring the message of the Ten Commandments and the Torah to the world. That is our job, the Jews' job. And by the way, Christianity has done a good job of the same. It has brought the Torah and the Ten Commandments to the world. That is absolutely correct. Although it's in a crisis mode, but that's a separate issue. So he's a German Jew. I'm happy there are German Jews. I want there to be Jews everywhere. And we learn from Jews from everywhere. I'm a big fan of South American Jews. They're generally a very impressive lot. And I've learned a lot from them. And a lot of them are moving to Israel. I would have said America or Israel, if I were asked this 10 years ago, the rise in anti-Semitism in America has really shocked me. I have had a love affair with America as an American and as a Jew. And to see what is being said now, and for people to delude themselves that if you support people who want to destroy Israel, you're not an enemy of the Jews. Where did the Tucker Carlsons come from? Where? I mean, Candace Owen says that Israel is the one demonic state. That's unbelievable. It's one of the most decent countries on earth. And the lies. I taught Jewish history at Brooklyn College while I was in graduate school. And I remember teaching about the infamous blood libel. And I thought that'll never happen again. But it's happening exactly the same. Do you realize, Marissa, I believe just about every synagogue in America now has armed guards. This is so amazing to me. I would go to Europe and I would see armed guards at German synagogues, French synagogues, et cetera. And think, oh boy, I'm so lucky to be a Jew in America. And now every single one, including the one I attend, we have plainclothesmen with guns. I'll end with this. I have spoken in innumerable churches and to innumerable Christian groups over the last decades. And whenever I have spoken on this matter, I would always mention that what God said to Abraham, I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you, has turned out to be true. Those who bless the Jews ended up blessed. Those who curse the Jews ended up cursed. You don't even have to believe in God to know that. That is what has happened. Spain thrived when it had its Jews. It kicked its Jews out in 1492 and it began a 500-year downhill slide. Well, I then would add, and America has been the greatest blessing to Jews of any country Jews have ever lived in since Darius's Persia thousands of years ago. And guess what? It's also been the most blessed country. And if God forbid America stops blessing its Jews, I think America will stop being blessed. And that is exactly what is happening. Now, Dennis, I'm going to bring you this question that actually brings some hope. This one is from Will, who's 12 years old from Wisconsin. Hi, Mr. Prager. How are you? My mom is a huge fan. Could you please give her a shout out? Her name is Rebecca. I love learning from your videos. I watch at least five every day. I always hear you say about how it is important to be good. I was wondering if you have any advice for me. Shout out to Rebecca. Well, hello, Rebecca. Clearly, you've done a good job thus far. That's a big deal if a kid thinks that highly of a parent. That he wants a public figure to give a shout out. So a shout out to you, Rebecca. I'll give you one overwhelming piece of advice. And that is to remember always that the biggest problem in Will's life is Will. What the left has done in America is inverted that, which is why they produce so many people who are not particularly good. Their message is, if you have problems, it's somebody else causing it. You're an unhappy or even miserable woman. It's men's fault. You're an unhappy or miserable black. It's white's fault. And you go down the line. No one blames themselves. So no one will be good or get better. You are the biggest problem in your life, just as I am the biggest problem in my own. And if you battle your nature every day, you can begin to be a good person. Well, I have a lot more to say about it, and I will. Well, looking forward to hearing your thoughts on that. And in the meantime, again, I just want to thank you, Dennis, and to all the Prager United members who sustain this program and support us. Looking forward to seeing many of you send in more questions for Dennis. We absolutely love them. They're really profound ways to start these conversations. And God bless you all. God bless you, Dennis. Keep up the good work on healing and being back with us. See you all next week.