There was a time—not so long ago, though you’d never know it if you walked around the vast majority of American campuses today—when the university existed to civilize. To refine. To elevate a select few beyond the cheerful barbarism of the marketplace or the sobbing sentimentalism of the secular humanists. It was not a place for “belonging.” It was a place for becoming intolerably excellent. Today, apparently, the future of Western civilization is being stewarded by pajama-clad adolescents clutching emotional support water bottles, glued to phones like digital rosaries, and marching dutifully from “Intro to Self-Care” to “Witches and Resilience in Modern Literature.” The only thing elevated now is the blood sugar in the student lounge that sells the most awful chemical-ridden concoctions. The modern college is not a sanctuary of thought—it’s a therapy center with accreditation from corrupt institutions that force colleges to follow specific doctrines that are antithetical not only to our country, America, but also to Christians.
The old university model, modeled after the classical lyceum, did not concern itself with “job skills,” “identity,” or whether a student “felt seen.” The only visibility that mattered was clarity of mind, acquired through Latin grammar, Euclidean and other mathematical proofs, and an unflinching encounter with first principles. What today’s undergraduates ignorantly dismiss as “gatekeeping” used to be called a proper education.
And then came German philosophy.
Somewhere in the late 19th century, American universities suffered a crisis of confidence and imported the Prussian research model like an insecure nouveau riche ordering Schnitzel to impress the neighbors. Instead of producing men of letters and science fit for statesmanship or contemplative leisure, we began producing so-called “experts” who wave their PhDs as some sort of flex. Instead of producing men of letters and science fit for statesmanship or contemplative leisure, we began producing these self-described “experts”—curators of arcane academic trivia, tenured authorities on TikTok semiotics, and conference-circuit stars who are not proper educators, but rather, with a few rare exceptions, party hacks for the globalist establishment in our country.
Thus was born that Frankensteinian contraption known as the major.
The major is a marvel of bureaucratic misdirection: it convinces the student that he is pursuing rigor, while ensuring that his intellectual diet is no broader than a TikTok algorithm. One can now graduate with a degree in mathematics without reading Euclid or, even worse in some schools, not being truly rigorous at all, or a degree in English without ever reading classical British and American literature—provided, of course, one has paid fealty to “diversity requirements” and written a final project about “postcolonial” logarithms or something equally unintelligible.
And let us not pretend this is accidental.
The modern university, in its eagerness to democratize, has become allergic to anything that resembles selectivity or formality. The classics are dismissed as “colonial” and racist, mathematics is reduced to “quantitative reasoning,” and students who struggle to distinguish a proof from a paragraph are given a pass—lest they be made to feel excluded. Which is, naturally, the very point of education.
Once, students were admitted to universities based on their readiness to endure intellectual hardship—or, just as honorably, because their family had long stewarded the institution’s legacy. Merit, in those days, included the cultivation of lineage. Now, they are invited based on hardship itself. It is considered impolite—cruel, even—to point out that many of our “diverse” new entrants are unprepared for even the most basic axiomatic reasoning, or that remedial math courses now serve as holding pens for those whose arithmetic is matched only by their sense of entitlement.
We are told, sotto voce, that this new population brings “diverse experiences.” One is left wondering when exactly “diversity” replaced knowledge as the coin of the realm. In this new logic, the mountain no longer challenges the climber; the mountain is bulldozed until it resembles a walking trail—with rest stops and trigger warnings along the way.
Let us state plainly what our cowardly administrators will not: the university has been vandalized by those who cannot understand it, and is now governed by those who resent what it once was.
The way forward is backward.
Eliminate majors. Institute a fixed, classical curriculum: mathematics taught rigorously and axiomatically, with Euclid and Dedekind (among others!) as required reading; logic and rhetoric; Latin before electives; and philosophy that begins not with “identity” but with the nature of truth. No elective credit for identity crisis. No seminars in the awful Stewart Calculus. If you cannot write a grammatically correct sentence or solve a quadratic equation, you are not “underserved.” You are unready.
Our most important task in here at City Tutoring is to raise the quality of education and demand standards. It’s in the national interest. And it’s in the individual interest of every parent and above all, of every student. We want education to be part of the answer to America’s problems, not part of the cause. We need well-trained, but also free and creative young people.
In many American cities and towns today, where a solid education should be the launchpad to a better life, that liftoff keeps getting sabotaged—usually by corrupt radical school boards and activist teachers more interested in indoctrination than instruction.
Need to learn how to multiply? Too bad—you’re getting a crash course in ‘anti-racist algebra,’ whatever flavor of nonsense that is!
Need to write a clear sentence? Sorry, your grammar lesson has been replaced with chanting hashtags and decoding protest signs.
Looking for a moral compass? Forget it—you’re being told tradition is oppression, and every lifestyle choice is sacred law (except Christians, since there is no tolerance for Christians).
And young people who just need a little hope—a little push to believe they can make something of themselves? They’re being told they live in a doomed system, with no future and nothing to fight for. Welcome to the modern classroom—where facts are optional.
That’s why I founded City Tutoring: City Tutoring is a return to the real deal—no fluff, no fads, just old-school, brass-tacks education. We’ve ditched the feel-good majors and identity studies and brought back the 19th-century Christian model: rigorous logic, precise language, mental discipline, and moral clarity. You won’t find safe spaces here—you’ll find hard questions, straight answers, and the kind of intellectual backbone that built the West. It’s not about chasing credentials—it’s about becoming a serious person. That is why our students are so pleased with the results – not only do they learn how to think properly and live, but they realize just how far ahead they become when compared to their public school counterparts. If you are a parent or student serious about this approach, please contact us.
Loved it. Especially your thoughts on a reformed education system. The current state of University Education is dismal, and one feels like they have to seek outside sources for better information and instruction. Thanks be to Christ that men like you still carry the torch, hopefully inspiring the next generation to take up arms like you have. God bless.
We must fight, if let like this it would be a disaster THE world will be living dependent on our ancestor’s hard work until it come to and end… it is like watching a bacteria multiplying and invading everything it touches, but i dies when LOGIC and TRUTH comes!
Love your videos brother, keep the good work!
What’s wrong with James Stewart’s Calculus textbooks?
just compare it with older ones (1950~1990) especially Russian ones, these modern books are clunky. What i mean by that is that it takes out the joy of understanding alone how does the epsilon delta definition of continuity really works (drawing the distances, figuring out what happens at the limit, EXPLORE and EXPERIENCE).
This makes the learning more interesting and easier to remember, James Stewart’s book get’s the job done but for “”lazy?”” students .
@Kal Ahmed: Well, imagine asking a concert pianist what’s wrong with a child banging out “Chopsticks” on a toy keyboard — loudly, confidently, and with all the wrong fingerings. Stewart’s Calculus is the mathematical equivalent: bloated with glossy graphics, obsessed with ‘applications’ no pure mathematician cares for, and allergic to rigor like it’s a contagious disease.
It teaches calculus the way a travel brochure teaches geography: colorful, shallow, and utterly uninterested in the actual terrain.
It’s fast food mathematics — mass-produced, palatable, and guaranteed to leave your intellectual arteries clogged with poison.
Hello, thank you for writing your blog, I was reading your post and because I’m not American I had the question is the American education system that bad? You say things like “Sorry, your grammar lesson has been replaced with chanting hashtags and decoding protest signs.” is that literally happening? Have you made this up to draw a point to how bad things are? Forgive me for my ignorance but surely no 18 year old in college is “chanting hashtags” in English class, that sounds totally absurd and completely unbelievable.
In your opinion, do you believe that cultural issues that you described in your post and videos have led to a decline in students education? For example, is it true that wider cultural issues lead to students cheating with AI because they are not taking their education seriously? I would like to know what you think because I believe their is an issue with education but I’m not completely convinced they all come cultural issues, marxism or other topical issues that are around today.
I do believe you are being positive force in the world. I see people in your comments on YouTube inspired to take studies and maths seriously, I include myself in that group even if I’m not in education right now. My only concern is that you get more and more upset and drift to the extremes with conclusions and observations that started off correct but become incorrect leading people to an echo chamber that just talk about how bad the “other” group is.
Wishing you the best Mr. Cromwell.
@Dan: Thank you for your comment and question! Let me start with the “chanting hashtags in English class” line. No, I haven’t literally walked into a classroom and seen students rhythmically shout #JusticeForWhatever in iambic pentameter. That was a bit of poetic license, if I may, so it is not literal. However, there are specific examples of things that come close enough to ridicule it in that way I did: But the reality is this: when English classes start revolving around activism, slogans, and “lived experience,” and when grammar, rhetoric, and classical literature are replaced with ideology and “identity work,” it’s not satire anymore. It’s curriculum. And yes, versions of this are happening — from top-tier universities down to K–12 schools. Not everywhere, not always, but often enough to warrant concern. Here is an example: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/24/denver-students-walkout-protest-history-school-board
Or this: https://writerswhocare.wordpress.com/2025/02/17/signs-chants-and-change-integrating-youth-protest-literacies-into-writing-instruction/
As for your broader question — do cultural issues affect education? Without a doubt. The moment students are taught to feel rather than think, to express rather than wrestle with difficulty, education shifts from a discipline to a therapy session. And in that environment, why not cheat with AI? If the point is to pass, not to grow, then ChatGPT becomes just another shortcut in a system that’s already given up on rigor.
You’re right to be cautious of extremes. I am too. My goal isn’t to demonize “the other side” — but to remind people that if we drift far enough from truth, we stop producing thinkers and start manufacturing tribal foot soldiers.
And yet, you’re also right to say there’s hope. If people like you — thoughtful, skeptical, and open — are willing to ask these questions, then something is still working. You’d probably be surprised to know (many are) that despite my Christian beliefs, I am a very good skeptic and cynic (in the positive sense). I mean, how could I not be as a reformed Christian and child of the Protestant Reformation? Was it not the reformers who, going back to the Bible itself, insisted on questioning every human motive, who viewed the heart as ‘deceitful above all things,’ and who trained their minds to distrust emotionalism, popularity, and even their own experiences unless grounded in Scripture? The entire Reformed tradition is built on the idea that truth must be examined, tested, and proven — not assumed. Doubt isn’t a flaw in that system; it’s a tool for discernment.”]
I hope this answers your question, somewhat. If it does not, I am always keen for dialogue.
Hello Sir,
I’m a science undergraduate from India. I recently came across your YouTube videos, and I was genuinely moved by your thoughts on thinking, truth, and spirituality. Your mindset deeply resonated with me, so I felt compelled to write this.
Since childhood, I never had a general interest in studying. I only studied for exams and never really looked beyond them. But everything changed when I reached high school and began preparing for India’s most competitive engineering entrance exam. That journey genuinely transformed my life.
For the first time, I began to see the world through a mathematical lens. It felt as if I could observe the subtle intricacies around me in real-time. If I saw the moon, my brain would automatically challenge my understanding of geometry by inventing questions on circles. If I looked at a glowing bulb, it would spark thoughts on electrodynamics. In short, I started loving this way of thinking — and as a result, mathematics and physics became subjects I truly admired.
But something changed along the way.
My brain began asking “why” even for things everyone just accepts. It kept drilling deeper — asking why something works — until I hit an axiomatic wall. And while that’s where everything has to begin, my mind wouldn’t stop. It started looping. The same questions came back again and again.
Imagine this: I’m studying advanced calculus. I can solve most problems because I have good logical clarity and muscle memory. But the moment I pause and look at what I’ve written, my brain suddenly asks, “What does addition really do?” or “Why does the distributive property work here?”
And that’s not even the biggest problem.
The real issue is that my brain seems to tie all thinking to proof. If I can’t prove something from the ground up, it feels like I don’t have the right to use it. So I keep looping — trying to reprove the same ideas endlessly — until my head starts to hurt and I just give up.
As someone who has studied and lived mathematics deeply, I want to ask you: What does it actually mean to think?
When someone adds two fractions like 2/34 and 4/155, are they supposed to “see” those fractions? I know it might sound silly, but these are the kinds of questions that haunt me. What do scientists, mathematicians, and deep thinkers mean when they talk about “thinking”?
I’d truly appreciate your insight.
@Anubhav: What you’re describing is a rite of passage for many people who begin to think seriously — not just to solve problems, but to interrogate the foundations of thought itself. It’s both beautiful and maddening.
You’ve collided with what I call “the philosopher’s trapdoor” — you were happily solving problems on solid ground, and then suddenly the floor gave way, and now you’re free-falling through questions like “What is addition?” and “Why does logic… work?” It’s disorienting because school trains to use tools, not question their existence.
However, proper thinking isn’t always about proving from the ground up — it’s about knowing where to pause. Thinking well means navigating between the infinite regress of “why” and the practical need to act. If you demand a ground-up proof for everything, you’ll end up stuck on first gear always.
When mathematicians talk about “thinking,” we often mean structured play — a mix of formalism, analogy, and occasionally surrender. You don’t need to see 2/34 and 4/155 in some Platonic flash of clarity. You need to move with them, work with them, and let meaning emerge from use — not obsession. The laws will come into play later as you became familiarized with the behavior that leads you to conclude a proof.
Your looping mind isn’t broken — it’s awake. But give yourself permission to stop digging once in a while and just walk around the landscape you’ve uncovered. You can always go deeper later.
“Anti-racist algebra” really hits home for me. I am a high-school sophomore at the moment, and therefore taking Algebra II. Black History Month so happened to fall during the first section of this course, and during so each Friday, and a few other isolated events were dedicated to studying black history–ranging from small article parsing/summaries, to interpretations of Tupac interviews, and write-ups on Rated R movies (of course without informing parents, nor prior consent) detailing race riots, worth multifold that of a mathematics related assignment.
A significant amount of content for this course was not covered by the final exams week due to these incessant wastes of time, yet the teacher had a novel solution! He decided to grade the finals on a curve since he did not cover end-behaviour and logarithms. He then proceeded to remove questions after the test relating to the uncovered concepts if only a few, more mathematically inclined people got them correct. Shameful to deprive children of their math education (and not even telling them what wasn’t taught so they cannot prepare for the second section) because black history takes precedence!
@student: I share your concern entirely. Mathematics instruction should remain focused on developing critical reasoning and quantitative skills—not diluted by unrelated social commentary, however well-intentioned. When core concepts like logarithms and end behavior are sacrificed in favor of tangential material, it’s not only a disservice to students’ academic growth but a distortion of what education is meant to be. I am sorry you are in such an unfortunate position for Math. That’s why we try to fill in those gaps at City Tutoring.
Hey Alfred,
I agree.
When teachers are not teaching what they are supposed to teach – that’s flat out inexcusable.
There are some weird math books like “The Number Devil” or “Girls Get Curves”.
I remember the days of “Mega Math Blaster”, “The Great Brain Robbery”, “Math Advantage”, and other softwares by The Learning Company like Grade Builder Algebra I. Some of it was solid.
This math website seems to be popular for elementary school math teachers: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/store/live-laugh-math .
And here I can shamelessly post a link to my math blog (and it won’t get deleted by YouTube!):
https://sites.google.com/site/mathknowsisbase/
I sincerely hope this is of some use for someone!
~Cheers!
– David Bennett
@David: Oh! I didn’t realize that, but you are correct that the link won’t disappear from here. Unlike YouTube, there is no censorship here!
Hello Alfred,
I have been watching your videos for some time now and have found them encouraging with hints of conviction. These convictions however are a breath of fresh air in modern times. Your videos are the most loving, encouraging, and inspirational videos that I have come across recently. Thank you for your insight on the history of mathematics which I did not previously know. Continue to do the good Lord’s work, bringing bible backed truths into education. I am planning on enrolling in some courses over the summer. Looking forward to it! Prayers along with wishing you and your family the best.
– Omar
@Omar: Thank you for your kind comment and encouragement. Looking forward to having you in our courses. If you have any questions, always feel free to reach out.
The anti-racist math stuff is insane. There was a woman, who I respected up to this point, that told me that math was racist. I countered with the fact that math is a pursuit that has spanned countless civilizations and that the math we learn today takes things from many of those civilizations. After all we aren’t using roman numerals. She kept saying math was racist, but didn’t give any details. I sent her a PDF of Tao’s real analysis book, and told her to find the racism. She refused to look at the book, but knew it was racist.
I believe in having college majors. I don’t believe that the type of classical education you are talking about is incompatible with college majors. Most bachelor’s degrees require about 120 credits. Let’s say you have a mix of 3 and 4 credit classes and just to make the numbers nice let’s call it 36 classes. It makes sense to have a main focus in those 36 classes. That’s what a major is. If a school wants to, they can have a classics track that could take the place of many gen ed courses.
I also think focusing on job skills is ok, as long as college education does not become a vocational training program. I want students to succeed once they graduate, so aligning curricula to modern industry practices can make sense. For example, Python is becoming the dominant programming language for statistics, and many universities don’t teach it in their stat classes. Where’s the harm in checking every 5 years to see that what you are teaching reflects real world practice?
Education should also have some agility, and at times we’ve seen that. For example in the 00s, largely because of the wars, traumatic brain injury became an important topic in research and in education. We needed to advance our ability to detect and treat these devastating injuries. We also needed to educate clinicians about the issue. This led to students learning about things that were currently being researched and at times helping with that research. This effort around TBI has paid off. When I had mine (non combat) in 04 a lot of rehabilitation research and technology that exist today, didn’t exist. The kid of today who gets one will likely have a faster recovery than I had which will allow them to get back to their lives sooner. This increase in understanding and ability to treat TBI was made possible by people who had very concentrated educations such as under graduate majors and PhDs. We will not be able successfully advance in key areas when we need to if students and educators are too pre-occupied with Latin or DEI.
@Walter:
You’re absolutely right. It’s hard to argue that math is racist when it’s been the universal language bridging civilizations for millennia. As for the classics vs. career-focused education debate, I’m all for a solid foundation in both.
And as for the debate between classical education and modern majors, I think the key can be one of careful balance. You can have a solid liberal arts education while still focusing on some job skills—especially when those skills, like Python for statistics, are in demand and the “customers” are prepared to pay for that. I don’t think we disagree necessarily. However, I do think that the “agility” part is better served by the job market anyway, but to me a “pure education” is something outside the market or, at the very least, parallel to it.
It sounds like there is common ground in our thoughts. I believe in education for it’s intrinsic value. For me learning is often it’s own goal. I also like being useful. It’s a hard balance even outside of school. Two days ago when i was working on a neural net demo, i spent a while reading some functional analysis, because it was used in the universal approximation thm. I didn’t need an intricate understanding of the thm, but i wanted one, because it was interesting.
I listened to a history professor say once that they thought business shouldn’t be a major but rather a trade school and an sort of intern apprenticeship, I was reminded of it when you said eliminate majors, which stood out to me as it is far more similar to education people like Proclus would have given going through the Platonic canon, or someone like Euler, Tesla, Newton etc might’ve received. I’ve been very interested in Electromagnetism and Electrical Engineering of late, so I have been trying to get back into the study of Algebra and some beginner Calculus, Your channel has been a great help, many thanks for that and you being you. I went to NYIT to ask about if any classes in those were available. I was asked matriculated or unmatriculated, I said I was unsure and got mostly blank stares, another person at admissions was friendlier, but it was humorous to me that the moment I mentioned I had got a 70% scholarship to saint John’s 2 years prior for theology, but after a short time the school wasn’t for me. Their eyes sort of lit up. I unfolded that I mostly read religious studies and art history but had recently become more interested in Physics. Despite the welcome I was told basically ”check the website,” this kind of lack of care for the curious and only focus upon the corporate is what initially turned me away from Unie.
Best wishes, Much love, God bless
Colin
Thank you for your comment and kind words! Yes, in today’s university, curiosity is rarely met with enthusiasm, but more with a checklist and a glazed-over look. Interestingly enough, I recently participated in a very long interview and I mentioned how if I were to recruit people, I’d rather train them myself as apprentices rather than Business majors specifically.
It’s almost hilarious to know that even in 2025, asking a genuine question about algebra and electromagnetism can still cause an existential crisis in an admissions office.
Your experience captures exactly what’s gone wrong: the Platonic ideal of education has been replaced with dropdown menus and polite shrugs.
Are you referring to St. John’s in New York, by the way?
I am so glad my channel has been of help!
Much love back!
Yes, I the one in Queens, New York.
Thanks for the response.
Mr Cromwell,
I just wanted to say that I really appreciate what you’ve doing. I’m a junior in high school and I have definitely noticed that my peers have been drawn to shortcuts over rigor. I feel I have been somewhat lucky with my math education. I finished high school math my freshman year, and I have had the opportunity to take proof based math courses during high school including real analysis. Still, early on I remember always feeling like the teachers didn’t trust us enough to teach the material rigorously. I have tutored many people who either want me to do their homework for them or want to “plug it in to Desmos”. I have also sat in on some lectures for high school seniors where I have seen students heavily rely on calculators for even basic operations like multiplying numbers by zero or one. I honestly feel really bad for these students because it is clear that instructors have left them behind in the past and they are struggling with high school math now as a result. I really enjoy helping people like this, but it is definitely upsetting to see how much mathematics education is disregarded in America. I have been watching your videos for a while now, and I really hope to bring a similar style of tutoring to my school. I fear it is very easy to get drawn into a cycle of plugging in numbers without a second thought when it is all students are taught, so thank you for everything you do!
“Rigor” I fear, is out of reach to some, perhaps most people, based on temperament and innate ability if nothing else.
Truth then is simply unknowable, except to the most exceptionally competent. And if emotion and a poetic personality – “feelings and vibes” and fascination with identity, of self and others – are so invalid, there is nothing left to the masses, but maybe to abandon everything even attempting to transcend, and throw oneself into the modern fray.
Even spiritual salvation becomes closed to all but the elect.
I know when I recently started learning abstract algebra for some research I’m doing with quantum information , I literally felt as if I entered the multiverse, where I learned there is more than one type of algebra, addition, etc.. and how these things are quite rigorously defined.